Why does better power = better sound?

I think what we’re doing here is redefining the meaning of the term “source component” from turntables/cartridges and CDP’s/DAC’s to power line conditioning components, and rightly so.

Reading this thread convinced me that if I wanted my system to “always” sound as good as… like at night… that I had to feed it cleaner power to begin with. Because my system already included a dedicated 20 amp circuit, Oyaide R-1 Receptacles with WPC-Z Faceplates, and last but certainly not least an Audience adeptResponse aR6 Power Conditioner, it’s not as if up to this point that I was l ignoring the power source.

Sooooooooooooo, I once again opened my wallet and purchased an Audience adeptResponse aR6-TS Power Conditioner. Those who have read my posts know that I don’t glorify or gush over the attributes of one piece of equipment over another, but the Audience aR6-TS is an exception.

With the Audience aR6-TS in my system, it’s as if I can walk through my speakers and literally shake hands with the musicians. If I ever get the opportunity to meet John McDonald, I’d give him a standing ovation.

"With the Audience aR6-TS in my system, it’s as if I can walk through my speakers and literally shake hands with the musicians. "

I have a lot of problems pulling the trigger on power upgrades in my case.

I know cleaner power can make a difference. I heard it clearly when I first plugged my gear (other than power amps) into a modest Monster power strip. The problem is my gear still sounds great and I can do the walkthrough the speakers trick pretty well as is.

To me its like a white dress shirt. Its either clean or it is not. There is at point at which it technically might be considered cleaner if say inspected under a microscope maybe, but practically, it is clean.

So my best estimate is my power is clean enough to sound perfectly good to me. I might hear a difference were it cleaner, but it is not so important to me that I gotta go out and upgrade now. I probably will at some point once I feel educated enough to make a good decision. Making a good decision becomes harder once you get into the realm of diminishing returns.

Hi Raks - Wow, an Audience aR6-TS. I'm envious. Just looking at that thing makes me drool.

I'd love to attend a shootout of top power conditioners like Audience, Shunyata, Synergistic Research, Tripoint, etc.. People have great things to say about all of them. What would make it even more interesting is if you could selectively control the quality of the power going to the conditioner. Ahh... It's a nice day dream. Anyway...

To me its like a white dress shirt. Its either clean or it is not. There is at point at which it technically might be considered cleaner if say inspected under a microscope maybe, but practically, it is clean.

I think there's some truth to this, Mapman. But it's worth mentioning that I've been surprised MANY times with the benefits of improving the quality of power reaching my system. What surprised me the most were improvements to things like instrument timbre. For a long time I thought of noise as being synonymous with the NOISE FLOOR. Because the noise floor of my system was already low, I concluded that I wouldn't benefit much from improving the quality of the power to the system. Boy was I wrong.

Recently I went on a mission to reduce RFI/EMI in my system, which included things like installing croy'd 10 gauge Romex for my dedicated line, trying yet another fancy outlet (my 4th), dressing cables with zip ties with obsessive compulsive attention to detail, and adding ferrites to EVERYTHING in the house that pollutes the power lines (and that's just a few of the things I did). The effects went far beyond simply reducing the noise floor. Everything improved: dynamics, coherence, harmonic accuracy, imaging.

You're probably already aware of most or all of that. But for me it was a real eye opener. No, an ear opener. :-)

Bryon

Oh yeah, and yesterday I measured the voltage of various AC lines around the house. They ranged from 118.3V to 121.2V and fluctuated significantly. But...

The dedicated line feeding the system: 120.0V

It was dead on. And there was no fluctuation beyond .1V (within the +/- of the meter) during the 60 seconds I measured it. A little confirmation that my efforts to improve power around here are paying off.

Bryon

"I'd love to attend a shootout of top power conditioners like Audience, Shunyata, Synergistic Research, Tripoint, etc.."

Yes, me too.

Ideally this would occur in my room and with my power.

I'd settle for a/b testing of any of these with my setup compared to what I currently use. I would expect to hear a difference and be able to make a value judgement accordingly.

A shootout elsewhere would still be interesting but harder for me to translate.

My goal would be to use a power conditioner to put the power issue to rest for me for good hopefully. That might well prove to be a good investment even if somewhat pricey!

Maybe if I had $30 or so left in my pocket afterwards I just might, MIGHT, consider a fancy fuse! But probably not. :-)

If someone in Baltimore/DC metro area wanted to play, I might be interested in a reciprocal trial of some of my more easily transported gear in their place as well sometime.