To power condition or not to power condition AVR


Given that an AV receiver has a complicated set of combined tasks, seems that external power conditioner might be valuable given all digital processing, but concerned about limiting current.  Your thoughts and experience in this topic appreciated.  Specific power conditioners you have had good luck using with AVRs?

kn
Ag insider logo xs@2xknownothing
The Arcam looks like a decent unit.
http://www.soundandvision.com/content/arcam-avr400-av-receiver#oT8I4Md9o6eCKlAx.97
 
Every power conditioner that I've tried restricted the dynamics or soundstage of an amp, (But I have never tried a high-end, high-priced regenerator).

Arcam does not list the specs for current, only nominal power (presumably into 8 ohms)...
  • Output power 130W p/c (2 channels driven)
  • Output power 90W p/c (7 channels driven)
  • I would think that you would want unrestricted power on demand, and that would come from your 20A dedicated line. If you have steady line voltage into your house with no "brown outs" in your area, plugging into the wall receptacle may provide the best performance.
    I would be more concerned with good surge protection from a non-current limiting power strip, i.e., Furman offers a power strip with EMI/RFI noise filtering.

    Unless you have wild power swings because you live in an old apartment or the like, where a power conditioner assists in flattening out the swings with an element of surge protection, there is no reason to introduce a power conditioner.

    as properly highlighted in the prior posts, they are just detracting and limiting filters that detract from audio performance. 

    As AVRs already suffer from lousy cheap power supplies, the filtering effects are magnified to the negative, not the positive.
    I agree with AKG. I’d move up to higher quality separates before spending a lot of money on power conditioning, especially since you already have a dedicated line. But if you have fluctuating power coming into the house I’d consider something with power regulation to help protect electronics, especially since Arcam products already have their fair share of reliability issues. I use an APC H15 and it shows me when it’s boosting and cutting power due to the fluctuations we have here, and it also eases stress on components with a sudden loss of power that also happens here frequently. I will say it gives nice peace of mind knowing it’s working. I have a fairly mid-fi 2.1 HT setup I cobbled together, but my neighbor uses the same conditioner in his Bryston/Martin Logan setup and hasn’t noticed any ill effects from using his APC. Hope this helps and best of luck.

    @akg_ca

    I agree that AVR’s in general are engineered to a lower standard than a typical "separates" configuration, but to make such a blanket statement that "99.9 % of AVR’s are Chi-Fi garbage" is both incredibly arrogant and demonstrably false. Manufacturers like Arcam, NAD, Anthem, etc. are good examples, as they themselves manufacturer separate preamp processors and amplifiers in addition to their AVR lines, and in the case of their flagship model AVR’s, many of the components are often sourced from their higher tiered brethren. I’m happy for you to have the financial means to purchase top-end gear, but comments like that are neither constructive nor conducive to the environment that Audiogon tries to promote, which is a camaraderie among audio enthusiasts, not class segregation between wealthy audio enthusiasts and those with more modest financial means.

    That being said, I do agree with your statement that many power conditioners on the market are far too restrictive and essentially trade current delivery for filtration, which is obviously not what you want for an amplifier. However, you are yet again making the mistake of putting out blanket statements, in this case about power conditioners, that are NOT universally true; many options from the likes of APC, Furman, AudioQuest, etc. have high current banks that largely mitigate this issue and feature either battery backups (APC) or current reservoirs (a whopping 90 amps in the case of AudioQuest’s Niagara 7000) that supplement the power coming out of the unit to provide plenty of headroom for demanding source material. If after all that has been taken into consideration you still feel that you are better off plugging straight into the wall, then all I can say is that I hope you have very clean power in your neighborhood and don’t ever suffer a damaging surge to your expensive equipment.

    -David