Power conditioner types

@bruce19 - painting won't cut it = I asked Furman about switching faceplate colors and haven't heard back...I doubt they would do it.

So if I understand this correctly, the only real way to do what I asked is to have some kind of rechargeable battery or external generator. Capacitors act like filters and can't totally clean the noise out of the electric company current. Or am I wrong and some PCs do have batteries or generators?

So the reason people theoretically pay thousands of dollars for PCs it that some do a better job (supposedly) of filtering out the noise?I thought originally that there were 2 classes of PCs, filtering ones and generating ones.

A guy from Furman said that their upper level conditioners do this, but he still said it was like filtering water and you can never get rid of all the noise, which makes me think their upper level ones don't really do it.

I know that my phono stage manufacturer, Sutherland, used to make one that was battery powered called the PhD which was popular back in the day. Not sure why he stopped making them, but it makes sense since they use so little power.

Knowing very little regarding
power conditioners...
they improve sound but do they protect equipment should
a power surge occur or are they
possibly damaged as well?
Appreciate your input regarding
the above mentioned Decware

@mbenne

Check for UL 1442 rating. If yes, then they are actually tested to protect against AC surges. If not, your guess is as good as anyone else’s.

Most surge protectors have limited lifespans anyway, so eventually they will wear out over time.  ZeroSurge/SurgeX/Brickwall are rare exceptions.

You might need a hair conditioner or perhaps a surge protector but you already have a power conditioner. It is called a power supply. Anything else is a waste of money.

@bigtwin - than one requires a 20 amp receptacle and sounds like it gets as close as you can to a battery or generator using a special transformer, versus capacitors, which I guess is what the more expensive ones do.

@mbennes  - they protect against surges or spikes, from what I understand, not against direct lightning strikes. I doubt anything is immune from getting fried, which is almost like catching fire. Nothing is fireproof.

@mijostyn - IMHO I must disagree. They definitely filter dirty current from the power company to varying degrees in addition to providing some protection.

Now....can you hear it? What is that improvement in SQ worth to you? I think it is more important that power cables, but @millerccarbon may disagree with that.

I heard a small improvement in SQ when I put mine in years ago. I mainly got it for protection and to have something better than a power strip.