Richard Gray's 400 Pro = Emperor's New Clothes??

I want to and will at some point get a proper dedicated line for my system, even plan to use DH Labs cables. However its very unlikely I will spend anywhere near as much as you have, which is to me more than the cost of my Bryston 4B.

The point is everyone can't or won't be able to do what you have done to the level you have done. So you may be able to say I don't need an RGPC but most of us would have to do with $800 band-aid.

Athipaul,

I think Albert qualified his statement fairly well by ending his post with this:

"If you have problems of operating off a terrible local electrical grid, live in an apartment or high rise where everyone in the building is beating on your stereo, then yes, maybe conditioning is preferable to having none."

But, he is right, for less than the price of a $700 RGPC Power 400 and $1,500 Pole Pig, most homeowners can add at least 2 dedicated lines and breakers. Make that a $2k RGPC 1200S+ Pole Pig and dedicated lines in a home become a much more affordable option with better results, too. Obviously this may not be an option for those in rental units, condominiums, or in situations like my house where it will take major work to run new lines to my living room.

Regardless, I did find the RGPC units did a great job of quieting my noisy AC system. Of course, my surplus isolation transformers work just as well at <20% of the cost.

Darkmoebius:

Regardless, I did find the RGPC units did a great job of quieting my noisy AC system. Of course, my surplus isolation transformers work just as well at <20% of the cost.

Well said.

I don't hate power conditioning, I just want to make everyone aware that a good solid electrical grid is vital to maximum performance and that should come BEFORE investing in add on equipment.

I suppose it's possible to invest in the total reconstruction of your electrical and still need conditioning, but for me and several in my audio group, that is not the case.

The quality of your electrical power sets the stage for every piece in they system. Improve power supply at the source by even a little and reap the rewards at every gain stage.

Another way to look at it is that your Rega and Rotel gear is already handling power supply issues/variations as par for the course (as any highly respectable electronics really should)

Perhaps your results simply reflect the high quality of your orginal components?

Albert Porter's comments have piqued my interest on this complicated question, and I'd like to ask about how to help me figure out what to do about my power situation.

I live in a quasi-rural area with a far lower population density than most suburban communities. Our road has about 18 houses spread over a little over a mile. My house is the end of the line, with approximately 800' run of underground electrical cables. A vented underground transformer serves my house alone, since the nearest house to mine on the same lines is approximately 1000' away and closer to the line run on the road.

Still, I have brown outs at times, and I think I have detected power surges as well. The music room has 2 outlets on the same circuit and a ceiling fan. When listening, I have on one or two incandescent lamps. Tube power, tube pre, tube CD, turntable with vac holdown, transistor step-up and electrostatic speakers are on the 20 amp circuit. The power amp is plugged into the same outlet as the power conditioner that has the rest of the components plugged into it. The overall quality of the sound improved when the power amp was plugged directly into an outlet rather than going through the power conditioner. The conditioner sound is better than with a power strip.

Running dedicated lines to the music room seems quite difficult with the construction of the house since there is no basement and the wiring is in the walls.

My 200 amp service box definitely needs replacing. If dedicated outlet rewiring is not in the cards, what recommendations might be made here?

Thanks,
Rouvin