Advice needed on power cables, wall warts, conditioning, electrical outlet

I did this experiment:

1. borrowed very high end power cords - significant difference - but not as much as spending the $10K on the pre, the amp, or anything else

2. installed isolation transformer to run separate outlets at 20% of above cost

3. plugged factory power cords into isolated outlets - sounded better than expensive cords into normal outlets (1)

4. plugged expensive cords into isolated outlets - no different than (3).

Experiment proved that in my case, an isolation transformer worked better than expensive power cords, for much less money, and expensive power cords brought NO improvement after the isolation transformer cleaned up the power.

For context, I live half a mile from the nearest commercial user, five miles from the nearest industrial user.

This experiment contradicts the strong opinions of our resident armchair "experts". Use the information as you see fit.

Good luck.

@cakyol 

Thank you. I sometimes feel a bit lonely when trying to help someone who genuinely wants to learn.

Glad to share. Plitron makes a great medical isolation transformer - I use 4 of them.

Will fill in some specifics later today, when Sunday calms down a bit.

Plitron medical isolation transformers are what I use.

Words of caution: isolation transformers tend to hum when they are doing their job, so you want to site these in a utility room. Installation is not hard, but unless you have some experience with home wiring, get it done by a pro. Think of it this way: behind every wall is a large elephant, ever vigilant, straining to get loose and destroy everything. That's the power lurking in the modern home electrical system. When the installation is complete, you will need to involve the electrical inspector, who may want to inspect it. This is essential if you do a permanent installation, because no inspector means no insurance.

Don't worry too much about the length of wire from transformer to outlet. Use oversise Romex for this (for 15 amps, code says AWG14, so use AWG12). Use any hospital grade outlets, which are not the most expensive, just the best, available at your electrical supply store, or from Parts Connexion. Pay no more than about $20 each unless you live in a hot, humid environment, in which case you may need corrosion resistant connection points.

To specify what you need,

Step 1: You will want to put all the electronics on one transformer, everything with a motor on another. To do this, total up the maximum load of each device you will be connecting, usually found on the back of the case or the user's manual. Allow for the future, so add 25% more. Then double the total for technical transformer-thing reasons, and that's the capacity of the transformer that you need. Once you have calculated the capacity of the transformer for your electronics, do the same for the transformer which will run your motors.

Step 2: Torroidal or conventional? Torroidal is better, but can be hard to find. Plitron is toroidal, and used to sell to the public direct from the factory. Maybe they still do.

Step 3: Permanent or portable? Permanent is cheaper to buy, but more expensive to install. For permanent, buy a raw transformer with wires sticking out of it and site it in an electrical box (electrical supply) and feed it with it's own circuit, fed by an oversize cable from the box.

You may have noticed that this involves a bit more than swapping out power cords. It was a bit of a stretch for me to do the whole thing, but it's a hobby, and for me, it's worth it. YMMV

Good luck!

A last note: when the electrical inspector came to inspect my installation, he said it was the cleanest power he had ever seen, comparable to the electrical generating station where he used to work. It may not be as flashy as the Koetsu, but it's just as important.

Why do you say that, @alexberger ? Stray fields are smallest, efficiency highest. Please share - I do hate persisting in error.

@alexberger Well, toroidal cores are harder to make and much harder to wind. Hence torroids are more expensive. For all I know, it may be prohibitive to shape exotic core materials into toroids.

Certainly my Lundahl silver phono SUT’s sound great, and they’re not toroids - but so do my VanderVeen designed ESL SUT’s sound great - and they are toroids. By the way, I did test my Quad 2905 ESL’s with a Plitron-made VdV toroidal SUT against a stock Quad 2905 with matched conventional transformers, in my own system, and it was just no contest for clarity and definition. Toroid triumphed within a few seconds.

As for tube amplifiers, I can think of no-one better to consult than Ralph Karsten of Atma-Sphere. I had some M60’s, and I’m pretty sure that they had toroids. Also, from a review of M60 Mk II posted on his website, "The two floating output-tube power supplies are fed by separate secondary windings of a massive toroidal transformer".

From the Mark Levinson site, "Unleash the full potential of your music as you go from the quietest lows to the loudest crescendo. The № 536’s toroidal transformer delivers massive power to your speakers".

So, in the realms under discussion, i.e. enough power to run an amplifier, two giants in the field seem to agree with me. Your thoughts?