How much should a person spend to get a decent power conditioner?

Just to make sure....
repeating test
with:

Crooked Still - Shaken by a Low Sound.....

For grins last eve I decided to test ( double blind of course - hard to see out of both eyes after a few Reds ) the theory and well accepted claim that the power amp should not be plugged into the conditioner...

yup

front end into an Isotek, amp into a Furman PF15i

not as good as amp MC240 ( heavily modified by Mike Samra ) direct to wall

test CD - David Gilmour Solo
test wine : DAVIS Family Vineyards, Healdsburg CA

your voltage may vary

but IF ya want a kick @#&*$ system you work both, component and cable noise issues and clean power....

and more than a few good firms build power conditioning into the product - Ayre and Vandersteen come to mind....

a wall wart is a digital switching power supply, i guess you refer to them as a puck...
anyway, well documented and measurable the trash they dump into power line as well as RFI generated....

cleaning that up = good

if possible get a linear power supply...

seperate circuits also help a lot....ideal is three w digital, low level analogue and power amp all on dedicated lines...

inhave four w DAC olso on a dedicated line...
snakeoil for sure....

if you hope a furman will fix cable rfi and hum you are on wrong track...

that is where cheaters may help but you MUST keep a component grounded w three prong - typically the preamp....

Btw
bought both Furman for less than $250....each
they are out there....

Well the ideal of perfectly designed components, cables, and reliable clean power is mostly a pipe dream....

to wit I bet you will find many a dirty wall watt switching supply in many many systems

most people have at minimum a network switch nearby and the wall wart to power it.

most servers, DACA, etc lack a properly designed Faraday cage to keep the analog side clean...

so gathering all your dirty dirty stuff up into a low end $500 Furman or similar and putting that on a dedicated circuit will do wonders for your and most any system

i have all three of my systems wired this way, two w Furman, one Isotek