All of these items are subject to "your mileage may vary." I recently added a Richard Gray's Power Company unit and it has helped to open everything up and increase the palp factor. But a word on ground loops: in my system, neither a Chang Lightspeed unit or the RGPC were of any help with a nagging ground loop problem. My dealer recommended using "cheater" plugs, but I had to lift almost every ground in the system for that to work -- which just didn't make sense to me. The thing to do is to find the source of the hum, which can be done by a fairly tedious but worthwhile diagnostic, essentially disconnecting the entire system & reconnecting each piece, component by component, starting with amp to speaker cable, then pre-amp to power amp, and then adding the various inputs until you isolate the source(s) of the hum. In my case, the hum came from the interconnect running from my TV (with apologies to purists) and, in particular, tracing it back further, from the CATV cable from my wall. Inserting a Jensen ISOMAX isolation transformer (cost $49) between the CATV cable and my VCR eliminated the hum from my audio system -- no cheaters. Go to www.jensentransformers.com for more than you'd ever want to know on the subject. Jensen also makes an isolation transformer for stereo audio use, but it's more expensive. For a less expensive audio isolation transformer, check out the JK Audio "Pureformer" isolation transformer. I ordered one and it looked like a quality product, but I didn't need it because the Jensen piece did the job. Good luck.
POWER: conditioners vs filters vs cords
OK. I've heard a lot of contradictory stuff on power accesories. I'm going to throw this out to the roundtable and hopefully clear up some of the fog. I've heard the following: 1) Most full blown conditioners ($500+) do everything better. They stabilize input power, clean up ground loops, filter noise and insulate against power surges. However, some compress dynamics. 2) Most surge supressor/filter units ($200-$350) clean up ground loops, filter noise and insulate against power surges. (but a good power conditioner makes the system sound better overall) 3) Good power cords kinda clean-up ground loops and kinda filter noise; their major advantage is a blacker background, better dynamics, soundstage and imaging. 4) If you have a full blown conditioner, better powercords are redundant and offer little advantage. Am I on the right wavelength here? I have a minor intermittent ground loop, and I know my power is a bit on the dirty side, infrasonic garbage wise. So the question is this: I want to improve my sound quality by cleaning up my power supply without blowing a small fortune. I'd like to invest between $200 to $400(list price) but I wouldn't be adverse to bumping the price to $650 if it REALLY makes a difference. What do you recommend? Your opinions on any part of this subject are welcome and product recommendations would be appreciated. Thanks, Morbius2130aol