AC Power


I have a relatively nice system, but have done nothing with my AC power, with the exception of upgraded PC’s and a cheap iFi plug in power conditioner. My question is multi fold… do I need to do something, and if so what? Dedicated line (15A or 20?)? Quality power conditioner? Both? Which one first? How do you tell?

My system is a combination of HT & 2 channel & I tend to use both simultaneously as I like to watch sports while listening to music.
My amp is (I think) a relatively low draw… Moon 330A, Rythmik sub, BHK pre, Aurender, Qutest w/Sbooster, R11’s. No high power amps are in my future & never listen above 75db. I do currently plug my amp directly into the wall. All my wall warts are gone. For my HT, add a 75” Sony TV, Marantz 7015 AVR & a Klipsch sub (although at zero volume the AVR & sub should not come into play).

I am considering buying the Furman IT-Reference 15i or 20i first as they are well reviewed & are priced very well on Amazon ($1,400 / $1,900). Before I pull the trigger, should I go dedicated power & at what amperage (my nephew, an EE & audiophile thinks I am drawing no more than 5 amps) as that will dictate the Furman model?

Interesting, my nephew thinks neither are worth the investment. His statement: “Do you have appliances on the circuit now? What kind of interference can they inject?...voltage drops would come from current draws...which trip breakers.
Not steady 60hz a good power supply handles. So it all comes back to was the power supply engineer dropped on his head as a child.”

”Personally I think it’s something audio people do when they have run out of gear to buy.”

Any thoughts or recommendations would be appreciated. Thanks!

 

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However, I had read in other threads on power that one should avoid installing your dedicated audio circuit on a leg with major appliances. Given what you said, I guess that is not possible.

 

I agree that this seems impossible. Your HVAC, electric range, water heater, etc. are all going to be 240V, and therefore on both legs. Small window AC units, hair dryers, toasters, fridge and microwave will be exceptions, but ideally your 120 V AC lines are balanced so that about the same amount of current flows on each leg, so not sure why or how you’d do this.

Ahem... which is why I buck the trend and emphasize voltage regulation over isolation. If you can do both, even better. wink

It may be worth noting that tightly regulating your AC may be more important to more classic designs.  

Gear with linear power supplies with DC rails that are always some proportion of the incoming AC line (i.e. linear amplifiers) will suffer more than more modern power supplies like in your TV or PC.

Thanks, @jea48 , that explanation and illustration made it so perfectly clear that even I could grasp it.  

@erik_squires - Speaking of voltage regulation, any difference between this and this, other than $1,400?  It seems 15A should mostly be enough for digital front end, if not all front end components.