P1200 vs Shunyata Hydra

I have experiences with both units and I would not go near a PS audio conditioner. While they create a super black background its at the expense of a compressed sound(in particular when mated with digital equipment). The hydra's do not do this and that would be enough sway my decision towards them, though some folks don't like how the hydra effects PRaT. An in home audition would be needed to figure out if either of these are the answer for you FWIW I don't own either of these units or any power conditioner for that matter, so this is not about pride of ownership.

Hi Frano,
I second staying away from the PS audio cable. I've had great results with the Electraglides. I owned both the 6 and the 8. In my system the 6 sounded more open and quicker than the 8. The 8 sounded nice but a little too polite. I'm currently running a Hydra 2 with Electraglide on the pre-amp and phono and a Walker Audio Velociter on the digital. A really nice complement to each other.

If you system is slow or missing detail I will second the Electraglide cables (I owne the Fatboy, Reference Glide, and Tri-Glide) I bought and sold the Shuyata cables $1100 each retail as they put a fog on my system. You mileage will vary depending on your equipment.

As far as worrying about limiting current and compression, check what the maximum current consumption of you components are before buying the unit so that you aren't overdriving into that state. I run a PS Audio Powerplant 300 MWII for my front end and nothing on my amplifiers. The 1200 is huge and generates a lot of heat (as much as a class A amp) but has a high watt output that should drive your source and amplifier depending on your amp. If you can't audition then it might be worth buying a 300 Multiwave I (at least) to try and see if you like that on your CD player and maybe preamp. This will give you a flavor of the sound, and then get the larger one for the amps if you like it and see if it runs the all of the items.

I am using a P600 conncted to all my equipment (except VPI SDS). It can easily handle this load including my Mark Levinson 23.5 without any loss of dynamics. This amp is driving Thiels w/ a load somewhere between 3 to 4 ohms (about 400WPC continuous with the ML amp). I can tell you that the P600 does not overload/clip (it is actually a power amp used to "drive" your equipment) while playing as loud as I would ever desire in my ~1850 cubic foot room.

I have the digital gear seperated from the analog gear by placing an Ultimate Outlet between the P600 and the transport/DAC. I am also using a high current 20 AMP Ultimate Outlet between the dedicated 20 AMP wall outlet and the P600. I have been very pleased with the result.

I'd imagine the P1200 should be enough to handle just about any power amp around.

Good luck!