Do I need power conditioning

got to ask the same question as Vmpsbk: what do YOU mean when you say "it loses its magic"?

Also remember that AC power is cleaner @ night when everyone/most people retire to bed. Businesses are closed, people are not using appliances, etc, etc & there is MUCH less hash on the AC. Systems generally sound better w/ cleaner AC power.
Did your system lose its magic when you were listening to it in the middle of the day?

Power conditioning is NOT a panacea. It's a double-edged sword. Most power conditioners in the market constipate the system. Trying out which one suits your system could be time consuming at best.
There is a LOT of stuff on pwr conditioning & like Psychicanimal said yesterday in one other thread "you must seach the Jedi archives, young Padwan". There'll be more on this subject than you can shake a stick at!

Thanks for your responses, Vmpsbk & Bombaywalla. By losing its magic, I mean the soundstage shrinks; espeically the rear ambience. When its working well, and on a good recording, you can easily locate any echos in the recording from the rear. On some CDs with the recorded effects (e.g. the end of the last track on Dido's first CD), you can even hear the effect twirling around the listening room. When the system goes off, you lose all this. Also, the scale of the sound is just not as 'big' and it just sounds duller and you end up cranking up the volume to try to get it going but its just not as good as when its on song.
I do not notice any real change in the balance of the sound; say if there is any change in the bass etc.
The strange thing is that there does not appear to be any pattern as to the timing of this in a 24 hour cycle. If anything, it tends to go off for days at a time. I might add that I live in an apartment.
I have been reading up on the Shunyata Hydra units & was wondering whether I should give these a try. Thanks again for any ideas you might have.

I have had the same experience and can have great music for days and then degraded sound quality for a coulpe of days. I started a thread about this maybe 2-3 months ago and you can search for it under "Misc" or under my username. There were lots of good responses and suggestions.

I formerly worked for a public power company. Audio equipment is designed for 120w/60cycle. The power coming from your outlets does deviate (at times) from that. Also, there is "crud" (RF, etc.). Pretend your system is a main frame computer that needs clean power. Act accordingly. Contrary to Bombaywalla, I have never heard a system sound worse because of a power conditioner. Be forewarned, clean power is clean power and there is a lot of snake oil being sold in the name of "super clean". The power coming to the outlet is traveling through 15 cent a foot Romex. I believe every system would benefit from a BASIC conditioner that has enough capacity for the system. Anything beyond that is placebo.

JW,
Any recommendations on any basic conditioners that have worked for you?
Thanks!
bill