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Power Conditioners - Do they make a Difference (poll)

Did a power conditioner make a difference?

  • Yes - a good difference.

    Votes: 39 52.7%

  • Yes - a bad difference.

    Votes: 4 5.4%

  • No difference

    Votes: 31 41.9%
  • Total voters
    74
joecoulson

joecoulson

CUPBOARD BROKER
Curious to test the waters and see how many have tried power conditioners and to post their experience with them.

Poll above should be interesting.

Any additional comments as to whether they made a positive or negative difference (or nothing) ?
 
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In my main system, I have been using a medical-grade isolation transformer. I'm not sure if it qualifies as a "power conditioner," but it does reduce noise, thus lowering the noise floor. It is a good addition to the system, along with a few AudioPrism Quietline units.
 
I’ll share mine:
Back in the 90’s and 2000’s I got hooked on the Monster marketing train and had multiple of their power conditioning units. It wasn’t Until I was challenged to A/B my audio gear by a friend back about 7 years ago that I found out they actually bottle necked the power to hooked up units.

They challenged me to see if the new Audioquest Niagara 1000 made a sonic difference with the same A/B testing. Boy did it!
I purchased one along with the Thunder PC for a whopping $1500! Crazy for spending that type of money on a non source/speaker component.

But I am so glad I did. At the time, it upped the game of all of the connected gear.

The next few years visiting an audio show and many dealers while upgrading multiple times on the rig, had me looking to taking the final step on my power for the rig.

The Audioquest Niagara 5000 with a Hurricane HC power cable feeds the system now. That upgrade was one that made such a profound difference with the power amp, preamp and digital source (Auralic) that it was one I knew I would never need to touch again.

Very happy with the positive difference a power conditioner has made on my system.
 
FWIW, I`ve been happily using various models and types of power conditioners since the mid eighties and wouldn`t install any A/V systems without their inclusion in my house.

And none of them were expensive fancy audiophile specific marketed products, just good solid power protection companies that have been in the power protection/conditioning/AVR for many, many decades.

All my house`s rooms audio systems are powered via AC surge/spike/power conditioners, and 3 of the higher resolution systems also use 20 amp rated AVRs plugged into very stiff (low voltage drop) 10 gage 20 amp breaker protected dedicated 120 volt circuits to try to keep the AC voltage feeding those systems from dropping significantly and thus effecting any dynamic bass performance when the system is cranked up, including (2) converted to 240 volt Mc. MC 1201 bass frequency purposed big ass power amps using 20 amp rated 240 volt Panamax HQ & HD surge/spike/conditioners, that were designed for commercial/industrial sized laser printers.
House`s AC have become very polluted because of the proliferation of SMPS powered devices, CFL, and LED lighting all back feeding their noise into the house`s wiring, plus the common sharing of the grids power drop transformers with ones neighbors (usually up to 4 homes share), and their household electronic/electrical device contribution to the shared 240 volt drop pollution.

Since implementing surge/spike/power conditioning for my 7 room`s A/V systems in my house starting in the early nineties, I don`t hear or see the effects of any noise on any of them, no matter what electrical/electronic device cycles on or off in my house, whether I`m being powered by the grid, or on my 25kw whole house power backup genset.
 
I've tried a bunch of them. I'd say for the most part they do very little. There are some that are pretty effective and make a positive difference and there are some that make things worse!!!! Like any component be sure you audition it in YOUR system hooked up to YOUR electrical source. I personally use a Richard Gray Power Company 400S "electronic flywheel" for preamp, digital, etc. Power amp goes straight into the wall (no conditioner) which is how RGPC recommends you run things. As for power strips that "clean up and surge protect" the only somewhat reasonably priced one that I've found that seems to "do something positive" is the Furutech e-p60 and e-p80. I've never had opportunity to try the Shunyata products, but they are used in very sensitive cardiac electrophysiology labs to good effect - so they obviously work and have proof that they work. Do they make audio gear sound better ???? I have an audio dealer friend (who's ears I trust a great deal) and he tells me that iFi is making some useful and affordable power products as well - but I've not tried them.
 
I run them to protect my gear that in many instances have spent significant time restoring.

I do have dedicated circuit from the panel.

I have observed no improvements in quality of the audio as the result of the power conditioner.
 
Power in Kentucky is all over the place, and I always had a hankering for Monster Power's blue meter power thingy. Finally got one at a fair price on Bartertown.

Does it sound better or worse? No idea, but the crazy weather here and random power surges merit its use.
 
It seems 2 out of 3 can hear a difference.

Wonder if anyone else cares to share which ones did and didn’t make a difference?
 
I have more then one in use for years now. Mainly to ease the power on off of multi unit systems.

Do I hear a difference? Not really.
Have Monster (2) Adcom (3) and Panamax units. Do figure if the house electrical were to take a hit of lightning may protect down stream gear.
 
Oerets said:
Do figure if the house electrical were to take a hit of lightning may protect down stream gear.
Click to expand...

Has multiple times here, as recently as 2019, when Aug. 15 in the evening lightning struck a hardwood tree about 10 ft. from the corner of my house`s garage converted to electronic repair facility.. Since I moved here in the last day of May 1989, 3 located on my property near to my house trees have been struck by lightning, and (1) strike to a 40 ft. telescoping antenna pole mounted antenna in the summer of 1997.. Antenna fed point connection vaporized, connected cables, and all multiple connected expensive HQ LF(5 KHZ) through 2.2 Gig freq. range radio receivers, coax switches, and signal preamps suffered no damage, nor the Panamax protected computer operating at the time.

The lightning`s EMP induced enough energy to trip the bench closest to that corner (~12ft. load center`s 20 amp circuit breaker..
The 24/7/365 powered up and Panamax surge/spike/filtered protected Mc. MA-6100 integrated amp was playing attic run hard wire fed music fed from my living room`s master A/V rack ~50 ft. distant.
No damage, and it`s still playing as I type !
I did lose several OEM provided and cheap, under rated for their application, SMPS wall warts, a ethernet cable surge/spike protector.
Several of my house`s GFI circuit breakers tripped from the imbalanced currents running through the attic Romex..
My next door neighbor`s house 40 ft. from the strike, who`s my B-I-L, lost his plugged in, but not operating at the time, 1987 built, washing machines water level controller circuit board from the EMP blast`s energy.
 
I've been using a range of Monster and Tripp-Lite conditioners for twenty odd years with sources. I've found they do reduce false brightness.

Pre and power amps go directly to wall in dedicated circuits using shielded aftermarket power cords.
 
I voted "yes," but the choice I really wanted was "it depends." In our old house, an isolation transformer on the front-end components made a very positive difference. In our new house (much newer in terms of construction), where the main system is in an addition that has its own panel, it makes no difference at all. That said, I do run everything in the main system through Brickwall surge protectors/filters, which are neutral but offer some piece of mind.
 
I can only speak for headphone amplification and DAC's, Those are very sensitive to electronic noise and anything that filters it gets immediately noticed, sometimes quite spectacularly. It's not cheap though.
 
apparently most power conditioning or regen products are effectively profit fodder unless a household has obscenely bad ac mains, borderline paranormal manifestations. after seeing the measurements over at audiosciencereview.com amir did a nice job exposing an unnecessary product at ps audio (powerplant p12 ac regen). the quality of a devices power supply dictates overall circuit noise, also mentioned in amir's youtube vids. circuit design and grade of components obviously important too.

protecting electrical equipment from lightning strikes and other mishaps (car+power pole = kaboom) is a good idea and solutions to accomplish this can cost less than 100usd (residential environment).
 
sae-7125 said:
apparently most power conditioning or regen products are effectively profit fodder unless a household has obscenely bad ac mains, borderline paranormal manifestations. after seeing the measurements over at audiosciencereview.com amir did a nice job exposing an unnecessary product at ps audio (powerplant p12 ac regen). the quality of a devices power supply dictates overall circuit noise, also mentioned in amir's youtube vids. circuit design and grade of components obviously important too.

protecting electrical equipment from lightning strikes and other mishaps (car+power pole = kaboom) is a good idea and solutions to accomplish this can cost less than 100usd (residential environment).
Click to expand...

That`s why for nearly 34 yrs. living in this house, every single surge/spike/conditioner/protector/AVRs that I bought and still use, were never directly marketed as audiophile grade power devices in any manner..

Just very well and long established companies that were in the power protection for many decades before a lot of these more recent heavily marketed for audiophile upstart ones where a itch/concept in somebody`s mind.
 
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