Power conditioner types

@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.

I believe that the OP has the answer to the original question.  Some conditioners recondition the power.  IOW, they take the AC input voltage and current, convert it to DC, then convert it back to AC with a now fixed voltage and frequency that won't change. it also cleaned up the voltage/current.  They also may have very large capacitors.

others, take the input voltage/current and filter it to remove noise along with surge suppressors. 

for those that think that power conditioners have no value, I say, it depends.

When I hear or read someone who's first words are "I think", I typically walk away.  Doesn't really matter what one thinks.  facts are what matters.  If you take five very good power conditioners and do A/B comparisons versus each other and more importantly against direct wall connections, then listen to the system, you will hear differences.  

Keep the power amps directly connected to the wall outlet and the low level equipment, pre-amp, turn table power supply, CD player/transport, music server, etc. plugged into the power conditioner.  Then listen.  hear any differences?

I have relatively clean power coming from my utility.  But, I still heard definite improvements with each power conditioner I demo'd.  And I also have and use four (yes four) dedicated lines.

My point is to hear for yourself.  Take the equipment home for an in-home demonstration and A/B yourself in your home system.  This is true for any piece you want to buy.  If a dealer won't let you take a demonstration unit home for an in-home demonstration (after taking your credit card information of course), then something is not right.

Many times the noise floor is lowered by removing grunge on the line. Some remove frequency fluctuations from the utility.  This is what turn table speed controllers do.  They take the AC wall signal with the 60 or 50 Hz signal, convert it to DC, then convert it back to AC with a solid fixed frequency. You tune your turn table to that frequency and now you have stable speed regardless of what the utility's frequency is doing.

anyway, check for your self.  A power conditioner may help.

enjoy

I thought I didn’t need a power conditioner for the longest time until I tried a Audioquest Niagara 1200. Three different integrateds and my SACD player all sounded better with it. Even my TV picture improved.

Just because amps have power conditioning built in doesn’t necessarily mean it’s being done correctly. No two makes do it the same way so it stands to reason that a few are doing it correctly and the rest are doing it wrong. Could be for a myriad of reasons but most of the time it’s just cost cutting and making things to a price point.

Trust your ears and not someone with an agenda.

All the best,
Nonoise

Hey @minorl - is there any way to figure out which ones recondition vs. condition? Isn't that done through a transformer versus a capacitor?

@nonoise - none of this stuff is a matter of need.....I never knew I "needed" a phono stage - my integrated amp has an internal switch for high output and low output cartridges with a phono selection, and I thought it sounded great. When I got one, it was a significant improvement - immediately VERY noticeable. 

I never knew I needed "vibration control" - for my turntable....for my speakers....for my phono stage....for my integrated not as noticeable as the phono stage, but once again VERY significant and audible.

No-one needs a power conditioner. A power strip will work. However for convenience, protection, and some SQ improvement (probably no where near along the lines of the 2 areas I just mentioned above) IMHO for any stereo expenditure over $3-4K out of pocket, it should be part of the system.