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Criticize my power supply arrangement

I have a mutt of a power supply arrangement, and am wondering about its effectiveness. Several of the items are new and have yet to burn in, so I am unsure of the final impact to the sound of my system.

In the wall is a Porter Port, a cryo-treated hubbell outlet. Plugged in to that is an Audience Adept Response AR2P-T. Plugged in to that is a Rigid (Home Depot) 12 Gauge 25' Extension, into which is plugged a Monster HTS1000 Surge Suppressor. From there to the components is a mix of Virtual Dynamics, Pangea, and generic PCs.

The HTS1000 serves as both a surge protector and localized multi-outlet source, as the rack is about 20' from the outlet. It has a fixed power cord, the same size in thickness as the Rigid 12 Ga extension. I bought the Adept Response in lieu of a more expensive conditioner/distribution center.

It seems to me that the constraining factor in this is the fixed HTS1000 power cord. If I were to use a long but higher grade PC from the Adept Response, the power would still have to go through that the HTS1000 PC.

This all feels ok to me for now, as I have three recently installed elements which have to settle in. At that point, I will do some comparative listening to another outlet to hear the differences between what I have now, and what I had before.

One option which occurs to me for the future would be to acquire a surge protector with an IEC connection for a heavier duty PC from the Adept Response.

Any comments would be welcome.

Chuck
128x128cmjones
7 responses Add your response
zmanastronomy's avatar
zmanastronomy
738 posts
 
Hi Chuck.
The Home Depot power cord and the HTS1000pc is definatly a bottle neck in your system.
Surge protectors will not bring out the openess and dynamics of a good system. The 12awg HD power cord is also robbing you of sonic quality.
If you could some how get your equipment closer to the outlet and use some audiophile PC's, your sound would increase by a great margin.
Hope this helps.
jedinite24's avatar
jedinite24
1,503 posts
 
Hi Chuck

Here is my $.02. I think the weak link could also be the HD Power Cord and the Monster HTS1000. I remember from another thread a fellow A'gon member had good results using Volex 17604 power cord mated with a Audioquest IEC 3US Power Cord Adaptor. That would take the place of that HD Rigid Power Cord. I wasn't able to find a Volex 17604 power cord in 25ft length though but I only did a cursory search. You may find something better.

To replace that Monster HTS 1000 PC I would opt for a APC S10 UPS Power Conditioner. It has pure Sine Wave output with battery backup, which is a TRUE power conditioner instead of filtering in most simple ones. It provides 700W continuous power and 1500W transient power so you should be set.

Now I think in another thread you asked about having uniform Power cords all around. I think one of the Virtual Dynamics people had a channel on Youtube and he advocated putting your best power cord on your front end electronics (CD Players, Record Player if applicable). I saw put whichever PC you deem the best on your front end electronics and then spread out the rest. If the stock power cords bother you just round out the rest with Pangea, Signal Cable, MAC etc etc.

Anyway I hope this helps, good luck with your hunt and enjoy your new gear.
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dcrugby
96 posts
 
all great responses, i think.

tvad is probably on to the most cost effective improvement, imo, but it is a pain in the rear to have work done. i ended up moving my main system after i put in lines and to be honest, i don't notice much difference.

short of that, i would definitely put the audience at the end of the extension cord. my view of monster is generally not great, but i've never had any experience with that monster unit. i googled it and people seem to like it ok, so maybe it's better than other monster products, but i'm still suspicious.

so if it was my system, i would probably just put the audience at the end of the extension cord (i would probably try to get a 6 or 8 gauge or so, but if you're not drawing too much power, you might be ok) and replace the monster with a ps audio of some kind (upc 200, quintet, etc) and be done with it.

you can go nuts stressing out over the last 2%.
cmjones's avatar
cmjones OP
45 posts
 
Thanks for the info so far.

When I installed the new outlet, I reacquainted myself with the in-wall wiring in the house. According to internet sources, standard house wiring is 14 gauge. That is now tightly connected to the hubbell outlet, and the 12 gauge extension is tightly plugged into that. Why is that not an effective carrier of current to the location of my components?

I did place the Adept Response on the far end of the cord, per Elizabeth's recommendation.
macdude
186 posts
 
I owned the AR2P, the model beneath yours. As nice as it was, it colored the sound (I also noticed a loss of slam). This was quite obvious upon first installing the unit. I eventually got used to it as it's a very nice coloration. I now use a different line conditioner and it's obvious that the AR2P caused a tonal shift in the sound of my system.
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