A not sarcastic question for the power conditioner/upgraded power cord folks


And I realize that there are those that don’t believe in either

Assuming you use a power conditioner and after market power cords, do you feel that the power cord from the power conditioner to the wall might be a limiting or even a negating factor to the performance of the after market power cords that run from the power conditioner to the gear?

The reason I ask is that I was about to embark upon some more experimentation with different power cords and where I plugged them into when I discovered that the aftermarket cords I had purchased before and some recent arrivals are actually a meter shorter than the ones that came with the gear. This doesn’t matter for the amp due to its location, but when I did my last power cord upgrade I ran my CDP and pre into a conditioner so the length for those didn’t matter either, but as I was doing the musical chairs with power cords thing today, I also was intending to run the CDP and pre straight into the wall on separate dedicated circuits, but I found out that I am a tad short on those two.

Which doesn’t preclude me from moving my dedicated circuit outlets up a couple of feet, and I suppose I probably will, but I was curious as to the opinions about the limitations of a power conditioners power cord.

immatthewj

Which doesn’t preclude me from moving my dedicated circuit outlets up a couple of feet, and I suppose I probably will,

I wouldn’t, but it is your house (I hope?) After re-reading this thread if that is easiest then yes do it. I think alot of us who use power conditioners have it within 1-2m of the components, and then if you need a longer power cord to go from the wall to the conditioner you buy just one longer power cord. 

with a 2 meter run my amp is all that I can get straight into the wall. So right now, I am forced to use my glorified strip to plug the pre and cdp into. Problem 2 is that I cannot upgrade the pc to the glorified strip, because although it appears to be a very nice braided pc, it is hardwired in.

....but I found that I couldn’t reach the wall from my CDP or my pre with only two meters.

Sounds like you are fixed into your components needing to be in a rack? A tall one? Do they need to be? I don’t have a rack- I have platforms- so I don’t have that issue.

but I was curious as to the opinions about the limitations of a power conditioners power cord.

From my experience going direct to the Furutech GTX with the Coda amp instead of going through the Puritan PSM 156 had no difference, so I left the amp plugged into the Puritan. I haven’t tried with this Coincident Frankenstein amp yet though.

And replacing the 20 amp Puritan Ultimate power cord that feeds the PSM156 from the wall to a Shunyata SigmaV2 improved the sound quite a bit. It is the most important power cord, and should be your best, so IMO there is no "limitation for a power conditioners power cord" unless you are using an inferior one, or maybe one that is not up to the level of the others.

If you still have some OEM power cords you will probably notice the biggest difference once you have replaced the last OEM power cord in your system- once the "weakest link in the chain" or "the bottleneck" is swapped out to one that built properly is when the improvements of all of them become most noticeable. Not just about gauge, but EMI shielding, and your own components from contaminating the others with noise.

I think that is why some people replace just one OEM power cord with a $300 one and don’t hear that much of a difference, it is not only because their components are lower level, but they are still hearing the degradation of all of the other OEM power cords and interconnects in their system.

@audphile1  fyi.....No, the Audioquest Niagara 3000 power conditioner is not considered a power-limiting power conditioner; it is specifically designed to not limit current and even features: "Transient Power Correction" outlets that can provide a short burst of high current when needed, making it suitable for power demanding equipment like power amplifiers without compromising dynamics.   The Audioquest Niagara 3000 features:  High-Current Outlet, which are dedicated outlets designed to deliver high-current without limiting the power supply to connected devices like amplifiers.  Transient Power Correction:  This feature allows the Niagara 3000 to deliver a brief surge of current to handle sudden power demands during musical peaks.  Focus on noise reduction:  The primary function of the Niagara 3000 is to filer out AC noise, not to limit power.  As mentioned in my last post, over the past over 25 years, I've tested multiple types of power conditioners in my audio system (including so-called passive power conditioners), and because of it's advance non-power limiting technology, the Audioquest Niagara 3000 is the one I kept.  Happy listening.     

I have two direct lines, one for my power amp... which is plugged in directly and the other has my power conditioner where the other components are plugged in. 

@ghdprentice 

That is in line with the above article, and I believe that is @audphile1's philosophy as well. Are your 2 lines on the same phase? 

I really like that article- after most points he says "Again, use your ears to decide." 

I never thought of twisting the romex, I believe it is already, but a few more twists sure wouldn't hurt. 

And going to have to find some silver paste!

@kennymacc 👍

Digital sources poop noise back into the AC line. A good power conditioner makes sense as it not only cleans up the AC going to your components but also cleans up and reduces the noise going back into the AC line.
Once again the design of component power supplies and the conditioner matters here. In general though, amplifiers are usually better off when run direct without power conditioner while digital is plugged into the conditioner to mitigate noise going back into AC line.
I have two dedicated circuits - one for amp and one for digital. I never had good results with the amp run from the conditioner. All that’s needed is a very good power cord. My Bricasti M3 DAC also sounds best direct to wall. I haven’t tried my Aurender streamer with power conditioner but with its massive overbuilt power supply I doubt it will benefit. Just my experience.