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

My experience 

Amps sound best into the wall

Digital components (DACs and Streamers) benefit from plugging into a Power Conditioner and also from upgraded power cords. So far not the case with my Amp. 

Passive Power conditioners clean up the sound without negatively affecting the imaging, soundstage and high end frequencies as active conditioners do in my experience. 

And to the OPs original question, yes the power cord for the conditioner affects the sound. 
 

I tried a PS Audio Regenerator and a Audioquest Active Conditioner but found the best performance for my system with a Shunyata Gemini 8 passive. Also I preferred the Shunyata Gamma power cable to the more expensive Theta cable.

Even though my digital components ( Aurender and MSB))   have provided excellent power regulation they benefited from the Shunyata Conditioner. 

I realize that we all have our opinions and preferences. So, I am just adding my present arrangement to the discussion.

After many years of trial and error and upgrading 50+ years:

  1. I ran 3 10 gauge runs to my breaker box. At the end of these runs, I have 2 each Furutech NCF outlets.
  2. One dedicated line is reserved for my Video, one for my subs (4) and one for my Main system.
  3. On the Main system I have a AQ Niagara 7000 plugged into the wall with a AQ Dragon power cord.
  4. Into the AQ 7000 I have my 2 (Large) 1500 wpc mono blocks plugged into the Hi-Current outlets connected via Dragon power cords.

I have tried the amps directly into the wall and I prefer them plugged into the HI-Current outs on the AudioQuest Niagara 7000.

ozzy

No need to apply it to the busbar connection especially since these are always electrically live and fatally dangerous!!

All the busbars- neutral, hot and ground. The breakers will snap into the busbar, you want paste between the two, so you just need to paste the breaker contacts.

Okay, I see. I don't know why my mind defaulted to the neutral/ground bar.  But why does the author say not to do it because the bus is hot?  I mean it would be done with the main breaker turned to 'off'' and at least that part of the panel would be cold with the main switch turned to 'off' and didn't the author refer to other connections to paste that are live when the breaker is not tripped?

It occurs to the casual observer that if your power conditioner is doing it’s job, and the power cable is equal in size to the circuit cable, no change is necessary. Likewise, there is no advantage in swapping component cables either, as their purported capabilities have been rendered moot by the power conditioner.

Twisting the Romex in an attempt to improve common mode rejection is not a bad idea, but implementing it in most construction (e.g. through studs or along top plates) would be an electricians nightmare. My homes have neither crawlspace nor attics.

Power starving the amp is an amusing concept, unfortunately not supported by Ohm’s Law or actual amplifier requirements. A hypothetical: a 200 W/ch amp operating in Class AB at 60% efficiency draws a peak of ~700W (200+200 /.6 =666.7). Instantaneous peaks of 1 KW are possible if the amp has that much headroom. And those peaks are typically handled by the amps power supply capacitors - that’s their job. Either way, well within the capabilities of a single 15A (1800W) or 20 A (2400W) circuit

Assuming the speakers can handle 200 W (23dBW) and 300W peaks, and have an efficiency of 90dB, that gives a peak output of 114.5 dB (90 + 23 +1.5) Coincidentally, that’s about what most 2X8" or (1X8" and 1X10" such as a Wilson Alexia V) floorstanding speakers are rated for and capable of. Most stand mounts, KEF LS-50s, et al, that number is around 10dB lower. So even when pushed to their limits, the circuit demands are well within the capabilities of a single 20A circuit. The idea that a DAC or preamp or streamer have great dynamic power requirements simply shows a lack of understanding of their basic operations.

Now, using that same basic model I could come up with a scenario using Kilowatt monoblocks driving some megaspeaker that requires 2 dedicated 20A circuits, and if that applies to you, great. Ohm’s Law also still applies.

Finally, the recommendation of multiple earth grounds is not only wrong, it is dangerous and a violation of the NEC. Even slight differences in resistance between different grounds would create a voltage differential, line noise and potentially dangerous ground loops in and around the structure. Just don’t.