AC Tuning Stick MkIII By Akiko Audio

The original Akiko Audio Tuning Sticks received the 6Moons Blue Moon Award in 2013 and the Stereo Times writers named them a Most Wanted Component of the year. Tuning Sticks are based on one principal…absorbing high-frequency noise from the ground plane of a component. The MkII and now MkIII Tuning Stick models have achieved successively higher levels of refinement and are compatible with extreme high-end systems. The result is a remarkable silence during those quiet passages that injects life into your music.

The AC Tuning Stick (or the Akiko Triple AC Enhancer) is where most of our clients get started with Akiko. Plug the MkIII AC Tuning Stick into either your mains outlet or your power conditioner.

• We recommend starting with either the AC Tuning Stick or a Triple AC Enhancer (depending on your budget). Listen with the unit plugged into your mains outlet and plugged directly into your power conditioner, to hear which position sounds better.
• Try the RCA/XLR Stick in each of your components, such as your Preamp, Phono Preamp, DAC, and listen for the most effective position. Note that most components use the same ground plane for all jacks, so any jack should do.
• AC and RCA/XLR models can also be strapped to a power cable, for further experimentation.
• Use the Universal model on your speaker cables, usually at the speaker end. Also try them on you mains cable into your power conditioner.

Here’s what 6Moons had to say about the Akiko Tuning Sticks:

“By merely plugging in the 100-odd grams of AC tuning shtick, the virtual soundstage widened, individual instruments moved further apart and Burke pushed his singing chair forward. When we unplugged the darn stick, the stage shrunk back to its initial size between the horns. Did we hear this correctly? Was this stuff really that powerful?”

“Scary? Almost. With the enhanced dimensions of the music we now also noticed tiny ticks and clicks from the vinyl’s surface giving away that this was still a reproduction. Before the universal sticks were mounted, these ticks and clicks had been inaudible.”

“In all their differences these two sample albums uncovered the new-found possibilities of our system in full. It had been a very good system already but now it sat at an even higher altitude. Three little sticks were all it took to get up there.”

“What exactly the workings of these sticks are is unclear. They seem to be related to the Shakti Stones and Acoustic Revive RCG-24 grounding enhancer. The only difference between those and the sticks is that the sticks don’t introduce subtle enhancements. They cause a vast enhancement.”

Check out the full reviews here:

http://6moons.com/audioreviews/akiko/1.html

http://www.positive-feedback.com/Issue71/akiko_audio.htm

http://canadahifi.com/akiko-tuning-sticks-review-do-you-believe-in-black-magic/