A not sarcastic question for the power conditioner/upgraded power cord folks

I wouldn’t, but it is your house (I hope?) After re-reading this thread if that is easiest then yes do it. I think alot of us who use power conditioners have it within 1-2m of the components, and then if you need a longer power cord to go from the wall to the conditioner you buy just one longer power cord.

@mclinnguy , house is ours, bought and now paid for. And moving the outlets up about a foot or a foot & 1/2 would allow all of the gear that I am using to go straight into the wall. Not only that, when I do that, I might as well do a better job of routing the three runs of Romex to insure more space between them. Which will put me back up in the attic again, which is my least favorite place in this house, but it’s not like I have a lot else going on in my life.

Sounds like you are fixed into your components needing to be in a rack? A tall one? Do they need to be? I don’t have a rack- I have platforms- so I don’t have that issue.

Well, not really, but that’s another story. The gear is off to the side, not in a rack and not between the speakers.

Which will put me back up in the attic again, which is my lest favorite plaace in this house, 

I hear ya; wear a dust mask. 

I hear ya; wear a dust mask.

Ha! It’s interesting that you should mention it, @mclinnguy . When I ran Romex up there for the first set of dedicated circuits back in ’98 or so, I wouldn’t go up there without wearing a respirator. Since then there have been several more circuit/wire expeditions up there, and the last time was two Novembers ago. For that one I was redoing some stuff for the new circuits in my new listening room. "Redoing" is an understatement--"doing over" is more apt, but anyway I was up there day after day after day. I’d wake up, go to MacD’s and get a frappe, and then climb up into the attic and work until my cramps got too bad &/or I could feel my blood sugar getting too low.

Anyway, when I started that last expedition I was wearing a mask, but my glasses were fogging up and it was just a hindrance and I said screw it. Then about a week before Thanksgiving (I had finished my attic work) I had gone to the VA hospital to take a cardiac stress test and this was about the time Covid masking was unofficially starting to relax a bit. I woke up Thanksgiving morning feeling a bit crappy, and by the next day I was sick as a dog, and I stayed sick for better than a week.

I didn’t get tested, but I figured I must have picked up a dose of the Covid at the VA hospital, but I am also wondering if maybe that sickness was the result of all the nasty dust I was inhaling up there.

Anyway, this next expedition will be a lot quicker than the last one. Unless, that is, I decide to swap out the 12-2 for 10-2.

Yes sorry for the confusion.  The paper was a cut and paste from The Absolute sound.  The paper was submitted by Vince Galbo of MSB fame.

Yeah who knows; hospitals are great places to pick up strange stuff. And It's amazing all the hazardous materials our older buildings were made from, like lead and asbestos, not to mention what else may be up in attics: Mold, other spores, feces from rodents and birds, and some have disturbed some old bat dung and got some really nasty complications. Better safe than sorry as they say! I need to get a better respirator on that note, those dust masks only block about 95%. 

That paper from The Absolute Sound is unusual.

It mixes thoughtful, solid advice and downright dangerous garbage no one should attempt unless they aspire to become poster boys for Darwin’s teachings.

Usually you get one or the other but not both, and, unexpectedly, the author is in a leadership position at a legit, well-regarded company.

@chuck I see the article was produced back in 2016 and updated since. Quite the sound room they have at MSB- I am sure every one of those suggestions were employed in the construction of this room. I've often wondered how does one know when to stop with the absorption and diffusion treatments? 

I am not going to put the silver paste on anything on my circuits, but the author writes that:

No need to apply it to the busbar connection especially since these are always electrically live and fatally dangerous!!

?

Is he referring to the neutral/ground bar?

6 gauge or 8-gauge may require a jump down to 10 gauge in a junction box somewhere near the wall outlets for the wire to fit into most wall outlets.

Is this jump down legitimate to do? And if it is, I am not sure where to put the junction box? I guess you would have to cut the dry wall out and mount the box to a stud close to the outlet, kind of like in new construction and then patch some new dry wall in? I guess I might replace the 12-2 I used in one room with 10-2, but even if it is legitimate, I am not going to go any larger than 10 gauge and "jump" it down inside junction boxes.

I am only asking those last two questions because I truly don’t know a lot about this subject. But I guess it doesn’t matter, because as I said, I am not using the silver paste or doing any jumping down regardless of what the answer is.

I've often wondered how does one know when to stop with the absorption and diffusion treatments? 

I guess when you run out of money or obtain the Holy Grail--whichever comes first?  

Is he referring to the neutral/ground bar?

All the busbars- neutral, hot and ground. The breakers will snap into the busbar, you want paste between the two, so you just need to paste the breaker contacts.

Likewise if one wants paste in their receptacle you don’t need to squeeze paste under the screws into the clamps, just paste the wire and there will be paste between wire and clamp. If you are going to this extent take some emery cloth and clean the oxidation off the copper wire ends first. 

I know they pasted the aluminum cable that enters the new 200 amp panel I had installed a few years ago, but that would be antioxidant paste one needs to do when connecting aluminum to copper. Here BC Hydro does not use copper cable from the street/pole to new houses anymore, they use aluminum.

I am not sure where to put the junction box? I guess you would have to cut the dry wall out and mount the box to a stud close to the outlet, kind of like in new construction and then patch some new dry wall in?

Yeah, but as long as you have accessible cover on it, and not buried behind drywall. Think of it like a sub-panel mounted inside the stud cavity. Yeah, could be fugly. I think 10 gauge is more than sufficient.

@audphile1 

I'm not trying to sell anyone on whether or not they should use a power conditioner.  Ultimately, every individual audiophile has to find their own way.  It's all good in the neighborhood.  Happy listening.     

I know this has been a long winded and convoluted way to get my expert advice. 

Buy the box of rocks. https://www.ebay.com/itm/265757970590