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Power Conditioners

Gee, I'm starting to feel like a poster of posts lately, but I am finding a lot interesting, sometimes controversial, comments from the "YouTubers" these days, much more so than in the past.

There are a multitude of threads on this subject here on AG of the what's, why's, how's and when's of PC's but not many on the thoughts of having none.

I wondered what your hands-on experiences were with power conditioners and if they added something to your musical enjoyment or as in this fellows case, taken away from it?

  https://youtu.be/XjzlFkcZP1g
high-amp

Showing 2 responses by hilde45

hilde45's avatar
hilde45
4,783 posts
 
I don’t have much first hand experience myself, but have researched this a lot. The answers you can expect will hit these points, plus others:
  • run a direct line (or two) from your breaker box if you can. 20A each
  • noise on people’s systems varies a lot depending on where they live, how many others are on the circuit, etc.
  • a whole house surge suppressor is a good way to go but it’s not necessarily a solution to noise
  • P.S. Audio sells regenerators; some like them, some don’t, but they’re 30 day free shipping trial if you are curious
  • debates about the wire in the wall are endless and people take different sides
  • conditioners can suck the life out of the sound; some advise plugging amps in directly; others think that’s too risky, surge wise. There’s debate.
And so much more. Many knowledgeable people here.
hilde45's avatar
hilde45
4,783 posts
 
This is from our recently passed member Almarg (among other things: BS in Electrical Engineering, Columbia University, MS in Electrical Engineering, Rensselaer):

FWIW, in my particular case I believe that the quality of my incoming AC is relatively good, as there is no commerce or industry within more than two miles of my house and nearly all of the town is zoned two-acre residential. So I’ve chosen to adopt a "less is more" approach to power conditioning (no regenerators for me!), but without compromising the protection of my system.

What I’ve done is as follows:

-- Installed an Audience aR2p Surge Suppressor/Conditioner ($695).
-- Installed a Wiremold UL210BC Power Strip ($71) to expand the two outlets of the Audience to 10.
-- Plugged a Shunyata Venom Defender ($225) into one of the outlets of the power strip, to attenuate noise that may be generated by digital components and the power amp and fed back into their power cords, from whence it could potentially couple into other components.
-- Installed a single 20 amp dedicated line, which powers the entire system via the Audience.
-- FWIW a "SyCon" whole house surge protector was installed by an electrician at the service panel, when I had him replace the entire panel a few years ago.

As I said I’m in an area that presumably has relatively clean power, so this approach may or may not be a good one in other circumstances. But it works well for me.

Best regards,
-- Al

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