Does power conditioning really matter?

If you have crappy power and cheap power supplies in your components (most TVs, low-end receivers, DVD/BR players, etc would probably qualify), then you may see/hear a difference with power conditioning.

The thing is, power conditioning is basically what each component's power supply is supposed to be doing. Excessive noise in the power line could be more than what a particular power supply can handle, in which case power conditioning of some sort MAY make a noticeable difference.

However, to make a blanket statement that EVERYONE should go buy the most expensive conditioner and surge protector they can afford is a bit of a disservice.

a decent quality power cable on the plasma makes a big difference imo.

Mykesinger, I have had fairly expensive power cords and yes they do make a nice improvement on the t.v. This being said I have found some power cords that are made by Vintage Audio Labs to be what a lot of us our looking for. Bang for the buck is an understatement. I found these cables on ebay and they are not built or do they sound like something you would find there.

Mlc75, you say " It is the power transformers job to condition the power" YES! so this is why I use a couple of Kleen Line transformers. These transformers have power regulation and surge protection. They do not kill transient speed on amps either. High frequencies are very clean and detailed, not tizzy or metalic. With the panamax conditioners I would get compression and if an amp was plugged into it I would lose weight and texture. This is another form of power conditioning and it does matter.

Jp1208 that sounds amazing like an advertisement.

It really depends on your home power situation and your gear. I traded down a few years ago from a higher end system, to a nice home theater system and got rid of my RGPC conditioners. I just used a basic Belkin Home theater surge suppresor for the reciever, TV, cable and disc player in that system, and I was very happy. For the money, that was really a great system.

As I moved back into better audio gear, for a couple of months I focused on just the audio gear and didn't do anything about the power. I was pretty happy, then after some research I bought an APC S15 and it was a revelation. Man, it opened up everything sonically. I didn't really see any improvement in the picture quality, but the sound really improved. Deeper, higher, more transparent and faster.

Then I started switching amps, I had been using digital amps (Bel Canto, Spectron, Innersound) and switched over to traditional SS amps (Cary 500MB) and the APC started running out of juice!! Sound would start to degrade at higher volumes. So I bought an PS Audio Duet, and got the amps off of the APC, and "Voila" great sound again. Actually better than ever, and the amps once again opened up, and sounded much better than when just plugged into the wall.

So that's my $0.02. It depends on your gear, and your home's power. Our power sucks, and we get 4 - 5 power surges, noticable, mid day every day. We have fried 3 different control boards on Thermador ovens (thank God for the Home warranty), and more than one laptop has died a painful death. But the audio/video gear is safe.