Power conditioners hurt the sound?

[Trebdp83]

If it's very, very expensive your dynamics will be astounding! And don't listen to the spoil sport brats that needs to test this blind folded! WTF! Don't judge a book by the cover, I say, and blindness clearly does not help!

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I always suspected you were talkin’ out of your ass.

 

[highfigh]

I think all of my UPS have that and work great. I've got so many it's hard to keep track, but my minimum requirements are pretty much the same as your list. Even the cheap APC units I have do all of that. That's why I like them. Plus, they're pretty much the king of the IT world so support for monitoring them is wide.

Most USP can be monitored, but APC has much more support than any other I've used. They do upcharge for their "home theater" UPS that are no different from their SMB line other than looks. They do the same thing for the rackmount versions too though.

Honestly, I've yet to use a "bad" UPS brand and haven't ever had to replace an actual UPS.

I'm not sure anyone wants to bring a bad unit to market and endure the crapstorm that would result from repeated failures. AVR and TV manufacturers seem to disagree with this model, though.

 

[highfigh]

What do you guys think of something like this even though expensive if you have a hum issue? I have a slight hum, I cannot hear it from MLP but I can when I put my ear right up to the speakers. What do you think of this?

Ebtech Hum X Voltage Hum Filter | zZounds

Plug your amp's power cord into the Ebtech Hum X before the wall outlet, and kiss ground loop hum goodbye -- while keeping your amp safely grounded.

www.zzounds.com

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That HumX is no longer available from zZounds, BTW.

Ebtech is decent stuff- that HumX has been sold toward the instrument amplification market for a long time and they're particularly susceptible to this since music venues aren't all wired correctly, safely and properly, so a musician who also sings can get a big jolt if the amplifier and PA polarity aren't the same. Old guitar amps used to come with a polarity switch for the hot & neutral which is great if they aren't singing or touching anything else, but that voltage can be lethal- it dropped Keith Richards & many others like sacks of flour and has killed people. If someone has a pacemaker, they should just use newer equipment- Hubert Sumlin, who played for years in Howlin' Wolf's band and has influenced many guitarists was knocked on his butt at the tribute party for Les Paul because it tweaked his pacemaker.

 

[highfigh]

I think, I think but don't know for sure but I think the hum is from my amp.

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Turn the TV and other electronics off- if the noise stops, it's just interference.

To be honest, I don't know if a little noise is really a problem when it can't be heard from the listening position unless it's actually damaging the equipment. Annoying, but noise comes along for the ride when gain is involved. In a lab, the best specs are measured but in real world situations, things are harder to control.

 

[Trell]

Most, if not all, power conditioners won't help with noise floor, but the reviews of some of the balanced power units said that they did. I'll have to track one down, but these were legit reviews for studio equipment, not home use so those guys are way more picky than most of us are. Plus, I seem to remember the monitors used were quite expensive. We're probably talking about the absolute last thing you can do to eek that extra 1% out of your system.

I'll admit, if I had the cash, I'd try one if I had higher end equipment. Mine wouldn't really benefit from something like that.

The marketing for most of the power conditioners is that they "clean" the power coming from the wall before it gets to your equipment. The thing is, the power supply in the equipment is already doing that to an extant, so what's the point? That, and the voltage regulation from a UPS that produces a "pure sine wave" is supposed to be as good as it gets. Tons of UPS have this feature and aren't expensive, but won't change anything about the way things sound.

Someone like @PENG or @TLS Guy can explain it better than I, but the general consensus is that power conditioners aren't going to do much to "help" your sound save for very specific circumstances.

As you wrote, a good PSU will take care of this. If you live in a country where 3rd world quality of electricity is common place, then whatever you need to do should be at the entry point of your house. Done by a qualified electrician, of course.

 

[panteragstk]

Turn the TV and other electronics off- if the noise stops, it's just interference.

To be honest, I don't know if a little noise is really a problem when it can't be heard from the listening position unless it's actually damaging the equipment. Annoying, but noise comes along for the ride when gain is involved. In a lab, the best specs are measured but in real world situations, things are harder to control.

This is pretty much what stopped me looking into my hum. Once I dialed in my subs again, it was significantly lower. So much that when my projector is on you can't hear it.

I'll chase it down some other time.

 

[Hetfield]

This is pretty much what stopped me looking into my hum. Once I dialed in my subs again, it was significantly lower. So much that when my projector is on you can't hear it.

I'll chase it down some other time.

Good point, the hum is only from my RSL speakers and my Def Tech speakers before that, never and not from my PB1000. Never thought about that, does that lend a clue to the issue?
I cannot hear it from my listening position, not at all so that is a good thing.

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[Verdinut]

Good point, the hum is only from my RSL speakers and my Def Tech speakers before that, never and not from my PB1000. Never thought about that, does that lend a clue to the issue?
I cannot hear it from my listening position, not at all so that is a good thing.

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Speakers produce hum but they are not the origin. The hum comes from the sound path to the speakers. Loudspeakers are passive so they cannot introduce hum by themselves.
But since you cannot hear it from your listening position, you shouldn't have to worry. However, the source is probably a ground loop or an insecure ground connection.