Who has dumped the power conditioner?

I think you may be losing your audience due to the bickering. Please cease and continue with the original posters topic.

I used power conditioners for years and found that using cascading power conditioners on my digital rig made a nice improvement. But as I have moved up the chain to better components I have found that the PC's have had a detrimental effect on them in some cases.

- My amp likes it straight into the wall.
- My preamp has conditioning built into it, as does my phono preamp, and anything additional sounds worse.
- My new CD player also likes it direct into the wall. None of the different kinds of conditioning sounds better than this.

Since I'm a DIY kind of guy it has been easy for me to implement these changes and still maintain a safe "junction box" or sorts where I can have some surge protection and some small X (or Y) caps across the line that do not affect the components in any negative way.

I do still find benefits of PC for my turntable motor and my old DAC's, when I want to listen to those.

Now please consider that I have had my fuse box and power lines replaced in the last 5 years, so this may have contributed to better power in my home also.

Enjoy,
Bob

Wow! How's the music?

Bob is so right. Too many folks on too many of the audio forums spend time debating why one things sounds better than another. Do costly cables make an improvement to the sound of your hi-fi, do power conditioners help or worsen the situation, etc.

I think the correct answer to all these questions is yes and no.

It depends on how these things work with your gear in your home, and taking into account issues like dirty power, evironmental factors, and so on.

I think those who are debating (or arguing)the advantages should get back to listening to the music. My system is on 24/7, and I listen casually as well as up close for hours each day, and for the last 30 years. If I find something I believe will improve the sound and I can purchase it plus return it if it does not help, I will give it a try. The goal to improve how much I enjoy my music. I know the limitations of my system and I've tweaked it to the extent I want to. Any more money spent and the tweaks will cost more than the gear. I don't have a large budget for gear or tweaks, but have what for me is a great sounding system that plays any type of music. My total setup including 6 sources and a surround speaker setup is less than $10,000.

BTW, I don't support any camp of thought, or you could say I support them all. I am sure there are many out there who just want to hear their favorite music played in a fashion that is enjoyable to them, regardless of how they got there.

It seems that the goal for many on the forums is to debate or dismiss some technology they are sure does not do what it claims, when in fact they may have never even tried it themselves. Are these folks listening to their music anymore?

I'm more interested in hearing what works for folks and if they had the option would they buy the same tweaks or equipment again if they were starting over. I think honest answers to the latter point would be a telling sign.

I believe some equipment by nature of its design will benefit more than others through the use of power conditioners, and some homes that have very clean power will benefit to a lesser degree, or maybe not at all. Some equipment will also be so well built that additional tweaks may have little positive impact or could have a negative one.

If you like the way it sounds, with or without a power conditioner, good for you. Relax and enjoy your music.

Ppat, do you ever post, and if so, about what?

I tend to agree with you as obviously there is no consensus on anything here. It has always seemed crazy that people would expect one and that anyone would think that words can really be used to characterize sounds.

But that does mean that I have not sought improvements over time. I really only post to reveal my impressions, not to persuade others.

Tbg - People who post about their experiences with gear help me a lot to make decisions and learn, while people who say that everything is relative and I should listen to music instead don't help at all.