Power conditioner or not?

Sorry, I thought it was implied that I meant "One of the best of the best", regarding MIT products. I am sure there are a number of cables and conditioners that might be considered in this same league by other audiophiles. The most obvious differences in user satisfaction is of course system synergy and individual differences both biological and psychological...not to mention financial! One example comes to mind of a well respected engineer who works for one of the premier loudspeaker companies in the USA. This guru goes around setting up speakers for the company in a most unusual manner. The resultant sound is anything but high end! The ear of the beholder is everything sometimes. The summit of the state of the art is a moving target with hunters using everything from bows and arrows to advanced laser guided rifles.

Dave,Well said !!

Why thank you Goldeneraguy! Somehow, my many other posts over the years regarding extremely inexpensive gear that I thought was also the best of their respective categories, has gone unnoticed by some. Happiness comes in many forms:) I can only give my opinion based on my experience, which is all that can be said for anyone. At least I don't own an audiophile dealership full of gear I need to sell...that could definately cloud my judgment.

Power conditioning is what you have a power supply for in you amp, receivere, preamp, etc. Unless you have poorly designed equipment (and that is highly unlikely if it retails for more than $100) or live above a machine shop with large lathes operating on your same power feed, you do not need a power conditioner. A surge protector is a wise idea. If you are worried about power dropping out completely buy UPS and a generator. I spent 20 years working as an engineer with medical equipment in critical care areas and research labs - from microvolt level signal acuisition to kv x-ray equipment to life support equiptment - no one used power conditioners.

Making such general claims shows a general ignorance of audio (what the heck do x-ray machines have to do with audio?). My system has quality components with quality power supplies with filtration (MX-R, KX-R and Wadia GNSC) and all the components benefit noticeably from power conditioning and power isolation. I guess if each component was over 100K, the size of a small room and took x-rays, my system might not benefit from power conditioning...