Seeking advice re: complex power conditioning

Jonathan: You are kidding, right? What do you feel is wrong with any of the power products on their own?

jmeyers: i think you've create an almost surefire recipe to degrade the sound of your self-proclaimed "rather high-end system." you'd do better, IMO, replacing your "mainly transparent audio cabling" with zipcord. very small grade zipcord. YMMVBIDI. -cfb

I think CFB is right this time; you’re going to beat your power into the ground with that much conditioning. Imagine putting three different kinds of conditioner on your hair every time you took a shower. This is sure to leave your music lifeless with too much sheen

I trust you already have dedicated circuits in place? Clean dedicated power can almost stand up on it's own next to any power conditioner.

If that does not lower your noise floor enough try the conditioners one at a time. There's nothing wrong with surge or over-voltage protection when applied correctly.

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