Taking Power Conditioning to the Max?


Obtaining “clean” power has become an obsession of mine, but I believe I have finally reached a degree of cleanliness that makes further tweaking unnecessary for me.

I start with a dedicated 15A circuit which terminates with a Shunyata SR-Z1 AC wall outlet. From that outlet, via a Shunyata Delta NR power cord, the power goes to an ExactPower EP-15A voltage stabilizer. The ExactPower unit partially regenerates the power to ensure it is consistently 120v/60Hz. From the EP-15A, the power flows to a Richard Gray’s Power Company Substation, which is, essentially, a very large (and heavy!) toroidal isolation transformer. This unit not only does a good job of isolating the power from the outside grid but also performs well in eliminating audible line noise; in addition, it provides a reservoir of power available on an instantaneous basis. This Richard Gray unit uses its own proprietary power cord. Leaving the Substation, the power flows again along Shunyata high current power cords into two Shunyata power conditioners – a Denali 6000/s and an original Hydra.

The result of all this power conditioning is, from my usage perspective, abundant electricity which is simply noiseless.

Now many audiophiles might say that using so much conditioning will suck the life out of the music. I was, of course, concerned about that, too; however, I have found these three units to be complementary to each other, and I believe my power cables between them have prevented noise from re-entering my system. (I should add that I use Shunyata or Wireworld power cords from the Denali and Hydra to the various components in my system, and high quality interconnects thereafter.)

I am curious whether others here also employ elaborate setups to deliver the highest quality power to their systems and, if so, how they have configured them.


128x128jmeyers

Showing 2 responses by nonoise

@steakster 
I feel you're spot on with your break down re: HF and LF anomalies that serve as clues that indicate something amiss with your power as it describes my experience almost to a tee.

I've always been able to ameliorate the effects but not entirely, until I fiddled with the Blue Circle Thingee, using it not as it was intended.

All the best,
Nonoise
Not having the financial wherewithal that others have, I've settled on going straight into the wall with my integrated and SACD player. I have two Porter Port outlets that share the same and only leg that services my audio and video needs.

My limited experience placing anything between the amp and CDP resulted in diminished dynamics and/or a softening, albeit slightly, of the sound. 

The best one was a simple Blue Circle Thingee FX2 but it still had a slightly negative effect. Out of the blue, I used it as a stand alone device plugged into an open outlet on a Cullen Cable power strip (no filtering or conditioning) and the results were wonderful.

I never thought there'd be that much noise on my lines but there it was, plain enough for anyone to hear. Better decay, detail, air, extension, tighter base, and so on. It's easy to determine by unplugging and plugging it back in as the resultant change in sound is immediate. 

The power strip has a built in 4' power cord and the Blue Circle Thingee"s IEC uses a 6' power cable for a total of 10' to the outlet. Bypassing the power strip and going straight into the open outlet on the wall subtracted 4' of power cord.

The odd thing is, there was more attack and leading edge with a lessening of body in the mids and base. It seems there's too much filtering happening, or something more than filtering happening, when placed closer to an outlet that parallels what happens when the unit is used as an inline device.

That tells me that having dedicated lines is more important than filtering or conditioning close to the sound source. I've read where some manufacturers don't stop at filtering/conditioning but try to give audiophiles a certain type of sound that's appealing when they should just be content with cleaning up AC noise. It's quite the jungle out there when it comes to this.

All the best,
Nonoise