I’ve seen this thread happen dozens of times on this website. I always thought that the first part of engineering a component was getting control of the electricity. Isn’t that what happens starting with a fuse and then there’s rectifiers and all kinds of other stuff that steps the power down to where the engineer wants it or wants it changed from AC to DC to operate the rest of the circuitry of the component. If all this is going on I would assume that the manufacturers do it because they can’t control where the components will end up and how bad the power situation is wherever people use them. I think all this stuff is just more stuff to sell people who get bored with their hobby. A couple years back all the rage was these different colored fuses for hundreds of dollars and then crazy $10,000 power cords. Sounds to me like a whole lot of people that got more time than money or is that more money than time I don’t know but the whole thing sounds like a waste. My equipment sounds great wherever I have it
AC Power
I have a relatively nice system, but have done nothing with my AC power, with the exception of upgraded PC’s and a cheap iFi plug in power conditioner. My question is multi fold… do I need to do something, and if so what? Dedicated line (15A or 20?)? Quality power conditioner? Both? Which one first? How do you tell?
My system is a combination of HT & 2 channel & I tend to use both simultaneously as I like to watch sports while listening to music.
My amp is (I think) a relatively low draw… Moon 330A, Rythmik sub, BHK pre, Aurender, Qutest w/Sbooster, R11’s. No high power amps are in my future & never listen above 75db. I do currently plug my amp directly into the wall. All my wall warts are gone. For my HT, add a 75” Sony TV, Marantz 7015 AVR & a Klipsch sub (although at zero volume the AVR & sub should not come into play).
I am considering buying the Furman IT-Reference 15i or 20i first as they are well reviewed & are priced very well on Amazon ($1,400 / $1,900). Before I pull the trigger, should I go dedicated power & at what amperage (my nephew, an EE & audiophile thinks I am drawing no more than 5 amps) as that will dictate the Furman model?
Interesting, my nephew thinks neither are worth the investment. His statement: “Do you have appliances on the circuit now? What kind of interference can they inject?...voltage drops would come from current draws...which trip breakers.
Not steady 60hz a good power supply handles. So it all comes back to was the power supply engineer dropped on his head as a child.”
”Personally I think it’s something audio people do when they have run out of gear to buy.”
Any thoughts or recommendations would be appreciated. Thanks!