Power Conditioner for your amplifier?

A pleausure receiving your message. From the Hydra to the wall I have the stock Power Cord with NEMA lock required, the one that came with the unit. I think I might upgrade it. Now, from the Richard Gray Power Company to the McCormack DNA225 "Platinum Edition" Power Amplifier I have the King Cobra v.1 (from Power Snakes), that made a substancial difference. Other Power Cords I have in my System are Acoustic Zen Krakatoa, and many other brands and models. For my amp I prefer the King Cobra v.1 so far.
Best, Antonio Machado. P.S.: so based on what you say I asumme your amp is now being upgraded ? if so, you'll listen a major improvement when you receive it. Good luck, let us know your experiences/comments on that great amp. Best, Antonio Machado.

Antonio,
somehow I was thinking of the newer Hydra( probably because it's what I have), which uses a regular 20amp plug. My bad. Sorry.

I can tell you that the latest biggest difference on the amp was when I switched from VH Audio Flavor 4 cord from Hydra2 to the wall to Shunyata Typan Alpha. I just couldn't beleive the improvement. Not saying that the VH4 is a bad cord, not at all. It just didn't integrate with Hydra as well as the Typan does. From the Hydra2 to the amp I am using Audience powerChord. My favorite so far on all of the components in my system, including the cd player. I'll be looking for a Taipan Helix for my other Hydra2 that I use for the cd player. But not just yet. Too many changes at once it would be, the amp upgrade and the new cord.

Right now I'm waiting for my amp.
My DNA-225 had Gold rev + ARC2. Got a call today that the amp is going out tomorrow, so it should be here on Friday, so over the weekend and the next few weeks it's goint to be breaking in. I'll let you know what it sounds like.
So for now, I'm just waiting.
Later...

Hello Amigo Audphile1:

Very interesting what you comment on the various Power Cords with the Hydra. So you are expecting your DNA225 "Gold Level + ARC2" this Friday ? you'll love it amigo, you made the right decision going with that upgrade instead of any other alternative just like trading it and get a different one.

A question: what Damping/Isolation System have you been using with your Amplifier ? I have tried several but my best one is to place the Amplifier over a Set of Three Walker Audio Super Tune Kit (points down to drain vibrations from the cabinet to the Resonance Control Discs) and also on top of the Amplifier some Damping Plates from www.avisolation.com with marble slabs over them to maximize the contact and ad some damping weight.

Now amigo: I just received a full set of three Mega Feet (from www.mapleshaderecords.com) and I love the effect of it under the Subwoofer (those cones are really massive, weighting seven pounds plus each one) so I am thinking on another set and try it under my Amplifier, combined with some Heavy Hats over it.

By the way, Audphile1, the Amp requires considerable break-in period after the upgrading to perform at it's best, so I'd suggest you to leave "on" 24/7 during the first few weeks, you'll notice the incremental improvement of it every day.

Best, Antonio Machado.

Thanks for the advise Antonio.
About the isolation. I haven't tried anything under the amp yet. I recently bought a new component stand - Solid Steel 5.4 and had few isolation devices laying around. Tried them. Found them to make some difference under my preamp and absolutely no difference under my cd player. I guess the rack is very good in this regard and a cd player is pretty immune to vibration. Under the preamp I use Herbies Mini Isocups and Herbies Hal-O tube damping instruments on the tubes in the pre. Clears up and expands the soundstage a bit, but on my previous rack it made more difference. Basically, the Solid Steel was a nice improvement sonically to all the components, I think.

Once the amp fully breaks in, I'm planning on trying some Herbies ebony domes under it. We'll see how much difference these things will make, but I'm not expecting a big change, again, due to the Solid Steel's ability to control vibration. Besides, the stand itself is on spikes sitting on top of Target spike shoes, which are metal with rubber base.
Also, when I needed power conditioner for the amp, I spoke with Steve and got the Hydra2 recommendation from him. He said that usually, the Hydra2 is a good solution as far as power conditioners go for the amplifiers because it is not limiting current. He also recommended Running Springs Audio, but it is more expensive, so I tried the Hydra2, liked and kept it.