Power conditioner some say yes and some say no.

@clio09

’If you want a real bargain check out the link. It says DIY but Chris will build it for you for a nominal fee. These are essentially the same Balanced Power Technology units that were offered years ago when Chris was still in business. I bought two of them and am very satisfied:

Agree 100%, the BPT products are terrific ! I’ve had his BPT 3.5 Signature plus unit for 11 years and still consider it one of the wisest audio product purchases I’ve ever made. Every component sounds better via this balanced isolation transformer than without it.

As others have pointed out, individual circumstances will obviously influence the outcomes of different users/different power conditioners. For me a very positive net gain in sound quality. The late Roger Modjeski was right in regard to the balanced isolation transformer. I don’t have experience with other brands of this type of power conditioner.
Charles

@charles1dad - I was using the Torus RM15+ for quite a few years and before that had the original Running Springs Audio Haley. Both were very good, but do not provide balanced isolation.

I have 4 dedicated lines for my system, the BPT is plugged into one (sources plugged into the BPT), the amp into another, and the electrostatic speakers plugged into one each. If I had the space and the money I would get an Equitech unit that hooks up directly to the main house panel.

At least I was able to install 3 dedicated power lines to my music room and I have my amp plugged into a Hydra2 plugged into a dedicated line and the rest of the system is plugged into a Hydra 6 plugged into a dedicated power line. I don’t hear any noise or hum but what I do notice is that sometimes the sound is spectacular while other times the sound is just good. The Keces IQRP 3600 was more of a “what if?” after thought but it will be fun to one day try. What does help is keeping the system on 24/7 but even still the sound improves with music play. 

I worked for Roger Modjeski for several years. He was always of the opinion that if you designed the power supply of a component properly then additional power conditioning would not be needed. In his system he used an inexpensive power strip, mainly just to have the ability to power on/off all his components simultaneously.

@clio09 I've found this to be true too- you really have to regulate!

If regulation isn't an option then a power conditioner can do some good- but it had better actually be a real power conditioner and not a glorified power strip (which describes most of the 'high end audio power conditioners'). If you don't push them too hard the PSAudio power regeneraters are quite decent.


The best conditioner I've seen was made by Elgar for commercial industrial use. It has the ability to regulate line voltage and put out a clean since wave (with guaranteed distortion less than 0.5%) right up to full current, some of which can support 28 amps continuous! These units are older as Elgar got out of the business decades ago and so have to be refurbished with new filter caps for their power supplies and the like. But they do offer improved sonics!


Its the 5th harmonic of the AC line frequency that is arguably the most pesky. This can occur when the line transformers on the telephone poles are pushed past 50% of their total capacity of for that matter any transformer in the chain between the power plant and the wall outlet. The 5th harmonic is hard to filter out because of its low frequency (300Hz) so the smaller 'conditioners' simply can't do it. It can cause power transformers to run warm and make noise, diodes to radiate more 'diode noise' and synchronous motors to perhaps run the wrong way. You can google this topic; Fluke instruments has a number of articles available.


Most of the 'high end audio power conditioners' I've seen are deleterious to the performance of our amps; I tell our customers to stay away from them or only use them for the front end of the system.


Many audiophiles understand that power cords can have a sonic effect (which is caused by the voltage drop across them- they are subject to Ohm's Law like everything else in electricity); consider that a glorified power strip forces you to use one power cord for a variety of stuff which might include two monoblock amps. If the amps are rated to make full power with 120 Volts available, there's good chance this won't happen if the voltage drop on the 'power conditioner' power cord is significant (2-3 volts is not unheard of). If the power cord or the connectors it uses (including the AC outlet) tend to get warm that's a Bad Sign. I've seen this phenomena rob an amplifier of a good 40 watts of output power- under those circumstances its easy to see how this could also be audible :)

The power in my old house, mostly ungrounded outlets, as well as the line coming in are atrocious.  Start the vacuum cleaner and lights dim for a second.  A used PS Audio regenerator made a huge improvement.