Dave -- Thanks for your response and your suggestion. I'll try to do that, perhaps in a couple of months because right now my pre-amp, amp, and phono cartridge are all in the process of changing, and obviously I want to become thoroughly familiar with the sound of the new components before trying to evaluate subtle cable differences.
Satiger -- I'm wondering if perhaps the reason the receiver sounded better through the conditioner was not the fact that it was connected through the conditioner per se, but the fact that it was then connected through the same path as all of the other components. I presume that the conditioner has some inductive as well as capacitive filtering in it. The inductors would be in series between the ac line and whatever components are plugged into the conditioner. But when you plug the receiver directly into the wall, with the other components plugged into the conditioner, the inductors create an isolation at high frequencies (probably much higher than audio frequencies) between the ac power and neutral going to the receiver, and the ac power and neutral going to everything else. It's hard to predict what sort of sonic effects that might lead to, but it seems conceivable to me that that could be the cause of the differences you heard.
I have always used a mundane but good quality power strip/surge suppressor to protect my system from lightning strikes, power surges, etc., with all components being plugged into it. Corresponding to the question you raise at the end of your last post, I'd welcome opinions from the others as to where a quality power cord would be likely to do the most good -- between each component (or at least the most critical ones) and the surge suppressor or conditioner, or between the suppressor/conditioner and the wall, or both.
Regards,
-- Al
Satiger -- I'm wondering if perhaps the reason the receiver sounded better through the conditioner was not the fact that it was connected through the conditioner per se, but the fact that it was then connected through the same path as all of the other components. I presume that the conditioner has some inductive as well as capacitive filtering in it. The inductors would be in series between the ac line and whatever components are plugged into the conditioner. But when you plug the receiver directly into the wall, with the other components plugged into the conditioner, the inductors create an isolation at high frequencies (probably much higher than audio frequencies) between the ac power and neutral going to the receiver, and the ac power and neutral going to everything else. It's hard to predict what sort of sonic effects that might lead to, but it seems conceivable to me that that could be the cause of the differences you heard.
I have always used a mundane but good quality power strip/surge suppressor to protect my system from lightning strikes, power surges, etc., with all components being plugged into it. Corresponding to the question you raise at the end of your last post, I'd welcome opinions from the others as to where a quality power cord would be likely to do the most good -- between each component (or at least the most critical ones) and the surge suppressor or conditioner, or between the suppressor/conditioner and the wall, or both.
Regards,
-- Al