THE WALL---Why?

I've always had the best performance when amps are plugged directly into the wall.  I am using dedicated 20A circuits, but anytime I put something between the outlet and my amp, I lost something.

Here in Ontario, Hydro plays games with our electricity. We are often at 125V or higher. The question is: what have they done to manipulate the power. Plugging into the wall is not ideal.

My Torus conditioner is used to drop that down to 120V. The nice thing about the Torus, 30amp peak current (for when I'm in a Rock N Roll mood). However, the circuitry that drops that down, adds something, also not ideal.

From there it feeds a BPT (balanced power technologies) toroidal conditioner. This is the cats ash!. For a lot of us, balanced conditioners are the only way to go. The only thing you lose is distortion. I was so used to this mild distortion, that I thought is was volume (spl). Once I got used to lower distortion, the wall was no longer an option, or any other conditioner. YMMV.

I believe Chris, from BPT, is now with Equi=Tech?

cousinbillyl

Here in Ontario, Hydro plays games with our electricity. We are often at 125V or higher ...

Actually, 125VAC is a very good voltage, just slightly over the nominal 123VAC that's the common standard in North America.

@cleeds I'm in Freeport Long Island, which offers among the best electrical service in the country. Despite that I'm on a dedicated outlet, voltage varies - on an intraday basis - between 116 and 123 volts inclusive. Naturally I cannot detect any audible difference. Not entirely sure, but I thought 120 was the goal/optimum (although that likely varies a few volts from component to component).

gdhal1

... I'm on a dedicated outlet, voltage varies - on an intraday basis - between 116 and 123 volts inclusive. Naturally I cannot detect any audible difference. Not entirely sure, but I thought 120 was the goal/optimum.

There is some variation between utilities, and 120VAC is a de facto standard. But there's a tolerance - as there is with all things, which my utility measures from the basis of 123VAC, last time I checked. 116VAC is a little on the low side, but within tolerance; 123VAC is only slightly high. Such voltage variation as you have is not uncommon, especially for residential service.

Voltage is what many audiophiles consider the gold standard for measuring their electric service, but it's only one element of it. Also of considerable importance is power factor, as well as the utility's ability to deliver current on demand. For example, many people with 200A electric service believe that it means their utility can deliver 200A of current, but that is very, very rarely the case. A 200A service panel only means it can safely distribute 200A. It would be very rare for the utility to actually be able to meet that load and - surprise! - it's often able to deliver much less. And that can be an issue for audiophiles ... especially with high power amplifiers and when the a/c is running, the refrigerator is running ...