King Arthur's Gem! Novaris Excalibur Surge Protector & PLC

The Novaris Excalibur sitting on top the Torus Power RM-16 AVR in my system. The Novaris is so much more compact and lighter by comparison!

 

I met the Novaris people at the Northern AV Show last month, and very quickly became friendly enough with them to trust me with this review. Novaris is an Australian company that specialize in supplying surge protection and power line filters for railway systems. So happens that the bosses are also self confessed audiophiles that they designed the Excalibur and the PP series surge protector & power line filter for AV & Hifi use. There's one more thing unique about Novaris is that their manufacturing plant is based right here in Malaysia, somewhere in the Sungai Buloh industrial estate.

A week after the show, I picked up this Excalibur sample, that it's so new, you can't even Google it yet!(You can try, really) This unit was being discreetly displayed at the Northern AV Show, together with the Frank(of Powerbank fame!) & Silbatone demos. I saw something that was competently designed, and made by the people with great industrial power supply knowledge! So I was mighty impressed with the Excalibur, so to speak, but the big giant question in the room "How does it sound?"

The front panel display of the Novaris Excalibur, which gives more than the required information regarding the systems power supply. A big red illuminated ON/OFF switch sits just below the display. The back panel features 10 universal power sockets, which is convenient as it will pretty much accept BS 3 pin plugs, NEMA(US Standard) or even Schuko(German Standard) plugs. The input socket from wall accepts 20 Amp plug

So now, that I have the Novaris Excalibur with me, I wasted no time and plugged it in to my system. Taking over from the Torus Power RM-16 AVR, the Novaris now takes power from the wall, and supplies to all my sources, pre-amp and power amps(which are the pair of excellent Tonewinner AD-1 PA). The Tonewinner AD-1 PA when operating in Class-A mode draws a little over 5 Amperes!

I was also quite curious about the Power Factor value on the display. A quick check with Wong sifu told me that in my system, there are losses from the transformers being used  in my system, being the ideal power factor value of 1.00 and the best possible practical result being 0.95. Wong sifu also told me that in the world of consumer electronics, 0.85 value is considered pretty good. He said at 0.71 which was the value being shown on the Novaris meter, he just said hmm.........,, there's significant power losses some where in the system. All other information on the display as above are pretty much self explanatory.

From the very first go, I listened to my speakers up close, with no signal or music being played, the tweeters are dead quiet and not hissing, which is always a good sign. Then the music starts, again I am astonished by the overall quietness of the background in the music. Key word is "Quiet", there is a lack off jet darkness in the back ground, unlike the Torus. The jet darkness background is a signature of transformer based, or sand filled passive PLC designs. The Novaris has neither a transformer inside, or being sand filled for dampening, so the result is fitting I guess. No good, no bad here, just a different way of doing things and the results reflect it. Next thing I noticed obviously are the high frequencies reproductions. The highs are nicely refined, airy and with bite or attack when the music ask. No over smoothening here, which is good. The mid range, a.k.a. vocals mostly, stand out a little bit in front of the proceedings, again which is good. The vocals have good life like presence effect which I like. The bass is very tightly wound, and super solid. I must say the above sound description also in a way, describes the Tonewinner AD-1PA amplifiers in Class-A mode, as per my reviews about them, minus the jet darkness in the background of the music. The Novaris also makes the sound stage just a tad deeper & wider, if compared to than without. However, the stage deepness doesn't quite reach to the back and the layering that the Torus does by comparison.   

The internals of the Novaris Excalibur shows the designer has put in some very good electrical engineering principals in to the circuit. It's got everything it needs to do the job!

The Novaris Excalibur is expected to cost a little more than MYR 13,000 when launched next week at the Gelombang AV Fest 2022. For me, given the construction and materials value in the box, is certainly worth the lot. And in sound, especially when compared to my giant Torus power RM-16 AVR, the Novaris Excalibur gives up little in compromise. And in function, the Novaris doesn't do voltage regulation either, and this function I believe with today's TNB voltage stability compared to just 10 years ago when I bought the Torus Power, is no longer required in most places. As I used the Novaris Excalibur in my system for the past 2 weeks, I did not see any wild in coming voltage swings, based on the display on the Excalibur. The voltage movements in my area recently is mostly +/- 5 range of the 240V that TNB subscribes to.

If automatic voltage regulation is not required in your case, my verdict is that the Novaris Excalibur could be all that ends all PLC & surge protector one needs. You can spend more money and do worst is all that I saying. If one is in the market for a hifi & HT PLC, do ignore this Novaris Excalibur at your own peril, no matter your budget. It's a must check out candidate at the MYR 10,000 or more range.

Novaris is Exhibiting at the Gelombang AV Fest 2022, starting from next Friday, 5th August 2022.