Power Conditioners... the final frontier

Does seem like those OneAC units are not outputting a lot of power, under an amp at 120v some of them. That's not a lot of juice.
 
I'm no tech either but I believe that a max output of an amp at 120v is 120 watts (at a fixed voltage, A x V = W). I thought I might buy one or two of those OneAC units to run the powered subs of my speakers through... but those each are 1200w subs. The Elgar, for instance, is non current limiting, 1800w. With some of these OneAC units you might not even have enough juice to run a pre-amp. You can see they get more expensive the more powerful they are. You just need to make sure that they are capable of outputting enough wattage to handle the max power consumption of whatever you're running into it.
 
I'm not anything close to an engineer, but can anyone point me to a rational listing and explaination of the various technologies?

I get surge protection and filtering.
 
I would have guessed that hospital units didn't have to worry about noise much, only spikes and voltage regulation, but after seeing that video (i.e. how digital equipment can be thrown off by noise) it makes sense they would have noise filtering too.

The relatively low power of some of these explains the small size.
 
I'm no tech either but I believe that a max output of an amp at 120v is 120 watts (at a fixed voltage, A x V = W). I thought I might buy one or two of those OneAC units to run the powered subs of my speakers through... but those each are 1200w subs. The Elgar, for instance, is non current limiting, 1800w. With some of these OneAC units you might not even have enough juice to run a pre-amp. You can see they get more expensive the more powerful they are. You just need to make sure that they are capable of outputting enough wattage to handle the max power consumption of whatever you're running into it.

Ahhh, got what you're saying.

I plug my amp into the wall and use the Oneac for my digital equipment. I have a separate strip for my TT. I'm gonna try and find a way to contact them online to learn more.
 
Your digital gear uses very little power so you're good there and depending on the TT it probably doesn't use much either (although non-regenerating power conditioning on the TT I don't think is held to have great impact). Look at the back of your unit, it will tell you total output in amps. Good thing to know.
 
spec sheet, of sorts
I'm no tech either but I believe that a max output of an amp at 120v is 120 watts (at a fixed voltage, A x V = W). I thought I might buy one or two of those OneAC units to run the powered subs of my speakers through... but those each are 1200w subs. The Elgar, for instance, is non current limiting, 1800w. With some of these OneAC units you might not even have enough juice to run a pre-amp. You can see they get more expensive the more powerful they are. You just need to make sure that they are capable of outputting enough wattage to handle the max power consumption of whatever you're running into it.

Mine is something like output of 4.5Amps at 120V which is closer to 530 Watts (or 500W to make it easy), if I'm not too mistaken.


https://cdn.hackaday.io/files/21242908817728/Oneac_CB_Series.pdf
 
Funny I thought it would be pronounced "1 AC" but in the video the guy says "own-ee-ack".

Remember that Tom Hanks movie, "That Thing You Do"?

oneders_zps135d33d7.gif
 
Hey Dave&Saggy
I rarely read these type of threads,and usually wouldn't comment but...........
What I would like to know is, is your gear on dedicated lines? I'm talking 20 Amp lines from your service equipment to a specification grade Hubbell or P&S type 20 Amp receptacle. Noise on the line from lights,dimmers,refrigerators,computers,AC units,wall warts,bad splices in junction boxes and other things can be serious issues. fluorescent lighting is a major noise problem. Saggy, I don't know about your building but our friends at ConEd deliver a relatively clean product. Get you hands on an oscilloscope and have a look.

Some of these items out there are problem specific and serve a purpose. Others just separate people from their money.
I've seen the guts on more than one of these, including a behemoth rated at some ridiculous wattage with a panel mounted off/on switch clearly rated '120 VAC. 5 Amps'.
 
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Hey Dave&Saggy
I rarely read these type of threads,and usually wouldn't comment but...........
What I would like to know is, is your gear on dedicated lines? I'm talking 20 Amp lines from your service equipment to a specification grade Hubbell or P&S type 20 Amp receptacle. Noise on the line from lights,dimmers,refrigerators,computers,AC units,wall warts,bad splices in junction boxes and other things can be serious issues. fluorescent lighting is a major noise problem. Saggy, I don't know about your building but our friends at ConEd deliver a relatively clean product. Get you hands on an oscilloscope and have a look.
'.

I'm not on dedicated circuits. I wish. I'm on "cross-your-fingers" circuitry. That's nice to know about ConEd with regard to clean power - i didn't know that.

And as for this entire thread - it's kinda nuts, right? I'm in no way an electrical engineer so my decisions are both copy-catted choices and educated-guesses, not studied knowledge. I know enough not to put my finger in the socket but not much more. I do also choose to keep all other stuff off the line. In fact, I have nothing else plugged in along that whole wall. I can definitively say, to reiterate, that my system took a turn for the better when I hooked up my conditioner.

Whew! I didn't sign up for this today, and I'm damn sure Dave didn't either - hahaha!!!
 
Hey Dave&Saggy
I rarely read these type of threads,and usually wouldn't comment but...........
What I would like to know is, is your gear on dedicated lines? I'm talking 20 Amp lines from your service equipment to a specification grade Hubbell or P&S type 20 Amp receptacle. Noise on the line from lights,dimmers,refrigerators,computers,AC units,wall warts,bad splices in junction boxes and other things can be serious issues. fluorescent lighting is a major noise problem. Saggy, I don't know about your building but our friends at ConEd deliver a relatively clean product. Get you hands on an oscilloscope and have a look.

Not on dedicated line and no quality outlets. I imagine I'll get around to installing a good outlet at some point.

But as I said, in my case there was no noise problem I was trying to address. I've certainly read plenty on various threads arguing that all or most power conditioning products are ways to take money off gullible non-electrical-engineers who don't understand that such devices can't possibly do a damn bit of good. These arguments made me wary, as did similar arguments in the past regarding IC's and PC's. Ultimately, after reading one testimonial after another of satisfied, in many cases elated, customers, curiosity got the better of me. And I'm happy... elated... with the results. You can only trust your ears right. The main thing I wanted to get across was that I read a lot and weighed the options from a point of skepticism and then dove in, with the caveat that I could return the unit if I wanted to. Given the results in my case, well, any skeptics out there feeling similarly, I'd urge them to do the same.
 
Ultimately, after reading one testimonial after another of satisfied, in many cases elated, customers,
Well I doubt they would advertise the people that returned their units after buying them.

The very last place I would believe a "testimonial" was a website owned by the company or a website linked by that company. The amount of fake reviews on the net is so high that I really dont believe any of them. I am not saying what the power conditioner you bought does not work, I am saying that I in no way believe any reviews written online. My daughter just graduated from law school and in the dorm there were ads on the BBs in the advertising for "bloggers". When my daughter called the number, she was told the job was to create a profile on several auto mag web sites and to post positive reviews about a certain car company (wont name it).......she would get $.25 a post. A law school was probably the wrong place to post that notice as several curious students looked into it and found it was being run by a marketing company that did ad work for a major car company. After a week or so the phone was disconnected and the notices never showed back up.
 
Well I doubt they would advertise the people that returned their units after buying them.

The very last place I would believe a "testimonial" was a website owned by the company or a website linked by that company.

Good point. This is why dave's post is so important - he took the time to detail his journey and the results.

And a site like this is - for me - is the most appropriate way to learn about the audio world. I started this hobby in earnest only a couple of years ago. I've amassed so much knowledge from the people here that I find it to have helped my BS meter when I do read those online reviews (I'm still not buying the McAire!).

there are other sites with great boards, too, but I prefer this one. We just had like 70 responses about a power conditioner -- ha!
 
Yeah man give me credit I didn’t just go to the running springs home page and read their collection of five star reviews (such a site does not exist btw). My sources of critical information in this investigation were the two usual suspects - reviews on audio sites and threads at forums. I tend to find more convincing information at the latter but the former serves its purpose as well.

With the audio rags and sites, I definitely think you’re right to be skeptical of the relationship of reviewers to the influence of industry money (and I should say I am skeptical of everyone on this score in just about every waking endeavor, myself first and foremost).

That said, I’m on friendly terms with a well known audio reviewer who has written for most of the major mags over the years and now writes exclusively for the best known of them all. We’re not best buds but I see him around and we yak our audio dork yak. I can tell you this with certainty - he is one of us, only more so. His passion, knowledge, curiosity, utter devotion to the audio realm is staggering. For me audio and music are an aspect, a VERY important one, but an aspect of my life. For him it is life itself. Does he cut a corner of righteousness now and then in service to his economic or career gain? Do you? I work in the entertainment business and I have a family to feed... in other words I do on a daily basis. But I guarantee you this fellow has never written a review in his life that was an out and out payola scam or filled with blatant deceptions to please some industry hustle. It’s rare that I’m willing to say I’m unequivocally right about something but I know I’m right about that.

And look I know, even presuming I’m right, that he’s just one guy. I believe there are others like him. Audio is like any other hustle - there are sleazy scam artists and men and women of great integrity and a lot of shades of gray in between. You have to fine tune your bullshit detector and use it liberally.

The forums - Steve Hoffman’s site, audiogon, audio circle, a little vintage-oriented cabal known as audiokarma... this is where I think, if you’re vigilant and look hard enough, you can get something resembling the straight dope, find what consensus exists on a given unit or approach among like-minded audio obsessives. And yes, that was the point of my original post. I have taken much from the community on this score. Felt like time to give back in a small way.
 
Just wanted to add, Bodyblue, that I see how you thought I was talking about reading brand propaganda - i did write about reading the testimonials of satisfied customers. I meant that in a very broad sense including reviewers and forum denizens, but it certainly does read like I meant the type of stuff that brands put on their homepages. My bad.
 
Well I doubt they would advertise the people that returned their units after buying them.

The very last place I would believe a "testimonial" was a website owned by the company or a website linked by that company. The amount of fake reviews on the net is so high that I really dont believe any of them. I am not saying what the power conditioner you bought does not work, I am saying that I in no way believe any reviews written online. My daughter just graduated from law school and in the dorm there were ads on the BBs in the advertising for "bloggers". When my daughter called the number, she was told the job was to create a profile on several auto mag web sites and to post positive reviews about a certain car company (wont name it).......she would get $.25 a post. A law school was probably the wrong place to post that notice as several curious students looked into it and found it was being run by a marketing company that did ad work for a major car company. After a week or so the phone was disconnected and the notices never showed back up.

I think your post could be as well in my post about companies that watch forum like AK.

How many fake profil here and how many fake review?
 
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