Experience with power conditioners

The real question is how much high frequency noise you have riding into your components through your power lines. You probably won't know for sure just how good or bad your power is until you try a high quality conditioner and listen for the effects.

In my case, I always had a treble frequency response spike in my system that I had attributed to an inherent in-room design problem with my speakers (Revel Salons). This explanation seemed logical to me at the time because the frequency response spike had been a measureable "problem" in my system for years despite many upgrades of my electronic components. I also have a friend who is running the very same speakers and who has had a nearly identical treble frequency response hump that has been present in his system for years despite various front end component changes.

However, I recently learned that I was being horribly unfair to the Revel Salons and that they are not at all to blame for my treble frequency response problem. It turns out that the problem was in my power lines. When I installed the isolation transformer in my system in January, the effect on the sound of my system was astounding. My treble frequency response suddenly reverted to perfectly flat. Subjectively, the bright edge to the sound of massed violins, for example, was completely "cured."

This was proof to me that the effect of power conditioners can be not only audible but measurable as well. Indidentally, I had previously been running devoted PS Audio High Current Ultimate Outlets on all of my components. While they made some subtle improvements to the sound of my sytem, they seemed to do nothing to eliminate the high frequency noise. I have since removed the Ultimate Outlets from my system.

Needless to say the quality and effectiveness of your power conditioner are very important.

Good luck!

Gandme, Dedicated lines help minimize AC noise induced by appliances and dimmers in your home and help ensure that your amplifier is getting all the juice it needs for those dynamic and/or complex passages.

But dedicated lines will not cleanse the bi-directional digital noise from making it's way back to the service panel and back into the dedicated lines to your other components. Nor will dedicated lines cleanse the dirty/noisy AC everybody (yes everybody) gets from the street and power station.

Robertje, You might consider the Foundation Research LC-1 and LC-2 passive and dedicated bi-directional in-line power conditioners.

Marty DeWulf of Bound for Sound rated these line conditioners the best he's heard back in the Aug. 03 issue and purchased the review samples for his 'big rig'. But that review was for the original versions. The new versions is simply multiple times better than the old.

-IMO

Short of a full tilt power regenerator, which is going to be pretty darn expensive for a very limited amount of current with a lot of heat generated, a heavy core high current low capacitance Iso will get you the most bang for the buck. I think that Bob's comments basically confirm his experience with smaller individual toroidal based designs being far less effective. Parallel line filtration, like in the Hydra, can also work well, but work best at the individual component level in conjunction with a a very high grade, high current iron core isolation tranformer that filters the system as a whole. This is just my opinion based on research and experimentation though, so take that for what it is worth. Sean
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PS... Bob, check your system thread. I just found that based on your comments here and have some ideas that may help you out.

I know everybody says this is all system dependent.--- My system went up several notches with the Adept Response---From my perspective I can't see this NOT HELPING--- but that's just me.(I live in a 95 unit complex)