Power amps into surge protector/Conditioner or DIRECT to wall? Final verdict?

@erik_squires , thanks!! Good to hear from you again. 
Yes, this comment is giving me "religion." I had mis-appreciated the risks. I have a question, if you might know: A local friend, some time back, sold some company's proprietary device to reduce power bills by smoothing minor fluctuations. The box was sealed, but I always imagined that it was simply a large capacitor, installed into the lines somehow. Supposedly, it was most effective where there were multiple motor-type devices involved. Any idea what type of device might offer such "savings"?

And just to ask again what you've already stated, either whole-house, or at-meter, both of these shouldn't diminish sound quality downstream?

hi @Donzi

Yes, it’s called power factor correction. It’s widely available. Furman is one of the few conditioner vendors I know of who include it in some models since it helps with current delivery a tad.

The idea (my memory is rusty) with PF correction is that motors may draw current out of phase with voltage, which may make your meter read more power than you are actually drawing. Install a corrector, and your meter reading will get more accurate, and the bills will drop. You can read more here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_factor



There are industrial series mode surge protectors available, but I don’t know of anyone installing them in their homes. All the other tech I know of is shunt/parallel and are inactive until the surge arrives.

BTW, for this reason having an excessively good power conduction from your meter to your amp is a bad idea. You are going to be closer to the surge when it hits. A little reactance in the way will blunt it and give the whole house devices time to work. OTOH, that same reactance makes typical MOV based suppressor strips a bad idea, as the voltage during the surge will be greater when they short. For this reason I recommend:

• Whole house suppressors at the panel
• Normal wiring
• Series mode suppressors at the delicate electronics.
  

Best,
E

It doesn’t take a lot to address the noise on the Household AC lines. Anything that uses a transformer will simply deteriorate the sound quality. We’ve simplified what goes in the box so you get more out of your sound system. 

I tried running my Pass 150.8 into a Bryston BIT 20 power conditioner and got a continuous slight constant hum out of the Bryston so I moved it to a regular Isotek surge supressor and the hum disappeared.  The Bryston is essentially (I believe) just a big isolation transformer and Bryston encourages you to plug your power amps and sources both into one.  I still power my sources through the Bryston isolation transformer but the Pass goes direct via a surge supressor.

I'm currently running my 2 PS Audio M700 mono blocks into a Furman E15i with Power Factor technology.
The Schiit Freya Preamp is is plugged into the wall..
Both are on separate dedicated circuits with Oyaide AC Recepticle's (all flavors)..

Works great !!