Electricity… Before even getting into exotic cabling, resonance accessories, isolation platforms its practically insane not to open up a “pandora box” of proper power distribution. There can be an instant endless debate evoked only touching the subject of power cables and power distributors. Still, this is the easiest mind changing experience for even most non trained ear. I’ve shown practical, instant hands on application to many people and result was in almost all cases an instant eye/ear opener for majority of "participants"…

Cliff Orman of Vibex Design clearly took a lot of efforts in creating his Vibex One 11R reference Power Block. He incorporated the energy control technology employed in Vibex top of the range Granada and Alhambra models. So its expected from the ground up to share quite some trickle down technology of the upper range.

Cliff direction is very clear and he's very specific regarding the power block initial design concept. There are no PCBs (Printed Circuit Boards) used as he strongly feels, how they're totally unacceptable for power distribution products and can seriously limit dynamics and sound quality.

Going even further, Cliff keeps his products miles away from any cryogenic treatment. In his view, this highly embraced trend degrades the musical correctness. Further on interestingly, you’ll won’t find any star earthing or star power connections being employed with the Vibex One 11R. Cliff 's practical experiences throughout R & D and trial & error have shown how any unused outlets degrades the sound quality of the ones that are in use.

Vibex One 11R reference Power Block has no metal screws or fixings of any kind in the construction and its in absence of any magnetic components and metal part in casework of the One 11R, as well no fast-on or any other kind of connectors are used to simplify manufacturing process.

So if not metal or wooden chassis, then what and why? Vibex One 11R chassis is made out of KRION®. This next generation solid surface was developed by Systempool, a highly pleasant material, similar to natural stone. The composition of KRION® consists of two-thirds natural minerals combined with a low percentage of high resistance resins. Its not only highly durable and aesthetically consistent material, but it can be processed in a similar way as a wood and can be cut into sheets, thus dealing with the resonances in very peculiar way.

First Strike

"Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler." Albert Einstein's famous quote acts as an epicenter in the hearth of the matter of Vibex design philosophy.

Cliff deliberately didn’t want to create a fashionable product being bigger or more complicated then needed. Vibex One is essential in its design core as it’s in the performance.

Vibex One 11R reference Power Block kicks in like a hurricane. No subtle introduction, first gear, straight on and pedal to the medal. F1 like, very fast, open, transparent in nature and resolving in the performance blast. It lets the energy through without obvious reservations. Yes, I liked it a lot even from the first few songs in play.

Before being showered with torrents of angry comments, let me lay down some of the constitutional points. I do not care anymore these days for mediocre products. Vast amount gear are coming in and out and as many of you figured it and not everything is getting the attention. Why? If not of suitable performance and performing as advertised I do not put any further efforts into listening/writing. Mediocrity being judged is not connected to the price point, but closely with performance.

It already taken a vast amount of my time to put many of these products under the listening scope and testing. If I don’t find any of this incomings performing up to the certain level I will certainly not put any more writing time into them. Fair? If I’m willing to give a chance to newcomers and so called special products, then time already being spent for evaluation should cover the fairness spotlight part.

In Absence

Let us use the inverse logic and look what Vibex One 11R reference Power Block does not have under the hood!

• No PCBs (Printed Circuit Boards). PCBs are totally unacceptable for power distribution products. They seriously limit dynamics and quality.
• No metal screws or fixings of any kind are used in the construction.
• No magnetic components.
• No metal is used in the casework.
• No Fast-On or any other kind of connector are used to simplify manufacturing.
• No cryogenically treated components. Even though this might seem to go against current trends, I am not convinced that the resulting sound is musically correct.
• No star earthling or star power connections are employed. A quick listen clearly shows that any unused outlets degrade the sound quality of the ones that are in use.
• No filtering to earth, thus avoiding the degradation of the earth’s quality.

The Story Behind

"The Vibex One 11R is the result of over 20 years of investigation into how mains power affects our hi-fi and video systems. Nothing has been left to chance. Every single design parameter and its interaction with the rest of the design have been carefully studied and evaluated to extract the maximum from today’s high end systems." - Cliff Orman/Vibex Design

Chassis design

Over the last few years, it has become clear that metal in the casework if far from optimum. All metal, whether it be aluminium or some other kind of metal, have serious resonances that have to be controlled. I firmly believe that it is more practical to use materials with superior energy control than have to damp a material that is just not suitable for the purpose. The use of Krion for the chassis in all Vibex designs is the fruit of investigation into a multitude of different materials. All kinds of metal, with and without damping were quickly discarded as inappropriate materials. Of the many solid surfaces tested, Krion is head and shoulders above the rest in controlling energy in a way that is far more natural to my ears than any other material to date. Krion is also non-magnetic and non-conductive, which also plays an important role in the final sound quality. It does not need to earthed, as all metal cases do, therefore not degrading the quality of the earth connection to any of the outlet sockets.

Internal wiring

The wire used in the One 11R is 7N (99.99999% purity) OFC stress-free copper. All internal wiring is soldered using the finest sounding lead-free solder. All wire, when conducting electricity, will resonate to a certain extent, and to avoid this we use high tech elastomers that surround the sheathing. I have listened to many elastomers before deciding on the right one for the job.

Outlet Sockets

The outlet sockets used in the One 11R are manufactured by a German manufacturer. This socket is modified by Vibex and the contact terminals are plated using the finest quality jewelry rhodium. "The plating is 2 microns thick, which is far greater than most, if not what all other manufacturers use. Having listened to nearly all other sockets available from other manufacturers, I have yet to find one of superior quality to ours."

Screws

The use of screws in a design is taken for granted. Very few, possibly no other, manufacturers pay attention to the sound of screws in their designs. I have found that it is far better not to use any screws at all in a design. All metal screws clearly degrade sound quality and are useless as far as energy control goes. Of course, in some parts of a design, screws are a necessity and for this purpose Cliff Orman has found that the latest thermoplastics can produce excellent results. There is not an optimum kind of screw that works in all situations and listening to the results with different materials is a real eye (ear!) opener.

Geometry

Now this is a very interesting subject and recent investigation shows how important the geometry of a case is to the resulting sound. The relationship between size, the radii of the curves and the use of non-parallel surfaces are so important for energy control and optimizing the sound. The smallest difference in geometry can make a rather large difference in the sound!

Damping

Combing Krion and individual packet damping has proved to be a major advance in recent years for Vibex designs. If you think about it, it is quite obvious that if we control the energy of each individual component, it is far more effective than trying to control and dissipate energy globally. In the Vibex One 11R all components and sockets have independent pocket damping. The Krion chassis is also multi-layered and constrained layer damped. All this is fine-tuned by ear for optimum results.

Via Music

Karate A New Jerusalem

Do you want to test your system to the max, taking a chance to blow up speakers driver, or "impress" your neighbors? A New Jerusalem by Karate rocks should rock that boat. Its one of my muss sein reference test tracks. Here everything gets challenged to the fullest degree, from thunderous bass, submarine like depths, raw guitars grips to the exponential highs decaying and delaying into eternity. Its easy to bring any system down and see what is really capable of with this song. More importantly to the subject, one can quickly "read" out the quality of electricity and the way power is distributed.

"Qui audet adipiscitur - Who dares wins!" motto embraced by the SAS (British Special Air Service). Vibex One 11R acts bold, and unapologetically with its mojo while conveying power to Robert Koda Takumi K-10, preamplifier, MSB Select DAC 2 and Analog Domain M75. No sweat no, stress. I love when things are simple, but simpler for a reason and here Cliff’s design choices were manifesting with the raw, unaltered energy.

Breaking Silence - Janis Ian

The power impact story continues with my recent discovery. This fantastic sounding, Grammy nominated album is both performance and musical marvel.

Holding back on the proper power distribution sucks the core and create more of a chasm effect rather that proper balance. Janis Ian’s album really deserves the best it can get. When system is of proper balance, this albums offers a remarkable experience.

Vibex One 11R reference power block assisted with sparkling and bursting nature rather then acting like a constant silencer and a giant energy brake. There are many windows to be opened within high-end audio domain and a proper distribution of the power of similar importance as veins are to the human system. No blockage, nor reservation of any kind and without any obstacles on the path. One 11R certainly broke the silence!

Chris Isaak - Wicked Games

For a complete studio "programmed" song, Wicked Games sonic imprint is surprisingly fresh, openly spacious. To easily studio wizardry can results in overflow of everything, translating into the squashed, uninvolved sound.

Its hard to talk about ultimate reference for any studio oriented album. Yet, if recorded well like this Chris Isaak’s song, it can offer a great insight into the song structure, separation of instruments, reverb atmosphere and non the less ability to transfer the musician’s message. One 11R acted as an advocate of insightfulness, transparency and as matured product, that mastered the importance of detail rendition.

Lucia Di Lammermoor Diva Dance - Eric Serra

Many of you need no introducing to the famous 5th Element Diva Dance song from Luc Besson legendary science fiction movie. If this performance wont’ move inner emotional mechanism of a listener, then there is something constitutionally wrong with the system (God-forbid with the listener ;) ).

Reservation in performance resolves in absence of subtle voice nuances, to quickly translating into futile reproduction. Mess with the power at the gate of heaven and music’s emotional impact is lost in translation. Nobody in high-end audio is after ripple effect. We strive for purity and not distorted reality.

This is exactly where One 11R is very different. In absence of too often introduced mechanical perplexity for the sake of it, One 11R rather than divert electricity from it’s needed flow path, show its gist as The Flow. There are numerous of micro parts recreating the formation of human voice and along with acoustical anchor points, even tinniest resonating particles that forms a believable vibrato needs certain degree of formant momentum. Crucial part continuously points back to the power. There is no way around this

Power "phenomena" can be spotted easily when electricity is either good or bad. Day time listening usually brings quite a different level of expectations then late night listening when everything calms down, all the domestic machinery from neighbors and heavy industrial artillery from the industry is shout down. More then often if feels like completely different experience.

Such, exact difference is instantly recognizable when mediocre and potent distributors are compared. Similar impact differentiate Vibex from assortment of power distributors on the market. Dealign with something so fragile as human voice embarks for much different electrical translucency then usual set of tools and rules. With One 11R Cliff simply nail it!

Vibex One 11R reference Power Block acts in vernacular way, adopting the primaries of the musical structure. While many power blocks are trying to perform conjuring tricks, One 11R acts as an absolute vector when it comes to the electricity and power handling.

Conclusion

From ground up Vibex One 11R reference Power Block radiates with different energy. It possesses the rare ability to let the energetic electricity unstrained impulse through. Sadly most of the power blocks, power conditioners and power filters actually restrain the flow in a grand way. Along with gain, musical flow is one of the most important things in my book of judgment. Each system is the universe of its own and same goes for dedicated electricity conditions. I’ve been in so many different homes and listening rooms, yet each situation connected with the quality of electricity is a story of its own and completely non constant. One simply cannot drive a line and give a fixed cure to universal system system up, what to talk about the constant quality of the electricity being served. Quality has to be connate and not virtual idea.

It can be discussed to death, philosophized endlessly and rationalized over and over. Facts are facts; electricity matters and the first step into assembly of the high-end audio is how deal with the distribution of electricity.

In the era, where we finally managed to unlock the world of transparency, detail and natural open nature we need to work with products that can act like a transparent via mediums.

With the plethora of utterly expensive power blocks and distributors on the market Cliff Orman managed to create an excessively great power distributing solution by bringing the world class performance at down to earth pricing. Vibex One 11R encapsulate way, way more impact then its given price might suggest. Vibex One 11R reference Power Block brings the unique see through ability, that shifts minutely and lock to the music instantly. Via medium inherited sense of musical narrative opens up an inner sanctum letting Milsean authority up front. Impressive… For the design approach, given price and most importantly the performance impact of Vibex One 11R Outlet Power Block I’m happily giving out the Mono & Stereo Highly Recommended Award.