Should Amps be plugged into a power conditioner?

When I purchased Emotiva’s differential pre-amp (XDA-3) and their power amp (XPA-Dr3, ~ 500w/ch) together with their own power conditioner, their recommendation was to NOT plug the power amp into the conditioner but straight into the wall outlet. 

I have a Shunyata Hydra 6 and my amp is a McIntosh MC 7300.  At one time I contacted Shunyata directly and the head tech person told me to plug the McIntosh directly into the wall.  FWIW.

Hi to all,

 I had the same concern about plugging amps into the wall. I decided to write to Andy at Synergistic Research and this was my response.

Almost all power conditioners limit current, which is why you hear recommendations to plug the amps directly into the wall. However, All Synergistic power conditioners are completely non-current limiting. In fact, the cells have slight capacitance, so they can provide more current on demand than the wall itself. So, not only can you plug the amps into the PowerCell 12, you SHOULD. Amps can benefit from conditioned power just as much as any other component when the conditioner can provide enough current.

 About a year and a half ago I purchased a Furman Elite mostly for the surge suppression. Got tired of unplugging every time there was a T storm. According to the manufacturer, the outlets for power amps had zero limiting on power/current draw, so I even gave up my dedicated 20A circuit for my amp and plugged it into the Furman along with everything else. My system is dead quiet and I swear the soundstage expanded, wider and deeper. I can detect nothing but improvement from this thing, and I no longer freak out about the weather....

I’ve also been very happy with my McIntosh MC500 plugged into my Shunyata Triton/Typhon Combo. I’ve  never had any issues.

From the info in the preceding posts, it would appear that plugging my amp directly into the mains socket would be preferable. Unfortunately, my mid-century home has ungrounded circuitry in most areas, including my listening space. When the amp is plugged directly, there is a small amount of current flowing through the cabinet that can be felt by touch. I found that by connecting the amp to my  Panamax conditioner resolves this issue. I hope to upgrade the circuitry, at some point, but in the meantime I'll have to use a conditioner for my amp.

I have used  power conditioner for around 17 years I thought it made a difference in the sound quality of my Denon 4308 and the picture quality of my plasmas, (oleds presently) . Denon still gives me phone support and always asks if I'm using a power conditioner and to unplug it and plug it straight into the wall, I have a lot of power surges here with every thunderstorm once the power goes out the unit stays off until I turn it back on. gives piece of middle in the middle of the night when the power is going in and out..

My Pass Labs mono blocks are plugged directly into to separate wall sockets, which is the recommendation from Pass Labs. Other components with less current draw are plugged into an Isotek conditioner. 

Interesting thread. I have a Shunyata Denali power conditioner and have had an Luxman L-507ux MK2 integrated amp plugged into it since purchase. I’ve had the same performance described by jsalemo277 above. Having never tried plugging the amp into the wall directly I have no idea if the less restricted dynamics ghdprentice described of might be obtained by doing so.

So I’ll try that out tomorrow and see.  The pre-amp portion of the integrated might be negatively impacted by decoupling it from the Denali, so I’ll try and notice if there is any noticeable issue there as well and report back.

Mike

I have a decidedly mid-fi bedroom system, NAD C700, Cullen Cable Gold Series power cable, into a Furman Powerstation 8 Digital Linear Power/Surge Protector, then into a hospital grade receptacle.  I can detect no difference between directly into the wall or through the “filtering” receptacle on the power conditioner/surge protector.  I simply can’t be without a surge protector because where I live we commonly have thunderstorms, don’t want to fry my equipment.  Reviews on it are good and so far there’s only been a couple of outages and no damage.  I’m sure a higher end, more revealing system may have different results, but FWIW this works for mine.

I have found many with big transformers actually limit the dynamics 

Ansuz D3 totally different technologies using powered mini Tesla coils over 100 

and different type of sign  waves making a very substantial improvements 

add to this their digital Ethernet hub and some of their cables magical .

my brother currently has them and I have been part of demos vs some  much more expensive products and this range from Danish Audio Group is pretty special .

Borresen Xmodel Loudspeakers and The excellent AAvic integrated amps 

and Axxis entry level gear is very good and decent pricing. Well worth checking out.

One of the most respected power conditioner and cable companies, Shunyata, specifically designs the Denali and Everest lines with both high current and low current zones. The high current zone is designed for pre and power amps.  The low current zones for digital components.  I use a Denali and plug my integrated amp into the high current  zone and do not get hum.  SQ is improved over directly plugging the integrated amp into the wall (quieter background, more detail, better bass definition, timbre,  imaging and staging). I do not hear any reduction in transient speed, leading edge, and there is better impact.  Well designed conditioners like Shunyata, Audience, Nagra, Etc. will bring improved SQ to high current components.  I would not chance plugging in any of my components directly into the wall and chance damage from surges.  

Definitely directly into the wall… and preferably into a dedicated direct line. Perhaps some very unusual  amp / terrible power situation it would be better… but I have not experienced it or heard of it. 
 

My dealer recently brought over a conditioner specifically designed for just the amp. I wish I remembered the name… it was high end, you’d recognize the name. The audition lasted about a minute… although I spent more time with it. Definitely restricted dynamics. 

I've been very happy with my 200 watt amp from Spectral plugged into an Equitech 2Q which is a "balanced power" unit.  I use very high level MIT Cables power cords to and from the Equitech and found a benefit with these MIT pc's. I would not be without the 2Q. My cities power is not excellent; as many others are not either. YMMV. I decided to buy the 2Q by an in-home trial. It was a no brainer on listening; but not cheap. 

Prior to purchasing the Shunyata Everest 8000 and a bank account’s worth of power cords, I spoke with various people and researched the topic of plugging power amps into the wall.  My integrated amplifier, the MA12000 at 300 watts per channel of not class D power had a definite McIntosh recommendation of plugging it directly into the wall.  My MA12000 and two REL S812 subwoofers each plug into their independent circuit on my Everest and I’ve never found anything but benefit from using the Shunyata.  Take a look at this review with reference material and components used at the end of the review.  I’m not suggesting that you do the same.  In fact, as previously mentioned, I purchased these with a ninety day guarantee of 100% refund if returned.  I fully expected to return the Shunyata and their Midas power cables.  I didn’t…

Thanks to all for your feedback. I should have mentioned what my model my amp

is. It is a AR 300.2. Kind of old, but still a very good amp

. 

In general no unless perhaps if one has a power conditioning device capable of delivering the power and current the amp demands without breaking a sweat. Pencil neck conditioners need not apply with most power amps. Otherwise the power conditioner will be a bottleneck to performance rather than a help.

Depends upon the amp and the conditioner.  Conditioners that allow many amplifiers to function without limiting the headroom are very expensive.

This ^^^^^.

Some amps (mainly higher end amps) go to great lengths to optimize the power supplies in the amps.  Others can definitely benefit from a good conditioner.  It's just not a one size fits all rule of thumb.

I got a chance to buy a used Lightspeed 3200 for $10, so I gave it a try.  Wow....really nice with my old tube amps, but can't say what it'd do with other amps.  YMMV

Going on 25 or 30 years ago, a dealer in Philly sold me on these power conditioners he carried (a brand I've never hear of since).  He was skilled at selling me on stuff, and he swore up and down that ALL my eqipment should be plugged into it and (I paraphrase) it would make the background blacker, soundstage deeper, and just about every other good thing you could do to a sonic presentation.

Anyway, after I bought it I called Cary Audio up to see how they felt about me plugging my amp into it (this was back when they still provided telephone tech support), and the gentleman I spoke to sort of gave me the impression that he was not all that crazy about the idea.  I have used that power conditioner off and on, but I don't plug amps into it.

If you’re using a power conditioner for your amp, try plugging directly into the wall and see if you notice a difference in SQ. I did.

When I was at a local dealer hosting McIntosh, one of their amplifier engineer/designer was there, and said amps should not be plugged into a power conditioner. The Power Supply, properly designed, does not need it and it lowers the draw rate of the amp. The amp should be plugged into the wall. Pre-amps and sources SHOULD be plugged into power conditioner(s) since they pull power more consistently.

For me better safe than sorry. Panamax had been my best equipment "shepherd" and protector since deep early 90's and never failed even with STRONG surges. Never cared to upgrade that one.

The amp's class of operation could be a factor, e.g., class A, AB, or D.  Any knowledgeable opinions?

Depends upon the amp and the conditioner.  Conditioners that allow many amplifiers to function without limiting the headroom are very expensive.

IME, amplifiers are far better sounding when plugged directly into the wall. You trade off filtering for much more headroom. I will take more headroom all day long.

I should add that I have always used higher powered amplifiers. This may not be true of tubed or SET amps as I have no experience with those.