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Power Conditioners - do you use them and do you have a recommendation?

70'sMusic

70'sMusic

Well-Known Member
Hi Everyone,

Got a question for the collective wisdom of the group - been thinking about purchasing a power conditioner. But, I'm having trouble determining how many AMPs I need. I've look at the back of my receiver and I've checked the owner's manual for a couple of my devices but all I find is watt information. How do you determine how many AMPs you need for a power conditioner? And, if you use one do you have a recommendation?
 
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You will get a lot of opinions on this subject for sure. If you have an old house with poor wiring or live out in the country with a poor connection it might be a good idea. Most buildings built in the past 25 years usually have clean power.
 
Does your amp have a fuse? Take it out and look at the amperage. Most amps are 15amp.
I use the conditioner that started it all,A Tice Power Block / Titan combo,one for each amp. Wouldn't be with out them. When you add The Titan to Power Block.it is a whole different animal. The Titan holds 1800 watts of pure conditioned by Power Block AC which your equipment draws from.
My amps are 15 amps.
 
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Bodyblue said:
You will get a lot of opinions on this subject for sure. If you have an old house with poor wiring or live out in the country with a poor connection it might be a good idea. Most buildings built in the past 25 years usually have clean power.
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Thank you Bodyblue. I'm in a modern building so we should be good to go.
 
qdrone said:
Does your amp have a fuse? Take it out and look at the amperage. Most amps are 15amp.
I use the conditioner that started it all,A Tice Power Block / Titan combo,one for each amp. Wouldn't be with out them. When you add The Titan to Power Block.it is a whole different animal. The Titan holds 1800 watts of pure conditioned by Power Block AC which your equipment draws from.
My amps are 15 amps.
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Thank you for sharing qdrone!
 
I've found that running an inexpensive Furman in my AVR / Karaoke / Guitar rack eliminated a ground loop / hum issue I had through my AVR and seems to have no impacts on my Oldchen KT88-K3 tube integrated I run for my main speakers in my second system. This system is a system of compromises though and gives peace of mind with respect to power surges.

My main takes more of a purist approach though I still run a DC trap in front of the darTZeel NHB-108B power amp copy to get rid of a hum issue with DC on the house mains.
 
70'sMusic said:
How do you determine how many AMPs you need for a power conditioner? And, if you use one do you have a recommendation?
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Budget determines selection, but even modestly priced ones from Tripp-Lite offer great value.

Two things: understand that the villains are not located miles away in a sub station. They live in your house and your system. Most modern homes contain all manner of noisy devices (SMPS wall warts, computers, routers, cable boxes, etc.) happily spewing RFI into your AC. Secondly, I would not plug an amplifier or receiver into one. I would use one with your sources.
 
APC and Tripp-Lite are always my go-to choice for Type 3 power conditioning. Furman is also a good selection. I have Type 1 (Square D) at the meter, Type 2 (Square D) in the electrical panel, and Type 3 at the user end. Most 1-1 transformer based isolation are expensive, heavy and can provide very clean power, and I use one on my AVR which is my source for the analogue amps.
 
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I've been using Furman for a while. Their pro line has the same features as the ones marketed for HT....just not as pretty to look at.
 
As a general question, what makes people think they need a power conditioner? I live in a fringe, suburb area and the power seems clean. No noises or static. i know there is a power analyzer we used to use in military electronics. It would record the power line signal for 24 hrs. Then , the next day you could find any peaks or spikes that happened overnight.
 
triode17 said:
As a general question, what makes people think they need a power conditioner? I live in a fringe, suburb area and the power seems clean. No noises or static. i know there is a power analyzer we used to use in military electronics. It would record the power line signal for 24 hrs. Then , the next day you could find any peaks or spikes that happened overnight.
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Mostly because we do live in an imperfect world of power delivery. A simple examination of the line with an oscilloscope will give you a clue as to noise. Appliances in your own home can introduce noise, like the variable speed A/C motor, or your TV, especially plasma displays. One of my other hobbies is in the RF space, and you'ld be surprised at the EMI/RFI generated by the next door neighbors TV or my front loading Maytag dryer back into the AC lines...
 
triode17 said:
As a general question, what makes people think they need a power conditioner? I live in a fringe, suburb area and the power seems clean. No noises or static. i know there is a power analyzer we used to use in military electronics. It would record the power line signal for 24 hrs. Then , the next day you could find any peaks or spikes that happened overnight.
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Warm fuzzies in their bellies that they are doing good. Having worked with precision power and power conditioning for 23yrs in the Navy I checked the power in everyone of my houses and apartments (moved at least every 3 yrs for 23yrs), I would run an analyzer for a few days to weeks and IMO never saw the need for a conditioner. Now protection is a different story.
 
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GChief said:
Warm fuzzies in their bellies that they are doing good. Having worked with precision power and power conditioning for 23yrs in the Navy I checked the power in everyone of my houses and apartments (moved every 3 yrs for 23yrs), I would run an analyzer for a few days to weeks and IMO never saw the need for a conditioner. Now protection is a different story.
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It's much more than "warm fuzzies" placebo effect... I can attest to it first hand. The propensity to brownout (under-voltage) or spikes (over-voltage) can vary greatly depending on location and service providers. Noise is not your friend, and an o-scope will give you first hand visual understanding of why the need is there. (K5DBX)
 
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DeltaB said:
It's much more than "warm fuzzies" placebo effect... I can attest to it first hand. (K5DBX)
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Thats cool, just giving my opinion for 11 properties in 5 different states. The data never supported springing for a conditioner.

:beerchug:
 
DeltaB said:
The propensity to brownout (under-voltage) or spikes (over-voltage) can vary greatly depending on location and service providers.
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And that's why I mentioned protection, I run a <$100 Surge protector/UPS. And I have yet to see enough noise to really be a problem. But like I said JMO.
 
E-Stat said:
The listening did for me starting almost twenty years ago.

I've found that a mix of conditioners and aftermarket power cords have reduced a "false brightness" to the signal that blurs resolution.
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Only used a conditioner once in an Apt in San Diego as an experiment. “Borrowed” a really nice grey boxed MilSpec one from work. Didn’t notice a difference at all. YMMV

Now that being said I am sure my system at the time was the weak link.
:beerchug:
 
High end power conditioners and cables should be the last area people invest funds into. Start with the room acoustics....speakers...etc...and save power and cables for last.
 
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