The best power conditioner for less than $1K?

To answer this thread's primary question, what is the best PLC under $1k? For a passive filtering device, if the lower-priced Audio Magic Stealth is anything like the Eclipse model I run with, this could very well be the ticket to entry level PLC greatness. A friend has the Hydra8 and swears by it so the Hydra4 would be my other choice to consider. The PS Audio regenerating units may be worthy of audition, but these generate heat and so I prefer to stay with the passive filtering devices.

The above issue could dramatically change the clarity and resolution of the system. You may very well hear more silence between the notes. Sounds will be as if they are the results of musicians and not just sounds. But a PLC is not going to do much to bring on "warmth" or simulate an analog-like presentation. If you're after analog "qualities" like portrayal of space, long decays, harmonic textures especially in the mids, no PLC nor room treatments are the answer here. In the context of your system's components, this is simply not going to happen.

Room treatments are not likely to bring on "warmth" either. When I added ASC tube traps around the room, they brought on even greater clarity to the mids and highs. But this was not so much a tonality change in the mids that is often associated with the term, warmth. The ASC's removed a fatiguing edge that was very evident when I took them back out of the room. And the result here made for more greater decays and ambience because of the clarity.

You want warmth....you need one of a handful of tube preamps out there. It is not likely going to happen any other way. You want analog sound from CD playback, you're looking at a top-notch tube DAC.

John

Hi Paul: I'm in agreement with the aforementioned as being good tweak suggestions, only some of which may achieve your 'warm analog-like' tuning objective.
A decent PLC is a necessity IMO; provides reduced glare, and also provides AC line-transient protection, for ownership peace-of-mind.
A different PLC should likely alter your sonic signature but I'm unsure what to suggest. I've experienced warmer-sounding results with Audio Magic; in your pricerange you may be interested in this 6-outlet Audio Magic Matrix (I've since upgraded to the Audio Magic Stealth XXX, I needed more outlets). The detachable AC cord allows you to tune the sonic signature of your entire rig by switching the mains AC input cord.

In order to alter your sonic signature more to your liking, I would (at least initially) retain your existing audio components & speakers. If you haven't already done so, you can also experiment with different upgrade AC cords, signal cables, & perhaps even speaker cabling. Component shelving & footer tweaks are alternative tuning tools available for your experimentation; changes in sonics can vary considerably depending upon sensitivity of the components.

The only budget PLC's I'm experienced with are the Chang Lightspeed product line. I used a CLS3200 and a CLS9900Amp (also here available) before upgrading to Audio Magic.

Proper vibration control will help you get clearer (focused), more coherent and relaxed sound.

I'm a BIG fan of 220/100 isolation transformers/filters and they can be set up in an apartment. For a start, though, try the parallel filtration approach and take it from there. It's very hard (and $$$) to make HT sound theater to sound 'analog' like. I do not recommend the tube buffer approach, though.

Just curious what your current cabling (IC's, SC's and PC's)is?

Regards,

Actually Tvad, it was Tweakmenow who roped you guys back in after you posted your room acoustics recommendations.

I'm a little surprised that Sempaul's using a Monster lc did not at least raise some eyebrows. He already has a line conditioner, but it seems that he realizes he can do better.

I lost sight in that Sempaul stated he is hoping another line conditioner would bring him greater 2-ch warmth.

Proper line conditioning can give the perception that warmth has been added and that's in 2 ways, 1. Bass can become more pronounced and well-defined and without bloat, thus balancing the overall presentation and sounding as though 'warmth' was added.

Another way is proper line conditioning will clean the noisy AC and drop the noise-floor substantially, so that even the slightest nuances become quite evident and also by eliminating what appears to be a digital-like hash or time-smear like grain in the highs inducing negative sibilance and general ear fatigue and replacing those shortcomings with extremely pristine presentation.

So perhaps in that sense proper line conditioning will add warmth also.

On the other hand, proper line conditioning will never suppress offending frequencies as some to many very popular name brands do. Rather proper line conditioning gives you the full monty and in a very pristine musical way.

-IMO