I do use an Audion Premier preamp on one of my systems. It is an earlier generation, with full remote control (volume plus switching). The sound of Audion preamps is in the same class as their power amps. The Klimo is in one system as a consequence of once having had Audiopax 88 power amplifiers, for which Audion's preamps did not have enough gain to drive (the Audiopax having only 18 db of gain and unusually low input sensitivity, requiring a preamp of 20 - 25 db gain), and the Klimo brings similar qualities so there was no need to replace it when I replaced the Audiopax with Audion's Black Shadow.
My Black Shadow monoblocks don't consume enough power to be dynamically constrained by light power conditioning. When I had higher-power amplifiers in the past, I did run them straight from the wall but in this case there's no dynamic difference. It's a peculiarity of my present location that mild power conditioning lowers the noise floor a bit whithout dynamic penalty. In another power neighborhood my configuration might be different. I'll likely add balanced power for the power amps and when I do, I am sure I won't be using power conditioning with it.
But I'll make an earlier point again: Balance is my measure, and that includes balance between my interests. My systems are in a good state of equilibrium today. My next push is to prepare for adding hard disk playback by settling on DAC choices that also benefit optical disc playback.
Phil
My Black Shadow monoblocks don't consume enough power to be dynamically constrained by light power conditioning. When I had higher-power amplifiers in the past, I did run them straight from the wall but in this case there's no dynamic difference. It's a peculiarity of my present location that mild power conditioning lowers the noise floor a bit whithout dynamic penalty. In another power neighborhood my configuration might be different. I'll likely add balanced power for the power amps and when I do, I am sure I won't be using power conditioning with it.
But I'll make an earlier point again: Balance is my measure, and that includes balance between my interests. My systems are in a good state of equilibrium today. My next push is to prepare for adding hard disk playback by settling on DAC choices that also benefit optical disc playback.
Phil