Power Conditioner and Surge Protector

I am using the Richard Gray Power House, which is capable of handling 6200w of continuous power (per manufacturers specifications). I can not go in depth technically, but here's some answers to your questions above:

1)"I would like to know if it's worth spending the money for a Power Conditioner or Surge Protector ?" - Yes, but not just any product. Please contact each dealer you are considering and tell them your requirements. Not all will fit your needs.

2)"Does it make any improvement to your audio equiptments?"
- This depends on the product purchased, if it will be able to give you the head room needed without choking out power and sonics.

3)"Will it eliminate the hum coming out of your speakers?"
-First make sure that the "hum" is not from other epuipment. The conditioner should eliminate "noise" from your AC line.

4)"Does pricing and different brands make a difference?"
- I have a hard time with the pricing issue, as audiophile equipment price ranges drastically varies. It boils down to if the conditioner/surge protection will really suit your demands.

Prior to purchasing the PowerHouse I did alot of research on line. I even talked with a local manufacturer to see if a transformer/surge protection unit could be built. I came across the RGPC products and talked with Dick McCarthy on and off for about 3 months. Total research was about 5-6 months of just gaining knowledge. I ended up purchasing the unit because it has everything in one component. The powerhouse is a 5 kilowatt isolation step down transformer. Its a 220v unit stepped down to 120v using a 30 amp breaker. It is totally isolated, completely removing groung loop. The head room is plenty, enough for a complete home entertainment syst. plus more.
The bottom line is when I plugged my equipment directly into the power house I did not go WOW! expecting some magic to happen, but what I did notice is that there was much more head room giving more depth and width to the sound. Bass was more extended and there was more blackness to the background. There wasn't any annoying hum or clicks and pops from switches being turned on and off which I still got even when I had previously installed all dedicated outlets.
The unit does have some draw backs, one being weight which is nearly 400 lbs.

Well, i have been a PS Audio Premier owner for just over a year now and it has been a ride from hell. All 4 units that i have had in my system have failed.
Fans going krazy, unit overheating.
Unit shutting down / rebooting every 2-3 minutes
Output voltage drop to 105volts while input was 122volts.

For me at least, it has been a very unreliable product.
I will be sending this one back (4th time) and will be asking for a refund.
I will be looking for other alternatives.

Smoffatt,

Call RGPC and talk with Dick McCarthy. If he can't answer your questions he will get back to you with the answers. Surge protection, conditioning and transformers are to be considered just as important as another component, if not more important (not to stir up debate). Whatever product you use this is the starting point of power feeding your system. Like I had said I researched for quite some time and probably could have done more, but felt confident with my purchase. The only thing you want to remove from your sound is the annoying garbage that comes through an AC line, WITHOUT limiting its headroom. Take your time and gain as much information as possible and challenge the dealers, even if you are not technical as myself. Everyone wants to sell their product, but unless it fits your specific needs its of no use.

I always LOVE discussions about power. It's so nebulous, but hey, when people hear what they hear, it doesn't really matter why.

One thing that gets me is the idea of spending thousands on a power cable from outlet to component, but hey, what's in the wall? What kind of Romex is in there? Is it oxygen-free copper? What color is the jacket?

I love how my local high end dealer sells power cords to people in 100 year old houses, some of which still use knob and tube for power. Wait, tube did you say? THAT is an idea. I'll market knob and tube power downgrades, since we all know that the old tube sound is the best sound...

I picked up a Shunyata power cord and adapted it for my washing machine and now my clothes get SO MUCH CLEANER!

All that said, I use power conditioning on my gear. And All my projects call for dedicated/isolated for system feeds. I think that's the best place to start. Going further IMO involves iso transformers, and I *love* the solar idea. Why not regenerate utility power with flywheels? Decouple from the grid entirely. Use ceramic flywheels for complete isolation, but make sure it's oxygen-free ceramic...

Most people have homes whereby only on set (two) outlets are on a particular wall where their audio equipment sits. Therefore, you need a power strip of some sort of power house/conditioner just so you can plug everything into it. I typically will recommend that several dedicated outlets are run directly to the house circuit breaker panel. To help to eliminate ground loops, I recommend three sets of outlets at a minimum. 1) use a power conditioner/power house to plug all low level components, into the same device and then to the same outlet on the wall directly to the house panel. This means pre-amp, turn table, cd player/transport/DAC, tuner, etc. plugged into this device. 2) power amp plugged into the other outlet. if you have two mono amps, this is where you need the third outlet. my ground floor dropped considerably and music is so much better this way. it doesn't cost much to have an electrician run dedicate power outlets to a room. My house has a raised foundation, so it is relatively easy for me to do this myself. But if you find yourself in a situation where there is only one set of outlets on the wall, what do you do? The circuit breaker, wall wiring, etc. can only handle so much current. So dedicated outlets run directly to the house panel is the way to go. The cost is really low to do this, and all low level electronic devices plugged into the same conditioner/power house device to a dedicated outlet to the panel and the amps have their own outlets to the panel.

enjoy