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Introduction

One of the nice things about audio shows is that you get exposed to tons of audiophile "candy". You know what I mean: Audio accessories that promise to improve the world (your listening world at least) and are conveniently priced within the budget of an average audiophile. I love trying these things out, maybe that's why I started this site. What ever the reason I always end up returning from a show with a bag full of tricks. What's interesting is that most of these accessories have an audible effect, some to my liking others to a lesser degree. During the last Montreal Audio Show I found some audiophile "candy" particularly sweet.

If you haven't read our Perspective segment, you may want to do so now as a prelude to this and all other tweaks we review.

Description

Blue Circle is a Canadian, high quality, handcrafted audio components manufacturer. At the show I had the pleasure of speaking to Blue Circle's founder, Mr. Gilbert Yeung. What we talked about was an interesting little black box from Blue Circle that plugs into a power outlet and filters noise commonly present in home AC power lines. The unit is called: The BC86 MKII, also known as the "Power Line Pillow". This type of a device is not unique to the market and it's also not new to the Blue Circle product line; in fact it's in its second incarnation designating the MKII sticker.

The BC86 MKII is what is known as a parallel power line noise filter. You plug the BC86 into a duplex receptacle or into a spare outlet on a power bar. Blue Circle states that the filtering effect extends to receptacles, on the same circuit, up to 20 ft. from the treated receptacle. It uses four distinct wide 'Q' filters covering a wide range of frequencies. It is fully enclosed in a steel chassis for RF rejection. The effect is said to be cumulative with the addition of multiple BC86's. What MKII adds is broader frequency filtering than the original BC86. The price: US$110.

The Blue Circle BC86 MKII