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Power Conditioning / Surge Protection

I am looking for some advice on power conditioning and surge protection.  I have a dedicated circuit for my two channel system with eight outlets. Years ago I was talked into buying a couple of Richard Gray Power Stations which I still have in the system. Because of the logistics of my system they have served as additional outlets when power cords weren’t long enough but honestly I don’t know a damn thing about power conditioning or surge protection and whether I’m doing harm or good to my system.  I have a turntable, phono stage, music server, streamer, CD player, integrated amp and dual powered subs so I have a lot of need for power. I’m interested in protecting my equipment but I don’t want to muddy things up either. I’m willing to scrap the Richard Grays and either replace them with something else if there are better options.

I would greatly appreciate any advice from those who know about these things. I’m very happy with my equipment but feel the power issue is lacking or, at best, not well thought out. 
puppyt
audio2design
1,351 posts
 
The AC line only supplies voltage for a small part of the waveform every 1/100 or 1/120th of a second. If you are current starving the AC input the you are clipping. The relatively small loss of voltage on the secondary of the power supply due to some level of inductance on the AC would be fractions of a dB in top end.

Far more likely is inadequate components in the AC filter likely selected for continuous current rating but not the peak currents resulting in saturation of the inductor and increasing the THD not decreasing it like it should.

A universal statement about loss of dynamics without a critical look at the real mechanisms results in universal and likely often wrong statements applied to all equipment performing the same function.
mglik
914 posts
 
I have had excellent results with Shunyata Triton/Typhon. I was fortunate to get them for $4500 with 4 Shunyata power chords.
Their retail price when up to $18k! The change was stunning. The change in noise floor is so dramatic that the entire presentation radically changed. But Shunyata makes more affordable units.
A major part of their company makes units for medical and science.
Electron microscopes, etc. They hold many, many patents.
mijostyn's avatar
mijostyn
8,570 posts
 
Puppyt, get a Shunyata unit for your low level stuff and have your electrician install a whole house surge protector. Keep a spare handy as they are sacrificial like a fuse. It is best to keep amps away from the other equipment (preferably behind the speakers) and plug them into their own outlets. I do not use anything on them other than shielded power cables that I make myself. 
kijanki's avatar
kijanki
4,451 posts
 
Unless the amp is voltage clipping you have not made a good argument for true loss of dynamics though the loss would not be much different than line voltage variation. That resistance limits the peak current but extends the charge time so I your 10A example the peak may drop to say 5A but charge time increases and the voltage drop becomes small overall.
This argument is nonsense.  Charge time increases because voltage ripple gets higher, but capacitor get charged to the lower voltage because of the voltage drop on additional impedance in series.  At the peak of the wave max voltage on capacitor is equal to source voltage (peak secondary voltage after rectifier) minus load current multiplied by the source impedance.  Adding any impedance in series lowers voltage on capacitor at the same output load.

audio2design
1,351 posts
 
You are saying the voltage ripple gets larger. Prove it. That is a common misconception that is actually not true. The worst case voltage ripple will not get worse with added resistance.

Yes the voltage (average) on the capacitor may be lower. I never discounted that. A lower voltage (which wouldn't be any different from a lower mains voltage) will limit peak output power, but we are talking fractions of a db where clipping will kick in.

Do the actual work. Consider the transfer function. Consider the transfer function in the frequency domain. Voltage ripple will not increase with added input resistance.
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