Does power conditioning really matter?

I have to join as someone soundly converted. I have never in 20 some years of dabbling in this hobby/obsession addressed power conditioning in my system- I of course experimented with every other element in the chain, from tube rolling, cable swapping, capacitor upgrading, internal wire tweaking etc, but never more than pc cord upgrades- long story short, decided to drop-in a PS Audio Duet recently- held my breath hoping it didn't muffle/darken my exhaustively tweaked system and was amazed- I liken it to focus in a camera, my system was fuzzy around the edges, it lacked a complete cohesiveness and the Duet somehow de-scrambled the disparate parts and polished the sound as a whole...truly "cleaning" the sound, clarity, bass etc...and that's right out of the box, no break-in..an amazing result, I now will treat power conditioning/conditioners as equal/vital components, maybe critical components under the circumstances

The PS Audio Power Plant, I believe it's called, though they recently discontinued one and introduced another--completely regenerates the power...doesn't try to 'clean it up', regenerates a perfect 60Hz 120V signal.
IMHO, this is the only way to go if one can affort it (big if, as it costs about $5K, more than many, hell most people would ever even think of spending on a total audio system---though not us crazies on A'gon).

Good listening,
PS Agree with Ostemo8s premise of how it helps, entirely.
Good post.

Larry

I recently added a PS Audio powerplant prmeir to my system. I'm using a panamax 5400-pm in front to power my (2) RSW-15 subs and bring power to the regenerator. It's early yet, but I have noticed cleaner sound reproduction through digital sources. Others have listened and watched the system and don't notice much. I've also heard there is a substantial burnin period which I'm not even close to. Will let you know if the difference is more noticeable after the burnin and more testing.

Every AC source has different issues so it's not as simple a question. If your in a single dwelling it defiantly pays to add dedicated breaker buss or at least some dedicated breakers. Since digital devices are generally susceptible to RF and EMI metal clad runs from the breaker ending with shielded cables can be beneficial.

After these somewhat inexpensive measures auditioning conditioning devices could improve the AC, sometimes not.