Power Conditioner or Power Strip

I am selling an ESP power distributor for around $500. It retails for $1000. A power strip will filter out noise, which is heard as tizz and harshness, and give you a quiet background. A power filter does similar things and may improve your sound more, but it also has the potential to detract from the details and dynamics. It is for this reason that most manufacturers advise against the use of one. The ESP is by far the best power distributor. Go to their websight, http://www.essentialsound.com/products.htm I have been using the ESP for about 6 months. Most of the effects of a unit like this are heard when it is removed. I also notice, that living next door to a school, there were times when there was more noise on the line, the stereo would sound better at night. I know that sometimes these differences are subtle and I would wonder if my mind was playing tricks, but I beleive that the ESP put an end to this problem.

I cannot answer whether a power conditioner is better than a power strip (distributor). However, I did have the opportunity to compare the ESP power strip with the Ensemble (Swiss made) power strip. Both are priced at about $ 1000.00 (retail, new). The ESP's performance is very poor, compared to the Ensemble and is therefore vastly overpriced. It hardly deserves to be marketed as a high-end audioproduct.

Wow Hungryear. What nonsense. Because something does not work for you, in your system, with your specific ac conditions, if indeed you really tried it for an extended time, it's not a high end product. It is one thing to say that you found it to be not effective, but to generally trash it is ridiculous. ESP has a great reputation and does produce high end audioproducts. I have their power chords and the distributer, and they are great products. Reviewers have said it is one of the best products they have ever used for AC line noise. A review in Positive Feedback said it IS the best. While we shouldn't believe everything we read, your statement is just negative and without merit.

unlike some who frequently post on these threads (viz. rev_joe, carl_eber), i don't claim to be an expert on everything audio. i do know, tho, that there's a fundamental difference between a "power strip" & a "power conditioner." a power strip is primarily designed as a protective device to obviate or ameliorate power surges and spikes from, e.g., nearby (not direct) lightening strikes, etc. many of such devices impart an unwanted audio signature that degrades the quality of sound in various ways. one such device that is much more neutral and therefore recommended by a number of reviewers (for what that's worth) and me is the chang lightspeed. (for god's sake, don't use some $9.95 extension cord called a power strip, like the kind you'll find at office depot.) a power conditioner, on the other hand, is designed to impart a fundamental change of some sort to the current coming from your mains outlet before it is fed into the audio piece(s) into which its signal is fed. some, maybe most, of these products, too, degrade the sound quality of top-notch systems. two that i've found work very well and, indeed, improve the sound quality in my system are the accuphase ps 500 and ps 1200. not suprisingly, the accuphase stuff is pricey, but like all their products are, IMHO, worth every penny. you can find the ps 500 used on audiogon.