I have a PST-8 and a Green Wave dirty electricity filter. They work very well together. There is a video that demonstrates this on Youttube. They combo has made a dramatic difference in my system. The video also demonstrates that the PST-8D is not worth the extra $$. Erik_Squires’ posts were helpful and informative while making this decision.
Power Conditioning on the Cheap
This is my first post here after a bit of lurking, so please be gentle. I realize this subject must come up a fair amount and I've read erik_squires blog posts on the subject, but I was hoping to get the community's opinion on the relative merits of a few relatively basic power conditioners. I've narrowed my list down to a few options at a range of (fairly modest) price points. From low to high they are:
Furman PST-8D
ifi Power Station
Furman Elite-15 PF I
Shunyata PS10 w/ Venom Defender
Audioquest Niagara 1200
In a perfect world where I didn't have a limited budget I would probably buy something higher up the line from Shunyata, but since we live in a decidedly imperfect world, these are my options, although I would welcome other suggestions that fit within this price range.
I should also probably mention that while I value subjective reports on the sound quality of various products, generally speaking I give more weight to objective measurements or at least arguments based in sound science. More embarrassingly, I also place a certain amount of value on aesthetics. Aesthetic taste being inherently subjective, (a debatable point, but for the sake of argument lets just assume that it's true) lets just say that when I lust after completely unobtainable equipment it tends to be from companies like Soulution or Pilium rather than Dan D'Agostino or darTZeel.
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@buddyboy1 I had read that the power quest was very similar tech to Niagara 1000/1200, and one Amazon review claimed they sounded the same. I was putting together a small system when away from home and picked up the power quest 3 and Audioquest entry level cable from Best Buy. I also found a deal on a used Furman reference 15, for not too much more than power quest. I found the Furman, though probably 10-15 years older to have much more effect. I should have returned the power quest, but kept it to plug my computer into. Maybe I’ll try it again as a filter for my home computer, which acts as my Jriver server. |
This is what I use. Plugged into the wall. Furman RFI power strip with voltage cut off at 145v. Tripplight 1800W RF, spike voltage regulator isolation transformer plugged into the Furman. The furman will take the first hit and limit over voltage to 145v. The Tripplight regulates 85v to 145v to 120v. The power conditioner has event lights on front. I have seen it regulate low voltage and high voltage. Absolutely no change in sound quality. Normally it is apparent after a thunder storm showing an electrical drop. I highly recommend this combination. I run a rack with a primaluna integrated. |
One thing you might give a thought to is a true industrial grade UPS. I picked up a used Liebert GXT3 3kVA UPS for around $400 with new batteries. It completely isolates from outside AC by actively converting to battery and then regenerates the AC wave. (Caveat: manual says it has "pure sine wave" but I have never measured for noise, but this is nothing like the computer backup APC's.) Of course, it takes a bit of work to put in place. I have some electrician experience and so hooked up a 30A circuit from the box to the UPS in my basement (no fan noise!) and then plugged in a PDU (power dist unit), a glorified power strip with dozens of 20A receptacles, from the room above, which is my listening room. Of course, if I relocated elsewhere in the house, I'd have to run a dedicated circuit from the UPS. I get 2 benefits: backed up AC power (with batteries and normal load I get about an hour), and clean power with no spikes or brown out issues, I'm running a digital audio system with Small Green Computer pieces and KEF LS50's, and also run my laptop and monitors for safety. It's been effective keeping the noise low and I'm isolated from spikes and outages, which are especially problematic for these digital systems. |
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