Power conditioners hurt the sound?

H

Hetfield

Audioholic Samurai
I was kinda thinking of adding one but after a lot of research I keep seeing that it could hurt the sound especially the dynamics of the HT. Then I started reading about power regenerators from PS Audio which are just a bit expensive.
What do you think about this?

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H

Hetfield

Audioholic Samurai
Run, don’t walk, from BS Audio.
I totally agree, I watch all Gene's snake oil vids. Expensive cables just send me into a rage. I saw cables the other day for 2 grand, 5 grand and more. I mean what a racket. I truly want to start a cable company and charge the suckers 20 thousand for cables. Sorry, rant over.
PS Audio power regenerators do intrigue me but way too rich for my blood.

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ryanosaur

ryanosaur

Audioholic Overlord
What is your concern with your power?
Do you live in an old San Fransico Victorian with turn-of-the-century wiring? ;)
 
H

Hetfield

Audioholic Samurai
What is your concern with your power?
Do you live in an old San Fransico Victorian with turn-of-the-century wiring? ;)
No, live in a townhouse, which sucks in general for home theater. Always, always freaking paranoid and the sub. Wondering if I'm annoying the neighbors. No complaints but maybe they are just polite.

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Verdinut

Verdinut

Audioholic Spartan
Some power conditioners are well designed and also affordable.

The one I have been using for about 15 years is the APC H15. It has 12 AC outlets, some switched, some delayed and some unswitched. It also is an excellent surge protector and will boost low voltage, trim over voltage conditions:

 
little wing

little wing

Audioholic General
Some power conditioners are well designed and also affordable.

The one I have been using for about 15 years is the APC H15. It has 12 AC outlets, some switched, some delayed and some unswitched. It also is an excellent surge protector and will boost low voltage, trim over voltage conditions:


Curious if you think these are worth the price.
Panamax MR5100 Power line conditioner and surge protector at Crutchfield
 
G

gattaca

Enthusiast
Your main worry is/should/will be power surges unless you've got something like projectors which need to cool down and that's another ball-game. Save yourself some time and a lot $$$. I've advised fellow AVers many times to consider per below. I do not post here often but here's the basics:

a) Goto eBay and search for "SurgeX sx-1120-rt" or "SX-1115-RT".

b) The "RT" is important b/c it has all the features: COVUS, ICE, SurgeX, Over/Under.. and then review the seller's feedback. Only buy from those with good, solid feedback, look at all the photos carefully and watch the S/H as it can be $50.00 for these units due to the box size and distance. I also recommend people do not buy the ones where someone cut off the 20A male plug and replaced it b/c they have a 15A outlet. If you do that, be sure you check their wiring. I've seen some real shady stuff done recently in 1 unit I picked up for parts. Not pretty and it was clearly done by someone not well trained.

c) You should be able to get one of these in good condition for $100-$200 delivered if you are patient. I see several listed right now in that range.

d) Sometimes they might have scratches or the ears might be dented... but that's mostly cosmetic and nothing that bothers me as long as the internals are fine.

e) If you get a 20A (SX1120-RT) one, then you will need a 15A -> 20A plug converter to plug it into your power outlet unless you have a 20A outlet (doubtful) for AV setup. (NEMA 5-20P plug (requires a 20-amp circuit and a 5-20R T slot receptacle) Those cables are readily available.

f) Worse case you need the 7-pin phoenix connector on the rear to bridge 2 pins which allows it to switch on the "switched outlets." Those are from mouser easy. When you look at the rear, you can see if the 7-pin molex is present or not.

g) Another option is to use the SurgeX "SX2120-SEQ" which is the same thing only it does power sequencing across 3 banks. This is very useful for controlling in-rush across multiple high-powered amps. The simple 12V triggers from many AV receivers and pre-amps can trigger the SEQ. I saw those going for $150-$250 recently too in very good condition. These come in 2U and 1U formats. Don't see the 1U often and when they appear, they are usually more $ than the 2U units so if space is not a concern, go for the 2U.

Also, we've talked about this many times on AVS so here's a link to the last time I helped someone else with similar questions. I think he got a unit for $50, added the phoenix connector and he was GTG and very pleased.

https://www.avsforum.com/threads/surge-protection-testing-thread.2916378/page-8#post-58796806

I also like Furman's "SMP" products as they deploy a similar (but not the same) tech and those you can find usually at reasonable prices too and they are well made.

;) YMMV. The "series mode surge protection" is some of the best at doing the job well on the market.

Stay safe, stay alive.
 
Last edited:
pcosmic

pcosmic

Senior Audioholic
This is a controversial topic. Here are some things to consider.

If you have very expensive gear ($$$$), it makes sense to protect it and that should be your 1st priority. This could be a reason for getting a good balanced isolation power conditioner. For instance, my neighbor's house got hit by lightning and he lost 80,000 dollars worth of sht. At the same instant, my house could have easily got hit by lightning too, but, our good Lord Jesus spared me.

As for as sonic improvements go,
a) IF you don't have very resolving gear and speakers in the first place, just forget about power conditioners and save your cash. If your setup sounds really good late at night and sounds like sht during the day (to your ears), it is indicative that your gear is resolving enough and you may be a candidate for the above mentioned.

b) If your DAC/Preamp/Amp manufacturer is very competent, diminishing returns for a power conditioner are much higher. If you have a dedicated isolated 20 amp line or something for your setup, you may see very little benefit from power conditioners as well.

c) IF you don't have your house wired up with a dedicated line, a reasonably priced balanced isolation power conditioner can help your Streamer/DAC and Preamp. With a reasonably priced conditioner, just plug the streame/dac and preamp into it. In this instance, you would not plug the power amplifier into the conditioner. This solution should satisfy most golden ear bats.



PS.
BS Audio assumes that your amp manufacturer is completely incompetent and tries to sell you that vulture priced regenerator magician crap. But, in reality, their stuff is way more moronic than many other amp manufacturers out there (Yamaha, Luxman, Jungson, etc).
 
ryanosaur

ryanosaur

Audioholic Overlord
Your main worry is/should/will be power surges
This.
Many of these threads here end up with someone telling the OP to first get Whole Home Surge Protection installed at their Main Line, if possible.
;)
Personally, I get a kick out of the group that thinks anything happening between the point the power line enters your house and ends at each and every outlet can magically be fixed by an expensive power cord or other gadget. :p
To be fair I have never been in a situation that would require such intervention. *knocks on wood
 
H

Hetfield

Audioholic Samurai
I do have a surge protector of course. Its a cool green lit up one from Amazon. Working just fine and cheap.

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G

gattaca

Enthusiast
^^^ If that is an MOV-based device, I'll encourage you to do some home work on what MOVs are, how they function and the limits of their "protection". If you have $$$$ of equipment, then as I, and another poster stated, protecting that should be the priority as much as you can. I also agree with the poster about using IsoTs but that seemed beyond the scope of this thread.

There are some good YT vids showing what happens when MOVs fail. MOVs were quite useful when they were first invented 30+ years ago but they cannot compare to the capabilities of series-mode designs found in the products I mentioned above.

Stay safe, stay alive. Peace.
 
Verdinut

Verdinut

Audioholic Spartan
Verdinut

Verdinut

Audioholic Spartan
I like that one, looks pretty good. Thanks for the suggestion.

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But a surge protector is not a power conditioner. It does not regulate the voltage to any extent..
 
H

Hetfield

Audioholic Samurai
But a surge protector is not a power conditioner. It does not regulate the voltage to any extent..
I think I'm giving up on the idea of power conditioning. PS Audio which are too expensive for me are the only ones that do regeneration and I can't be guaranteed the others in the end would not hurt the sound of the system.

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Verdinut

Verdinut

Audioholic Spartan
I think I'm giving up on the idea of power conditioning. PS Audio which are too expensive for me are the only ones that do regeneration and I can't be guaranteed the others in the end would not hurt the sound of the system.

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The APC products won't affect the sound performance. Several members here use them, even Gene has at least one H15 or the equivalent with back-up in one of his systems.
 
H

Hetfield

Audioholic Samurai
The APC products won't affect the sound performance. Several members here use them, even Gene has at least one in one of his systems.
I'm looking into APC now, thanks for the info


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