MASSIMO ISOLINK DUO™

The Ensemble MASSIMO ISOLINK DUO™ is the ’magic’ link. It adds the touch of perfection to a music system, making hifi components outperform themselves.

The MASSIMO ISOLINK DUO™ is much more than a power line filter, because it is not a filter in the ordinary sense. It operates without need for AC grounding (as filters normally do), and thereby avoids a potential source of pollution and degradation, and it does what power line filters cannot do: the galvanic isolation between primary and secondary, between what is usually the power drawn from a wall socket and the power at its output. A hifi source component that is powered from the output of the MASSIMO ISOLINK DUO™ is therefore electrically isolated from the rest of the system – neither can it pollute (what most digital equipment normally in some measure does) the rest of the system (sensitive analog and digital circuits), nor can any other item of the system negatively influence that isolated component through the power line. Each component can therefore play and perform under the most ideal conditions.

The MASSIMO ISOLINK DUO™ is a highly researched piece of transformer technology that has little in common with ordinary isolation transformers as used in electrical installations for safety purposes. Made to medical equipment specifications, an inner screen provides effective interference rejection and has the ability to attenuate overvoltage spikes up to 20 kHz. Due to a special topology, creating a magnetic field of very limited stray radiation, and a high efficiency core, the MASSIMO ISOLINK DUO™ is extremely fit to respond to fast-changing current demands.

The MASSIMO ISOLINK DUO™ takes the concept two important steps further. A specifically developed coil, working in tandem, strengthens the ability to ward off spurious, distorting upper harmonics and redresses sinusoidal characteristics.

While the MASSIMO ISOLINK DUO™ transformers are floating free from chassis and AC ground, a separate earth path for equipment that needs AC grounding is provided all the same. To optimize this path a specifically designed safety choke coil helps to attenuate high-frequency interference.

The MASSIMO ISOLINK DUO™ model houses two entirely separate units rated at 175 VA and 250 VA, each with its dedicated input, in a chassis of the same design as the electronics. (The UNO model, available on special order, just has the 250 VA transformer). While the inputs are switchable between 115 and 230V, on the output side each transformer has a dedicated 115 V (American/Nema 5-15) and a 230 V (Continental European/Schuko) outlet [=standard model]. Following the Ensemble MICROSORB™ concept of providing optimal vibration control, the two transformers are decoupled from the chassis. A partition further isolates them electromagnetically from each other.

Once Ensemble cables are installed, the sonic improvements will first seem like magic, as one would never expect them to be so big and comprehensive. The music starts to shine and sparkle, has harmonic shades and touches unheard before. Musical information is coming through for the first time, contexts open up, musical insights are born. Transients and complex rhythmical passages have the room to unfold, and the dynamic scale is widened to an extent that even the smallest differences come to life. The music reaches out to a new level of coherence, set against a quiet, naturally spaced envelope that lets the music expand and breathe. A new level of experiencing music