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Not sure for power conditioner my amp or not.

Hi, I have an VTA ST-120 I built using KT88C’s for my 2 channel. I have all my equipment running through a Torus Power TOT MAX Toroidal Isolation. I have heard 2 different versions on what to do. As far as what to plug my amp into. The wall or the TOT’s? I know this isn’t a "power conditioner" such as PS Audio sells. Should I keep everything plugged into the TOT, so all my grounds are the same and it has the optional surge protection? Or straight into the wall? I tried the wall once, but didn’t hear a difference really. But I didn’t test for long and not sure I ever got to the point of drawing too much power from the amp. Which is the best way to leave it? Thanks! Scott

VTA ST-120

smoorenc
smoorenc's avatar
smoorenc OP
51 posts
 

Thanks Everybody for your advice. Now I am even more confused than I used to be, LOL I am kidding. Thanks for real! We have good power here and I have solar feeding my house. I am going to move the power to the wall and see how that goes.

carlsbad2's avatar
carlsbad2
2,036 posts
 

It depends on your "conditioner".  If it sounds better plugged into the wall, your conditioner is junk.  and many of them are.  

I've said here a dozen times, you can't filter noise out of AC.  You rectify it and invert it with a quality inverter.  Then your invert has to have large amounts of instantaneous current availabe.  PS audio was the first and may still be the best.  People here that I trust have made me think that the furman reference series has plenty of power to support amp dynamics.

Those with physics degrees from the university of google try to size the power supply to match the AVERAGE power that the amp pulls.  and it works great if you don't care for bass or dynamics.

Jerry

lak's avatar
lak
4,822 posts
 

After you have experimented with the power conditioner vs directly to the wall outlet (which is the only way to answer your question) let us know what sounded better and why, please.

dinov's avatar
dinov
870 posts
 

I plug my MC500 amp directly into my shunyata power conditioner. I’ve tried it both ways and cannot tell any difference. I’d rather have clean power and protection. 

tvrgeek
299 posts
 

With a big honking transformer power supply, I would just plug it in. Toss a ferrite on the power cord if it makes you feel good. I have a whole house suppressor which if you can do, is highly recommended.  If not, I would look at the amp schematic and see if they properly did any surge and RF internally. It amazes me how any product above the price-spec only market fails to do proper AC input design. 

If you have a toroid transformer, a DC blocker is a good idea. Nothing wrong with a reputable power strip with RF filtering and surge suppression.  I have used Iso-Max, Trip-Lite and Monster strips. Reputable, actual engineering. 

None of that is going to make it sound any better. Just safer. I have not lost any audio to surges, but two stove control boards, two TVs and one computer.  My audio is all old school with transformer inputs except my new DACs

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