I'm convinced: my Power Conditioner was ruining...


I'm convinced: my Power Conditioner was ruining my system's acoustics.

I heard it all, but ignored it. I'm in a brown/black out prone area so I've been over cautious using an APC 1500VA powering a Monster HTS 5100 and distributing to my system from there.

Yesterday I was moving things around and I ran the system direct to the APC. F'n AMAZING improvement!!

Within an hour I had it on Craigslist and today it went out the door and I ordered out for Chinese on the new owner.

But for the last 6 hours I've been reading reviews for PS Audio, Richard Gray, Running Springs, etc. Am I nutts? Should I rely on the clean music I'm getting? Why do I feel a conditioner will help when clearly the HTS didn't?

In part I feel it's because I don't understand power enough; I know the APC produces a stepped sine wave. I know that's not good for my use, but does it produce that only when acting as a backup? Short of a regenerator would anything eliminate the square sine?

If you had $600 to spend and you were in my position would you spend it on music and chinese (perhaps Indian next time) or a replacement conditioner?

Thanks All.
kphinney
Dlcockrum,

Thanks for bringing these units to my attention - I have not listened to any of these yet... that I know of. It is possible I have heard some of these expensive and very well reviewed products in demonstration systems without knowing it, but they are all fairly new products and I have not been auditioning much gear recently.

I have previously tried in my home or listened to many units from the usual mid and hi fi suspects, Monster Cable, Panamax, Furman, Belden, Shunyata, etc. Most are much less expensive than the units you reference. I still suggest that many of these simpler and widely available products can offer improved performance to consumers living in compromised power environments such as apartments or condos, commercial buildings or houses with old or complicated wiring layouts. In my current house with dedicated electrical circuits for my audio systems, all new 10 and 12 gauge wiring, and new breakers and outlets I find the wall offers better sounding power than any of these moderately priced alternatives.

Interesting that one apparently needs to spend upwards of $5K for the power conditioners you recommend as effective (the Nordost is a little less). That is a lot of money. One of the retailers for the Audience Adept Response AR-6T is Gene Rubin, who also sells the Wiremold power strip I recommend. In fact, Mr. Rubin suggests there is no real benefit over a good power strip in power conditioning until you reach the level of sophistication and expense of the Audience.

So perhaps we are both right. I haven't tried some of the latest and more expensive power conditioners (yet), and your point that these units may be so good that they noticeably improve the power supplied to quality audio gear, even in the best of AC environments (dedicated large gauge lines with quality receptacles).

I look forward to the day I can pay $5K for a power conditioner and and justify it as a reasonable expense compared to my overall system.
"I am especially dubious of putting something in the line between the wall and your amp - in fact I am tempted to hard-wire my amp at home directly to the AC supply line in the wall!"

Don't! Its a code violation. You need to be able to disconnect the amp from the AC line.