Conditioners?

Hello PTss.

I like isolation transformers: better performance, lower price. Plitron makes superb ones.

Hello Ptss.

I am a big fan of isolation transformers, so I have been using them for about 10 years. Isolation from lightening, not to mention all the line garbage. When the electrical inspector certified my installation, he said that he had never seen such clean power, even at a power station.

Early on, I went to the local high end store and borrowed an exotic cable and an exotic power stabilizer. I tried six conditions into a Bryston power amp:
factory cable into industrial grade wall socket, no isolation: good
exotic cable into industrial grade wall socket, no isolation: slightly better
exotic power stabilizer, as above: significantly better
isolation transformer: best by a wide margin
isolation transformer with exotics: no improvement over isolation transformer

The best thing about Plitron transformers is that you can buy directly from the factory, and their medical isolation transformers are, well, designed to be good enough for medical equipment. The only thing is that they growl at 120Hz when working, so they should be placed in their own metal electrical box, outside the music room. And that means the electrical inspector. Even so, $500 for parts, $500 for professional installation, and you really have something - for the cost of one medium exotic cord.

That's my thinking. I use three at 2KVA.

Hello Ptss.

I wrote a long response, which seems to have evaporated. The jist of it was, I tried an exotic cord and an exotic conditioner, but the Plitron Medical Isolation Transformer was by far the best. Also, you can buy factory direct.

Hello Ptss.

I do not recall which conditioner I tested. The improvement of the conditioner ($4000) was so small, compared to the transformer, that I lost interest in testing more conditioners. I just went with more of what I had - transformers.

If you want to go more exotic than isolation transformers, you could add an industrial constant voltage transformer afterwards - but the returns are diminishing very rapidly at that point. And some of them are VERY noisy. Better to upgrade your caps, resistors, and rectifiers.

Hello Ptss.

I can't comment on these, as I haven't used them. But I find that industrial equipment is often a superior alternative, because it must work, and work reliably too. Hence Plitron. I also use a CVT (constant voltage transformer) for my turntable, in front of the manufacturer's "special" power supply, for three levels of filtration.

I think that you are correct in your pursuit of pure power, because I think that is the most under-rated factor in audio. My amplifiers see more than a Farad of capacitance, for example.