Power protection/conditionig

[zuzu]

I have no power problems, noise, hum ect.that I can hear. I am plugged into a standard home AC outlet with my Nad C 272 power amp. My CD, tape and SP 11 pre amp are plugged into the SP 11 power recepticals on the back of the SP 11 power supply. The power supply is plugged into a modest power strip. Any suggestions? I don't want to spend a lot of money on power stuff.

[Allan Songer]

Not sure what you think "a lot of money" is, but this would work well:

http://cls.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?powrcond&1176701611

I would offer the seller $300, as this is what the unit is worth on the used market.

[Speedball]

Some will argue it's all a waste of time.........others will say it's the best in the world.......what's a guy to do?

I say try it and if it works then GREAT! ...for me it speakers, amp, source, and all the basics first, then work with power conditioning and other things available on the market. Sometime I will try some of that stuff for sure.

[zuzu]

I'm replying to this since it never posted!!!!!

[Tarheel]

Zuzu..I have read some of the comments from the contributors to Sterephile magazine say that if you are listening to music directly from the receptacle you don't know what you are missing. They actually referred to us as "poor souls". I have never listened to conditioned power..I get it right from Progress Energy through my standard receptacles so I can't say. I would have to agree with the earlier post that power conditioning is low on my priority list. There are those with deep pockets and the never ending quest to tweak who will try anything and everything and they certainly are free to do that. It gets back to diminishing returns. Once you get to a certain level of satisfaction each increment of improvement beyond that is not cost effective. Just today I was reading a review of a $90,000 turntable and thought to myself....a good TT needs to be free of vibrations and spin the LP at the right speed...what does the other $88,000 get you?

Anyone listening with conditioned power please feel free to comment...I would like to know what improvements you heard.

Chuck

[Travis In Austin]

Zuzu,

I have a Shunyata Hydra with their Python power cord. This is one of the units that folks like Stereophile just rave about, and that if you don't have it your are one of the "poor souls" that Allan mentioned. Having said all of that, Wardsweb (Luther) recently borrowed mine to try out at his house and he concluded that the benefit was not worth the price. I am not sure if he could tell a difference or not, I will let him post about that.

In my case, the grounding was such a big problem. When you turned off an amp before a preamp, or vice versa there were hugh loud pops. That went away after the Hydra. There is a lot of garbage that comes through electrical lines, and then you run into equipment being grounded to each other causing problems. Shunyata touts as its advantage that each piece of equipment is isolated from other components. However, on good equipment, they have power supplys that are supposed to take care of what these power conditioners do. So as far as the electrical grid that I am on, together with the various components I run together, there was a big improvement. Your situation might be like mine, or it could be more like Luther's. I would see if you could borrow something from someone in your area or get something from your local audio dealer that you can demo.

On the issue of surge/spike protection, you really have to have it, just like hearing protection. However, the cost of a good surge suppressor is way less then a power conditioner by a factor of 10 or more. If you do have really cruddy ac in your area, there are things you should do first like getting an isolated line, with a seperate breaker, brought to your audio room. This requires an electrician, but you get way more bang for your buck if you have an isolated line to begin with. Others can also tell you about balanced wiring on a/c that cancels out problems, but it was beyond me, so I had and EE and electrician handle that end of it for me.

Travis

[coda]

not much luck with power conditioning, however I use a couple of these in the unused outlets with my gear and believe I can hear a non-trivial benefit with them versus without. modestly priced.

http://www.musicdirect.com/products/detail.asp?sku=AQUIETFIL

[Guest " "]

Here is a link for a DIY balanced power project.

http://www.geocities.com/jonrisch/catch2.htm

Extra in my stash, I have 4 1500 watt  transformers and a paired set that will provide 3000 watts if anyone is intrested.

[Jay481985]

the bestbuy brand dynex power conditioners are around 50 dollars and do a admirable job.

[thoppa]

Hi,

I have a locally-made (Chinese) power conditioner - it uses ICs to smooth the power wave I believe. It removed noises from other equipment in the building but did not 'improve' the sound quality by any great margin. My problem was the abysmal building wiring with, I think , earth loops galore. I also use a surge protector because we get huge electrical storms here and they blew a USB soundcard once, and also, the switches in the building, esp my apartment, seem to create surges esp when they switch flourescent lights on / off.

If it ain't broke don't fix it ? I have heard that bad conditioners/filters can actually limit current supply in the very short term and create early clipping but I haven't seen any evidence.

Tom

[PhilMays]

I bought the Belkin PF-40. You can get these for $160 on line...unfortunantly I paid about $400 for mine. Anyway, I can't tell a difference in my "power conditioning". I may have had good power though.

I have heard if you have a bad situation they will improve things and I have also heard what someone mentioned earlier that they could make a good situation worse.

At the end of the day, for me, no difference. The difference for me is surge protection and if their was a difference it was so slight that I could not tell, but was there.

[Professor.Ham.Slap]

I bought a Belkin PF-60 to run my entire setup. In my opinion, it worked wonders, but that is for me. I live in the middle of a college housing community that has absolutely horrendous power fluctuations. I used to have a very audible hiss coming from my RF-7's and RC-64 (those three most noticeably, although I never checked my surrounds but I assume it was there too... Anyway, it cleaned that up very well. Now truthfully the only reason I got the "high end" model that I did was because I got a discount on it of about 70%. For the average person that needs filtration, I agree with Jay that the Dynex ones from Best Buy do the job rather well (I use one on my PC.) But whether you actually need one or not I believe totally depends on the wiring in your house, how good your supply company is, etc. I say take advantage of the return period. Try it in your house and see what (if anything) changes.