which power conditioner unit?


have read about power conditioners, power equalizers such as equi-tech,shunyata and nordost's "thor"
how do these units differ from each other in practical usage and what are they're individual strenghts and weaknesses?
thanks all,
azjake
128x128azjake
Post removed 
Ditto Tvad. Haven't we been here more than once? There's oodles to read. Good luck, you'll need it...
Tvad is right, but before you start your research, here's a guide to the main groups:

Power Conditioners: A little like hair conditioners. Smooth things out (filters), repel dirt (EMI and RFI) and provide anti-static protection (voltage spikes.) They can't provide voltage or AC frequency (60 cycle) accuracy. And they provide what attributes they do provide, some think, at the expense of sonics.

Power Regenerators: These devices do all the things that conditioners do, but instead of employing passive filtration, they do it using active electronic circuitry such as signal generators, linear amplifiers and feedback loops to regulate the wallpower. What you get is what (in a perfect world) would/should come out of the wall.

Balanced Power Units: These units have been in use for years in studios but only UL Approved for consumer use for about 12 years or so. They reconfigure the 120V-to-neutral plus ground conventional power layout, into 60V-to-neutral-to-60V. Thus creating a noise-free (self cancelling) conductor layout just like XLR balanced interconnects do. Primarily used with lower powered more sensitive front-end (source) stuff, but can be used with amplifiers too. Excellent when combined with a regenerator unit. For more info on the hows and whys of balanced power, go to the Equi=Tech website at: www.equitech.com
The best power conditioner is none at all, if you don't have nasty power. Be sure you need it, a voltage regulator might be more useful. Again be certain you have bad power. Dedicated lines work great in many cases. YMMV
Your own equipment may be the worst offender ... in a sense "You've hired your own Assasin"

Dacs, Switching power supplies, Oscilllating clocks, Diodes, and more,(any thing that switches on, and off at a high rate) can add noise back into your system's power supply.

Look for a Power Conditioner that filters on the back side or is Bi-Directional

My combination consists of an Exact Power EP15 to generate square sign waves, and Foundation Research's (LC1) to filter Bi-Directionally