Power Conditioners

Every line conditioner or AC filter has reasonable or unreasonable current limitations.

To the best of my knowledge, there are two types of potentially unreasonable current limitations induced by some to many line conditioners. They are:

1. The amount of current your component(s) such as an amplifier is able to draw from the circuit via the line conditioner. A high powered amp can easily max out the current drawing capability of some to many line conditioners.

2. An 'active' line conditioner (draws current for itself) also will limit current in that it will rob power meant for a component (ie a high-powered amp).

In either case, an unreasonable 'current limiting' line conditioner will essentially rob a high-powered amplifier of the juice required to properly reproduce dynamic and/or complex passages and thus render the presentation as somewhat lifeless.

There is also another current limitation that should not be overlooked. That is not having dedicated circuits/lines for high-current drawing components. The results here are similar to no. 1 above.

To ensure you do not induce current limitations, you should consider a passive line conditioner (draws little or no current for itself) rated for high current limitations and you should always use dedicated circuits/lines whenever possible.

-IMO

There are a number of moderately priced power strips which do not seem to limit power, and, at the same time, provide clearly audible improvement in the sound of plugged in components.
I guess this is in Stehno's passive line conditioner category, or perhaps the stealth (with apologies to the superb Audio Magic Stealth Purifiers with a capital "S") conditioner category.
I still extol the virtues of Mapleshade Records top of the line power strip, despite the fussy way that its four parallel wires have to be separated on their route to the wall AC.
It is surprisingly counterintuitive to hear better sound when more wires are added to lengthen the path along which AC travels, even when you don't upgrade the wall outlet, or have a dedicated line.

I have owned as many or more conditioners than most. I have a full HT and decent 2ch -all in one room. I have CJ 8 monoblocks.They are power suckers. The limiting of current shows itself in the form of 1/2 of the bias lights coming on,when plugged into a conditioner that limits current. I bought my first Power Wedge, 15 years ago and have owned many since. To me there is only one that can power my whole system and do it justice at the same time. It sure wasn't any of the 3 Audio Magics that I owned. It is the Adept Response;a different league,indeed. Sure,more money,but the results make it worth all of the pennies.

Stenho - Some of the line conditioners and probably a higher percentage of the devices sold as ac filters work by shunting noise line to line. I.E., no current limitations, you can actually end up with a more robust current supply with caps hooked up close to the load or good ac filters close to the noise sources.

Audio Magic! I've had them all. Sold my Eclipse to help purchase a new rig. Now, I only have one AM Digital into a dedicated line. Beautiful. If you're going to condition anything: do your front end first into a dedicated line. That may be the end of your electric journey. peace, warren :)