2. misc-audio
  3. 181091-118590

Plug Amp directly to Mains or use a Power Conditioner?

There have been discussions about whether to plug an amp directly to the mains or via a power conditioner. I live in a house that's 60 plus years old, with two phase (non-grounded) wiring in most of the house. The neighborhood I live in is also quite old with an ancient power grid. I have been plugging my amp directly to the mains, but think, due to the bad power distribution, I should plug it into the new power conditioner I have on order. I also bought some mildly upgraded power cords for both the amp and conditioner. 

I respect that some may suggest re-wiring the house or using a whole house conditioner. Probably great ideas, but I am more of a serious hobbyist than a true audiophile. Meaning that I am not going to invest thousands for electrical current remediation. 

I have my large-ish TV's plugged into decent Panamax or Furman line conditioners and saw noticeable improvements. I am thinking that my audio output may also benefit.

Suggestions anyone? 

 

motown-l

Showing 2 responses by immatthewj

immatthewj
1,365 posts
 

I was once almost exactly where you are at (house built in the '60s, many of the outlets ungrounded, antique electrical panel)..  Is your electrical panel an antique and if not do you have any space left for another circuit?  It would not cost thousands to run another line. 

immatthewj
1,365 posts
 

There was a post to this thread that was deleted and it hd a link to something sort of like "the dangers lurking behind your walls" or something like that) & it was about old &/or bad wiring. This got me to thinking, as like the OP of this thread, I own a house built in the ’60s and when I bought it it did have the old style fuse box and there is one circuit with a few outlets WITHOUT the 3rd wire (ground). Is there a good chance there is some knob & spool going on here, and would I be able to see that by pulling one of those outlets and would I be able to identify it from what wire I could see from the removed outlet?

 

OOPS!  On edit:  wrong thread.  But I'll leave the question up anyway.

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