Anyone who says you need to do anything with your power (upgrade power cords, power conditioning, etc.) to change or improve your sound is lying, or ignorant. It's as simple as that.
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!
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@wturkey +1 @kennyc My planned placement behind my system should allow the continued use of my existing upgraded PC’s. Thanks @carlsbad2 You appear to be a person that gets in a hole & keeps digging to justify your arrogance. Yes, I am fully aware of the 2400 capabilities. If semi extreme voltages occur 125v+, 115v-, the unit corrects to 120v. Anything else, my well designed PS Audio/Simaudio power supplies can easily handle. It will also provide conditioned isolation between my digital & audio components at a price my wife can live with. |
The "dirt" in AC is higher frequencies than 60 Hz. capacitive reactance goes down with the power supply capacitors shunting these unwanted signals to ground and up in the inductors in power supplies, stopping them from making it through to the DC output in pi network power supplies. If you are using tubes, you are not using voltage regulators that might be affected by such noise, and you are not drawing so much current during loud passages, which you do not with steady current draw in class A, single ended triode amplifiers, you should be just fine. Many power supplies convert the AC to a higher frequency to make capacitor and inductor filters more effective, particularly in phono preamps and DAC's. |
@drbarney1 Thanks. I have a tube front pre (BHK) and a SS amp (Simaudio). |
Yes, it IS real voltage regulation. I've been in several situations where it greatly improved my AC line compared to what was coming in, from under voltage to over voltages I get very narrow band of AC voltage, day in, day out and in every season or it shuts off. As I mentioned, it's a cost effective compromise. Your alternatives are PS Audio Power Plants, which yes, they do regulate the voltage more tightly for a lot more money. The Power Plant 15 MSRP is $8k and limited to 1200 VA. The OP is getting 2400 VA for $900 along with best in class surge protection. An 1800VA unit goes for ~ $600. A real bargain with exceptional capabilities. |
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