Power conditioners


Hi,

Need your advise on the following questions;

What is the difference between a power conditioner, power conditioner with isolated transformer, voltage stabilizer and an AC regenerator?

If I am looking at having something that will give my equipment a consistent 120v with no spikes, have a noise filter and surge protection, what brands should I look for? I saw the Powervar, the BPT and the ONEAC and they all seem different. Does one of them meet my needs?

Any advise would be greatly appreciated! My budget is around the Powervar and BPT (less than $300) and do they really improve on the sound?

Tks

HL
hlgoh2006
Take a look at PS Audio's Duet or Quintet products.
Here's a good read from their website: http://www.psaudio.com/products/quintetmoreinfo.asp.
Is there a reason why power conditioners should not be used with a power amp?

Yes...power amps need to store and draw on high instantaneous power (big capicitors and big power supply).....therefore any device that may "choke" power could affect the dynamic headroom. Think of a river flowing to fill up a dam at a power station....normally the dam has enough energy stored behind the dam to handle things. Also a big dam is very very expensive just like a power amp power supply. Therefore manufacturers will skimp on the power supply to reach a price point (this may not influence the amp performance until the amp is driven hard or with a difficult load). So when the system is really pushed it may help if the "river" flows unrestricted into the dam (especially true if the power supply is modest).
Shadorne, That's a dam good analogy :-)

I have experienced 50 wpc amps sounding more powerful than some 200 wpc ones on my Maggie 3.6's no doubt due to their nice power supply.