Seeking advice re: complex power conditioning


I have a rather high-end system (Accuphase, Krell, Proceed and Wadia electronics with Revel Ultima 5.1 speaker system and mainly Transparent Audio cabling). I am now trying to “complete” my system by incorporating power conditioning. What I am thinking of doing is introducing balanced power, noise reduction, power supplementation, surge protection and voltage regulation. The specific components I am most seriously thinking about using are the SMART Home Theater GC-120 for balanced power and voltage regulation, the Shunyata Hydra for noise reduction, and the Richard Gray Power Company for power supplementation and surge protection.

I am intending to connect them in a daisy-chain fashion: GC-120 into the wall plug, with the Hydra plugged into the GC-120 and the Richard Grays into the adjacent wall plugs and/or the Hydra, depending on the application (my Krell FBP-200c is plugged into its own circuit via a PS Audio Ultimate Outlet and PS Audio Mini-lab power cord).

What I am seeking is the opinions of others regarding this proposal. Will it work? Am I chosing compatible products, etc?

Thank you.

Jonathan
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Hi Jonathan,

I suggest you reconsider your methodology for creating "clean" power for your system. The comments above are appropriate but in addition, I would suggest that you consider the following:

Your equipment charges its power supplies at the peaks of the ac waveform. While eliminating noise is an important consideration, more important is getting an unclipped waveform. A good waveform will allow the power supplies to charge more fully and therefore the units will have higher and more consistant rail voltages for the various circuits.

While cleaning the power is important, no matter how many cleaners you run the signal through you will never be able to repair a damaged waveform. You have to recreate it....

My suggestion is to take a very hard look at a PS Audio P-600 powerplant. This unit actually generates a perfect wave from scratch. Not only is the output completely isolated from the incoming ac mains (and all noise), but it allows tweaking of the waveform as well. PS (and lots of users) have found that their equipment sounds significantly better running a modified waveform...

Check it the Powerplants at www.psaudio.com. Read their take on the power thing as well as the magazine reviews on the PowerPlant equipment. By and large, everyone I know refers to the purchase of their PowerPlant as the single biggest improvement to their system that they've ever made.... My guess is you too will be impressed...

Finally, they're one of the only companies that will send you a unit and let you try it for a month to see if you like it. If you don't, send it back no questions asked..... Pretty amazing!

And no, I don't work for PS Audio or have any relation with them. I also don't sell any of their equipment. I have found their stuff to perform consistantly as described over the years and have always been very impressed. Paul McGowan the founder was talking about power issues 20 years ago (literally) and has come up with some very innovative solutions to the problem....

For what it's worth, that's my 2 cents....

Best of luck,

Steve
Steve's suggestion is a good, if pricey one. Audition the Power Plant by all means, along with some others. I tend to be a skeptic about many things but clean power isn't one of them. VERY easy to demonstrate improvements. OTOH, in my opinion, anyway, one maxes out on improvement long before one maxes out on potential expenditure. The best advice, as always, is....

Do you like it? Can you afford it? Then buy it.

But, man, don't string all that stuff together. Not only is it conspicuous consumption gone mad but the complex interactions could well defeat what you are trying to achieve.

Will
I've heard the Equi=tech balanced power conditioners are excellent and don't run hot like ps audio

Roger Nichols swears by them and has Steely Dan use their power boxes on tour

that says enough for me
Try the Stealth unit. The SoundApplication used to be the top line until Stealth came along.
The SoundApplication was already a giant step ahead from the PS Audio products and now Stealth, made by Audiomagic, is the ruling king of all power conditioners.
The Stealth is all you need.
You may want to try something that filters in parallel to the power, instead of something that gets in the way. Examples are the Audio Prism Quiet Line, Richard Gray Model 400, or Blue Circle Noisehound.