Importance of Power Conditioner?

I had my Meridain 508/24 into a Chang Lightspeed and was ok, but I noticed a pretty good improvement just by upgrading to a better wall plug ( cryo'd Porter Port ) and pluging in directly to the wall,thus eliminating the Chang Lightspeed.If possible consentrate on clean power ( direct line ) from your electric panel,upgrade your wall receptical and then if you have any money left start with a power cord on your cd player. I used a Zu Cable "Mother" on my Meridian for quite awhile and it does a nice job for a modest price....Later on if you feel you need or want to try a conditioner you can pick up a Mini Stealth or Matrix....Hope that helps....

There are many inferior power conditioners that rob power, induce their own AC noise, or induce other sonically harmful imperfections into the sonics.

But a top-of-the-line line-conditioner(s) are absolutely foundational to any system worth it's weight.

I'm partial to the passive line-conditioner and those that are dedicated one per component. And the highly rated Foundation Research LCs that I use are passive, dedicated, come with their own built-in power cable, and cost about as as much as a good power cable.

You might want to hunt down Marty DeWulf's August, 2003 issue of Bound for Sound where he claimed these LCs were simply the best he's heard and purchased them for his 'Big Rig'. There's also a StereoTimes.com review from a few years back.

-IMO

There is no universal truth to power conditioners (as w/ everything else in audio!). Power conditioners could make a difference in your system BOTH for the better & for the worse. It depends....
I agree with Thorman: concentrate on clean power to your system from your panel (in the garage or basement) rather than doing a band-aid job in your listening room w/ a power conditioner. If you do not use an isolation xformer, then concentrating your efforts on clean power from the main panel will, generally, be cheaper than a power cond. (of course, you could put in 6-7 dedicated lines, create a new sup-panel, buy expensive outlets & rack up the cost!).
I do use a power cond. but only for the front-end components. All other components go into the wall. I find that this yields far superior sound + I do not have to deal with the power cond. sonic signature on top of the component's sonic signature. It's hard enough to get the sound right w/o a power cond. so I don't need yet another variable.
Power conditioners have diff. effects with diff. audio gear. You buy a power cond. today for the components you have today & all might be well. You change a piece of audio gear tomorrow, all of a sudden your power cond. has a diff. effect on the sound. You might like it, you might not (chances you will not are higher!). Then you are out in the market shopping for that synergistic power cond. Personally, this is the wrong way to audio but this is just MHO. In the end, it's your money & your system. My 2 cents FWIW. YMMV.

I also agree with Thorman. Money would be better spent on a dedicated line from panel, decent receptacle (Porter Ports, available here on A'GoN) and some decent powercords.

How's the VAC???
I use a Panamax 5300 for all the low current electronics; preamp, DAC, transport, etc.
The amp gets plugged directly into the wall. This being a dedicated 20A line.
I definitely noticed a difference between using a PC with the amp and going directly into the wall. The PC really restricted the sound.
Kevin at VAC plugs all his amps directly into the wall. This is during the burn-in testing. Even had them plugged in during a Florida thunderstorm. He said his amps could take it!!!