What does an extra $1000 spent on a p. cond. do?

If you've got well engineered equipment with well designed power supplies, very little, but if you have mid line equipment, with adequate power supply designs, then it can be a benefit. Beware, even some of the biggest names in the business design a poor power supply, and can benefit.

On the other hand the old fashioned Sola transformers, do the same thing for less money!!!

loon

I disagree with Loontoon. I have excellent electronics, dedicated power lines and fabulous power cords. You know what? My power conditioner kicks everything up a notch or two. I'm not even aware of any power conditioner that costs only $300. I'm not counting Panamax (at any price) or Monster. When you move up to Shunyata, Audio Wedge, Sound Application, Audio Magic, etc; you have no idea how good your system can sound. That is, of course, if it has the right stuff. Can get pretty pricey, but it's well worth it. First start with a few dedicated lines to separate you digital and analog. Then, power conditioner. And finally: power cords. peace, warren

I also disagree with Loontoon. Proper line conditioning has more to do with the dirty AC current that is a universal problem to everyone on this planet.

Of course the better your equipment (assuming the vendor has not attempted to 'condition' the AC by suppressing offending frequencies), the more one should appreciate what proper line conditioning will do for the sonic presentation.

In fact, I can't imagine any system truly worth listening to without proper line conditioning. It's that fundamental and it's that foundational.

Although price rarely matters, from what I understand, most line conditioners aren't worth owning. Most will either induce their own harm, limit current, or even do nothing.

I've been using Foundation Research LC-1s and LC-2s dedicated and passive in-line power conditioners in my system for over 3 years now. Marty DeWulf of Bound for Sound reviewed these (the old versions) and simply called them the best he's ever heard and purchased the review samples for his Big Rig.

I've owned the new versions for 6 months and, believe it or not, the new versions are far, far, better than the old.

So to answer your question, $1300 would get you a couple of LCs and assuming your system is fairly well put together, your benefits should be nothing short of substantial.

-IMO

Stenho- I have an LC-1 on the Audio Logic 24MXL dac- nice improvement. What surprised me was that it was actually better going straight to wall than through my main BPT line conditioner- seems the LC's don't like to play in the sandbox with the transformer-based units...

Sutts, my understanding is that one should never expect any improvements whatsoever when combining line-conditioners, especially when mixing mfg'erers.

BTW, if you are using the older version, you should be able to upgrade your LC-1 for about $60 to the newer version which is multiples better than the earlier version.

In addition, you might be amazed if you ever tried LCs on each component. Personally, I've always noticed the greatest improvements with my amplifier.

-IMO