The first step to problem solutions is problem identification ... don't put the cart ahead of the horse by trying to select a P/Conditioner without knowing what the problems are and how you need to solve them.
In order for noise/distortion to corrupt your equipment you need to have 3 pre existing conditions ... (1) a source generating/transmitting the distortion, (2) a conduit for the distortion to travel along and (3) a Receiver to receive and reproduce that distortion ....
Eliminate any one factor and the problem goes away
Noise can enter your system via 2 ways ... line born ... that noise which is traveling along the conductor and captive couple ... that air born noise which is captured and coupled by your wiring which is acting as an antenna
You also have to understand how to dissipate high frequency RF and low level EMI ... and never try and shunt noise to ground as it will only reenter your circuits at the main panel box where all the neutrals from all the circuits in the house are tied together on one bar and all the safeties from all your circuits in the house are tied to another bar and then both these bars are bonded together before being fed to the ground rod outside your home/apartment
Will somebody please explain to me where the Isolation in dedicated lines occurs ??????????/
This is basic house wiring and has nothing to do with audio
You are dealing with alternating current, which travels from the HOT ( the breaker) through your component's transformer and out the neutral back to the main panel box ...
Here it is tied to all the other neutrals in the house (show me the dedicated line isolation ?) and bonded to all the 3rd wire safeties at safety bar ( again show me the isolation ?) ... then the current reverses and travels back through the neutral (carrying any noise that you dumped on the safety ... because the safety and the neutrals are connected/bonded together in the main panel box, before going to your ground rod outside you house.
On the return trip (which then completes one AC cycle ... remember we are dealing with alternating current here ) any noise you dumped/shunted onto the 3rd wire/safety will be picked up by the neutral ... because the neutral bar is bonded to the safety bar in the main panel box and will carry any noise shunted on safety line back to and through your equipment's transformer on it's return trip ... polluting your power supply
I believe in theory your power supply should use all the power it draws ... but as Yogi Berra once said " In theory Practice and Theory should be the same, but in Practice they are not" ... Yogi was Brilliant
The 3rd wire safety is there only to provide a low impedance path to ground in the event of a catastrophic fault/failure .... audio signals and shunted noise have no business riding on this line
Now you need to identify what is generating the noise ... what type of noise is being generated ... and how to dissipate that particular type of noise
Where is the noise coming from ... 3 sources ...
#1 your equipment by it's normal operation will output high frequency hash... any chip that switches on and off will create a beat frequency which will balloon RF into the system and switching power supplies are probably the worst, unless properly filtered
#2 Sources within your house will create DC offset (reducing transformer effiency and limiting dynamics and headroom) ... slot harmonics created by any running motor also degrade your systems sound and start up transient and their extended ringing are always a pleasure to cope with ...
What else, how about counter currents on the safety created by coupled RF and high soil resistivity .... no ground rod out there lies totally at Zero impedance for maximum transfer, so some RF is bounced back to the main panel where it is picked up by the neutral and feed to your components transformer
Remember even though your safety's wiring should carry Zero current the wire acts as antenna at certain resonate frequencies, picking up spurious RF which the ground rod can not totally dissipate and bounces back to the main panel where it is coupled to the neutral and fed back to your transformer on the AC's return trip
#3 Noise that is coupled and conducted from outside from your power company and worst of all your neighbors who are backing polluting the street's transformer
Stop blaming your power company for all your problems ... you neighbors are more of a problem than the power company
One problem the power company does create is a spike due to the telemetry signal they use to read your meter remotely and some 60hz harmonics ... IMO it's pales in comparison to the noise your neighbors add .
So in general that's where the noise is coming from ... how do you block ... simple
High frequency noise both common mode and differential mode can be trapped with a capacitor and resistor arrangement and dissipated ( NEVER FREAKING SHUNT TO GROUND) ... low level EMI ( magnetic noise) must be trapped with a permeable metal to absorb and dissipate ...
EMI is magnetic by nature and a cap and resistor offer no assistance ... the magnetic wave must be grabbed by some iron trap to be dissipated
Where to put these blocks/traps ... again pretty simple ... you first need to trap noise coming from outside sources at the main panel box, next you need a conditioner with proper filtering to capture noise generated from within your house and lastly you need to bi-directional filter/back filter the noise coming out of your components so it doesn't re-enter your circuits
One other area I haven't touched on is if you live in a condo or apartment complex you may be subject to surges and sags due to your neighbors useage.... here is where a good regenerator like an Exact Power EP15 can smoothen things out nicely
Now you have a good idea of what the problems are ... where they are coming from ... and how to eliminate them
No single conditioner deals with all these issues, so you will need a combination of conditioners if you are really serious about eliminating all the problems
As we listen to our power supplies the cleaner they are the better your systems presentation will be
You've been given "The Keys to the Kingdom" ... and I hope I've made this as "Clear as Vodka"
ATB Dave
