Should Amps be plugged into a power conditioner?


Greetings,

After reading about the amplifier hum, it was mentioned that some knowledgeable people say NOT to plug an amp into a power conditioner. Plug it directly into a wall outlet. Thankfully, I do not have a hum issue, but am curious as to what others say about where to plug your amp into. 

Thank you!

lovehifi22

Remember that it's very important to have the power amp plugged in someplace or it simply won't work at all. 

Just also mention, in Oz we are 240V, so compared say with the US, gear doesn’t draw as much current. I feel that this is factor that is rarely taken into consideration in these discussions. Like it or not, we have better “power” at 240V.

Power conditioners need to be rated so they will deliver enough power to the amplifier. They are usually rated in Watts. In any case, they need to deliver enough power for the dynamic peaks an amp will draw as well as the constant power needed. That being said, I have used a cheaper solution in a Tripplite power conditioner that regulates to 115v if the incoming line power is 85v to 145v. It also has Radio frequency filters. I currently use a Furman power strip ahead of the condioner.   I have used this product for decades with no sound degridation. I replace the condtioner afer 10 years. Anyone saying power conditioning is not helpful does not know how dirty power coming into your home is. Appliances kick in momentarily dipping the voltage. High and low frequency noise is distributed though the grid. This noise wears on power supply components. An oscilloscope will reveal all of the dirty signals propagating in the power. My last amp was 45yrs old before it was retired.

I use a ZeroSurge on my Pass XA60 mono blocks.  ASR demonstrated that signal in was no different from signal out. I take this to mean no harm, just safe power.  I like safe power.

"As with all the other power tweaks, filters and cables, no fidelity improvement is to be had with 2R15W. It doesn't "clean" the AC in any way that I can measure. And as a result, real-life testing with an amplifier shows the same performance with and without. On the other hand, it is a major sigh of relief that despite pulling some 700+ watts out of the box, it had essentially no impact on the amplifier performance. 

Where this leaves us is that if you like its flavor of surge protection, you can proceed to use it for that purpose and not worry about power loss.

I can't recommend the ZeroSurge 2R15W as a fidelity improvement device. As a surge protector, going by what they say it does, it seems like a better bet than many cheap solutions.