@knownothing you have an electrical fire waiting to happen with a 30 amp circuit feeding your equipment. Your home owner’s insurance will not cover a fire due to illegal electrical work such as that. The highest rating for CSA / ULc / UL approved 120 volt AC receptacles is 20 amps. You need to replace that 30 amp breaker with the correct breaker for your receptacle.
Fundamental importance of power management
I have two systems, one is a fairly simple low power computer-based system in an office building environment. The other is a bit more elaborate home theater system used for mostly 2 channel listening. I have recrntly focused on upgrading the power management and delivery to both with great rewards.
I have been struck repeatedly by the effect of different power cables in my system, but I was astonished recently by the effect of putting my laptop source, all computer peripherals including external hard drive and sub on a low cost power conditioner strip I had laying around the office for multi media presentations. Sound was always a little edgy with this system, even though the Audio Engine desktop amp was on a modest Belken power conditioner. The effect of putting the computer set up and the sub on a separate conditioner in this noisy environment sounded like a major, major equipment upgrade.
This increased my interest in cleaning things up powerwise ahead of my home system, even though I have a dedicated 30 amp breaker and 10 gauge supply line, and I would not think home power would be as dirty as an office building. Each step including an upgraded power strip, conditioner and supply cable, replacing switching power supplies with linear supplies, and trying different power cables for gear has increased my enjoyment greatly, and seems to be allowing the character of each component to shine out, reinforcing the positive attributes of each and the whole. Because this is a home theater, I have more equipment in a relatvely small area compared to an analog only set up, so some of the benefit may be mitigating self inflicted wounds.
So in my experience, power management seems critical, and the foundation all other “solutions” to getting the best sound must be built. Down with plug and play.
I have been struck repeatedly by the effect of different power cables in my system, but I was astonished recently by the effect of putting my laptop source, all computer peripherals including external hard drive and sub on a low cost power conditioner strip I had laying around the office for multi media presentations. Sound was always a little edgy with this system, even though the Audio Engine desktop amp was on a modest Belken power conditioner. The effect of putting the computer set up and the sub on a separate conditioner in this noisy environment sounded like a major, major equipment upgrade.
This increased my interest in cleaning things up powerwise ahead of my home system, even though I have a dedicated 30 amp breaker and 10 gauge supply line, and I would not think home power would be as dirty as an office building. Each step including an upgraded power strip, conditioner and supply cable, replacing switching power supplies with linear supplies, and trying different power cables for gear has increased my enjoyment greatly, and seems to be allowing the character of each component to shine out, reinforcing the positive attributes of each and the whole. Because this is a home theater, I have more equipment in a relatvely small area compared to an analog only set up, so some of the benefit may be mitigating self inflicted wounds.
So in my experience, power management seems critical, and the foundation all other “solutions” to getting the best sound must be built. Down with plug and play.