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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
sometimes the simplest solutions can achieve optimal benefits that any wallet can appreciate. i wonder if the same can be said about golf, a 5k club vs 300$ set. hard part is finding a 1-iron, hello garage sale.
 
ASR
Amazing how many people take his word on things. Let’s measure listening devices at 115db to see if they distort….
 
simply a starting point for critiquing reality instead of relying upon manufactures (conflict of interest) and financially motivated reviewers (dollar shill). people/reviewers asking for donations is a slippery slope as to where the money goes and the potential bias it can/will create.
 
For me they are definitely a worthy investment. Not really for any sonic improvements but for other reasons.

About 12-15 years ago, there was a huge lightning strike to a power line near my house that blew out the power to the entire neighborhood and fried my TV and my Pioneer SC-09TX receiver! I wasn't using a conditioner/surge protector. It cost me $900 to have a main board replaced in the receiver. The part had to be ordered from Japan and took several weeks to get the receiver back. The TV was toast.

Another way the conditioner/surge protector has helped was to get rid of ground loop hums in my powered subs. They can be a real PITA to eliminate sometimes.

As far as the music sounding any better.... naw. Not that I could hear but then $1,000 cables don't sound any better to my ears than $30 ones do either.

I have used conditioner/surge protectors ever since and haven't had any more problems. Hopefully I never will.
 
MuchoReverbo said:
For me they are definitely a worthy investment. Not really for any sonic improvements but for other reasons.

About 12-15 years ago, there was a huge lightning strike to a power line near my house that blew out the power to the entire neighborhood and fried my TV and my Pioneer SC-09TX receiver! I wasn't using a conditioner/surge protector. It cost me $900 to have a main board replaced in the receiver. The part had to be ordered from Japan and took several weeks to get the receiver back. The TV was toast.

Another way the conditioner/surge protector has helped was to get rid of ground loop hums in my powered subs. They can be a real PITA to eliminate sometimes.

As far as the music sounding any better.... naw. Not that I could hear but then $1,000 cables don't sound any better to my ears than $30 ones do either.

I have used conditioner/surge protectors ever since and haven't had any more problems. Hopefully I never will.
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The use of quality properly selected surge/spike versions, as you well know, is the cheapest insurance investment one can do to protect all their A/V electronics (and any micro processor based fridge, washing machines, etc. from both nature and manmade surge/spike events, and if they happen to clean up the electricity feeding those devices, well then, that`s just icing on the cake !
 
MuchoReverbo said:
I wouldn't mind having one that does the entire house. It's on the list.
Click to expand...
Go for it, I started in 1997 in this house with the meter based (purchased from the power Co. as first layer of grid protection, and around 12 yrs. ago I installed a Leviton brand whole house L1/L2 type second layer of grid based protection in the circuit breaker panel to also additionally provide easy street for any residual energy surges/spikes that all 7 rooms of my house`s A/V systems endpoint surge/spike protection devices might receive.

Plus, when the grid gets knocked out during an extreme local violent lightning storm/hurricane, my automatic whole house generator`s transfer panel disconnects my electrical panel from the meter & it`s protection, and all my house`s attic/wall run power wires are still subject to the destructive over voltage energy from nearby lightning strikes EMP blasts.

But, you should still install quality (not some overly priced audiophile marketed) surge/spike protection for any electronic device in your house (fridge, microwave, washing machine, etc.)

I confidently operate all normally in daily operation any electrical/electronic equipment without any concern for surge/spike damage during any lightning storm, and only the occasional cheap ass whimpy OEM provided wall warts fail, and after replacement with better output current uprated versions, no more failures, even the ones operating 24/7/365, like wireless security cameras.
 
Yeah I'm going to do exactly what you suggest. I have new fridge, washer, dryer as well as all my A/V stuff to protect. My house came ready to go for a back up generator but the previous owner took the generator. That's another thing I'd like to get because the power does go out from time to time. It was down a couple times within the past few weeks with all this weird weather we've been having with 30+ degree changes from day to day and high winds. I'm replacing some shingles on my roof that blew off. Today it's supposed to break the record at 87 degrees here in Tennessee.
 
I don't use any power conditioners since the utility voltage is not wildly swinging up or down. Depending on the equipment power draw the power conditioner could be a bottleneck device limiting peak power draw.

OTOH I do have local power surge protection (between wall outlets and the equipment) and whole house surge protection too.
Siemens Boltshield FSPD 140kA

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They can make a difference if a component's power supply is deficient (or you might say "traditional" or "technology-appropriate"). It was night and day with Laurel IIX monoblocks in a NY apartment building, the GZ37 half-wave rectifier/choke supply allowed every refrigerator pump click to be audible.

But modern solid-state gear sounded the same whether plugged in directly or into the PS Audio outlet.
 
My DIY power conditioner eliminates adverse noises and disturbances coming from the 230V electrical network : HF, spikes, DC offset, noises, etc... PLus it protects the equipment : differential and overload circuit breaker, soft start, isolation transformer. It doesn't offer voltage regulation though, it only "cleans and protects". ;)

E7IxOb-fini4.jpg


So yes, I notice a difference, mainly due to the "cleaning" operation : the sound is unchanged, but it is not disturbed anymore.

T
 
Will P said:
I don't use any power conditioners since the utility voltage is not wildly swinging up or down.
Click to expand...
FWIW, "power conditioner" is really generic term, not to imply by quoting you that it's a newly coined term.

The point is though possible clarification. The majority of power conditioners are surge/spike protection and maybe noise filtering. Addressing voltage regulation as your reference to utility voltage fluctuations suggests, is a quite different thing, and much less common in power conditioners in generic parlance.
 
Got no skin in the game but as my electronics are on a 20 amp dedicated line & the power around here is pretty clean, not certain benefits of PC would be as considerable as some have experienced. Just thinking out loud; I could be completely incorrect -
 
Bob in WI said:
Got no skin in the game but as my electronics are on a 20 amp dedicated line & the power around here is pretty clean, not certain benefits of PC would be as considerable as some have experienced. Just thinking out loud; I could be completely incorrect -
Click to expand...

No, I don't think so, @Bob in WI : given the quality of your AC mains power installation, a power conditioner could effectively... Be useless ! :)

T
 
I actually had issues where my GFI would Trip for no reason. I hooked up a scope to the mains and intermittently I saw dirty power.
I called the power company. Apparently a transformer was arcing. Afterwards I had clean power. I do believe in power conditioners using a resonant circuit and surge protection.
 

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Should be a 4th poll option, "I don't know because never owned one.". That would be my response.

Edit: I have a Panamax unit in my main system, but think it is just a surge protector, or maybe just a fancy looking power strip. The power where we live must be pretty good. I've never noticed any AC power related noise and it stays pretty consistently around 119 VAC.
 
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I'm more concerned by the high voltage here or 125+. In the 30+ years living here, it's managed to cook many an electronic device. Started using variac, step down transformers, computer fans, timers and surge protectors in last ten years or so and have had to repair/ replace less items. Hdtv going on 14 years. Wall warts and small transformers literally come unglued and go out during the summer. Have a two outlet monster brand device that supposedly cleans the pwr. Likely a noise suppressor.
 
raycarr00 said:
I'm more concerned by the high voltage here or 125+. In the 30+ years living here, it's managed to cook many an electronic device.
Click to expand...

Safe to presume you've contacted the utility to ask for voltage adjustment if it's consistently 125+?

They might be able to change the tap on a transformer to bring it down a bit closer to 120.
 
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