Living in a 650 sf cinder block Army barracks puts me in a similar position. All of my outlets seem to work and all are grounded (well, they have 3 prongs anyway), but the whole system seems to be designed to support a TV, a fridge and a microwave and not much more. Because I had similar concerns and no possiblity of getting my "landlord" to upgrade my wiring, I decided to go with a P600 for my amps and speakers, augmented with a Chang 3200 for the front end components. The sound has improved tremendously (and continues to improve with PC upgrades), but I'm uncertain how much protection the Power Plant provides. I would think that it would be bullet proof since it is generating a 'perfect' sine wave power source, but changing fan speeds (plugged into the wall across the room) occasionally generates a crackle from the Martin Logan's. Other than that, this seems to have worked well for me and I've sustained no damage despite frequent blackouts and brownouts here in the Mojave. PS - if you decide to get a PowerPlant with multiwave, remember that if your Michell has an AC motor, it won't work right when.
AC Conditioners: Must Have Tweak or More Voodo
As the old school, 2 channel, sentimental dinosaur that I am, power conditioners are very newfangled devices to me and are filed in the same section of my brain as home theatre receivers. However, I have just moved into an apartment in an old townhouse where half the plugs don't even seem to work and even the ones that do requie "cheater" plugs. As I continue to build a system around a Levinson 23.5, ARC SP-11 MK II, Michell turntable and Sony SCD-1, I am wondering if some of these devices would erase my worries about old wiring in the house. Can someone please educate me on what I should do? Dealers seem to tell me that the power amp should go into the wall or a chang lightspeed thingy and that PS Audio 300 would be good for all the source components but I'm clueless. Would these things really mitigate the need to rewire or seek a dedicated line? Thank you.