Does this mean I actually need a power conditioner?

[lars851]

Hi everyone,

My system always used a power conditioner/surge protector, mainly because I used to live in a place with very questionable wiring and a lot of ground issues. Having moved to a new apartment which is much newer and in which my system is on a group it doesn't share with any other appliances, I figured I could sell my power conditioner (Isotek Aquarius). However, as I took it out of the loop, the behaviour of my class a monoblocks changed. Normally, when I would switch them from off to standby, nothing out of the ordinary would happen. With my conditioner out of the equation, the warning lights for peak temperature and peak power delivery light up briefly every time I switch the blocks from off to standby. This happens again when I switch them off completely, but this is something that happens regardless of whether the Isotek is used or not. Can anyone here tell me what is happening, and if this means it is smarter to keep my conditioner in the system?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Bill Ferris]

Hi everyone,

My system always used a power conditioner/surge protector, mainly because I used to live in a place with very questionable wiring and a lot of ground issues. Having moved to a new apartment which is much newer and in which my system is on a group it doesn't share with any other appliances, I figured I could sell my power conditioner (Isotek Aquarius). However, as I took it out of the loop, the behaviour of my class a monoblocks changed. Normally, when I would switch them from off to standby, nothing out of the ordinary would happen. With my conditioner out of the equation, the warning lights for peak temperature and peak power delivery light up briefly every time I switch the blocks from off to standby. This happens again when I switch them off completely, but this is something that happens regardless of whether the Isotek is used or not. Can anyone here tell me what is happening, and if this means it is smarter to keep my conditioner in the system?

Thanks in advance!

Reinstall the Isotek Aquarius back into your system as it was before you removed it and see if the amps are happy again.

While I don`t own any Isotek conditioner/surge/spike protectors in any of my house`s 7 rooms systems, they all have other HQ brand units, including Automatic Voltage regulators (AVR) for most of them, and I`m a firm believer in quality incoming power conditioning/surge/spike protection for all A/V equipment since 1991, and have served me very well, especially with the popularity of first CFL and then LED light bulbs with their dirtying up the power in ones home, not to mention any neighbors sharing your drop transformer contributing their power line noise to your power circuits !

And with you living in an apartment that your powerline noise will most assuredly be greater with all your neighbors sharing your power feed !

 

[Bill Ferris]

Well Sir., did you ever try to reinstall your AC power conditioner, to determine it`s restoration to your equipment`s situations setup in your present apartment?

 

[lars851]

Hi Bill, thank you for your replies. I should have been clearer in my original post: I did use the conditioner briefly in my new apartment, and then the warning lights did not flash when I turned on the equipment, only when I turned the equipment off. So I suppose my question is also: how bad is it that what seems to be this little peak goes through the circuit? Is this an ‘issue’ that needs fixing with a conditioner?

 

[Bill Ferris]

Hi Bill, thank you for your replies. I should have been clearer in my original post: I did use the conditioner briefly in my new apartment, and then the warning lights did not flash when I turned on the equipment, only when I turned the equipment off. So I suppose my question is also: how bad is it that what seems to be this little peak goes through the circuit? Is this an ‘issue’ that needs fixing with a conditioner?

Don`t rightly know, as I don`t have any recollection of encountering your particular type issue(s) with any audio systems that I`ve been involved with, mine or otherwise for the 50 plus yrs. engaged with them !

 

[Blue Shadow]

If you can’t hear any difference
If your gear operates the same with and without
If you live in a low likelihood of lightning area
If your neighbor’s electrical crap never encroaches on your audio
and no other issues could possibly infringe on the raw, untreated power from the outside, maybe you can try going without the conditioner.

Otherwise, why not use one? Bill does because he lives with lightning strikes way more than most and needs the protection. Others take their chances

 

[Bill Ferris]

Otherwise, why not use one? Bill does because he lives with lightning strikes way more than most and needs the protection. Others take their chances

Plus, my serving electric Co.`s occasional clear weather power grid load switching surge/spike rich power blips when the area`s temperatures are predicted to be exceptionally high or low.

Last nights early evening`s local strong thunderstorm`s frequent nearby strike`s EMPs were strongly energizing my attic run hard wired security camera`s cables triggering their Tripp-Lite PoE Ethernet cable surge/spike protectors at each end of the 8 camera cable runs as I was watching them on a over 15 yr. old Sharp flat screen TV in the car garage after dinner having a smoke and Margarita.
The real close strikes would momentarily blank out the camera`s feeds as their protectors clamped to ground the destructive voltage induced on the attics lengthy Ethernet cabling, as I watched the storm on the TV.

I was/am not concerned during that, or any storm, as my research and investment in power and signal wire surge/spike protectors starting in the early nineties continue to pay for themselves doing their job with only the occasional cheap ass undersized OEM provided SMPS 24/7/365 operating wall wart failures, which after which being replaced with up rated inexpensive in wattage versions, yrs. ago, haven`t failed since.

Whether to power Protect, condition one`s electronics, or not, is one`s personal choice, and matters not to me what folks do.

 

[Hyperion]

Hi Bill, thank you for your replies. I should have been clearer in my original post: I did use the conditioner briefly in my new apartment, and then the warning lights did not flash when I turned on the equipment, only when I turned the equipment off. So I suppose my question is also: how bad is it that what seems to be this little peak goes through the circuit? Is this an ‘issue’ that needs fixing with a conditioner?

Generally
Electronics doesn't like being powered on and off too much, that's partly why we have 'Standby' mode, soft switches, and surge suppression, so if you can do things to sensibly reduce power cycling, and within reason use the Standby mode, to reduce power consumption/heat and full power on events, this could be helpful in extending the life of your equipment. To qualify the above remarks, personally I am not a fan of 24/7/365 powered on gear, even in standby mode, as I think it is wasteful of power, and ignores the ability of a unit to absorb a reasonable amount of power on/off events.

Power Conditioner
It could be that there is a switch on surge that the conditioner is suppressing, at least partially. Or that the wiring in the old location was so terrible that poor contacts were doing some surge suppression. Or maybe that the new location has a higher average voltage supplied, causing some differences in behaviour of the Power conditioner/Gear combination. I think you could spend a fortune finding out what the difference is, my inclination if placed in your situation would be to retain the power conditioner in your configuration, and watch your gear's behaviour re: lights for any changes and above all, enjoy the music.

 

[twiiii]

Most of the time a good ground connection to a copper water pipe or 8 foot copper ground rod will cure 90% of your problems. If not make sure you have home run circuits to your circuit breaker box with no splices and with 3 #12 awg wires in conduit. Romex is a big no no as are junction boxes. Also make sure all your equipment is on the same phase of your electrical system. If you don't have clean un compromised electrical circuits all the way to the power transformer on a near by electrical pole all goodie boxes in the world won't solve your problems. There are other solutions. Installing a computer isolation box is the best solution.