Power Conditioners Recommendations

I just tried a PS Audio Quintet in place of my Monster HTS 800, and although there was a slight improvement for the CD player, the LP's sounded horrible with the PS Audio - it took away a large portion of the soundstage, and had a very negative effect on instrumental timbres as well. I am sticking with the Monster - in my next house, I will probably have dedicated lines instead, as some have suggested here. I won't try a power conditioner for analog playback again, that's for sure.

Hi Mapman, yes I was talking about LP's as well. My brother and I did the experiment, and were shocked at how much worse the conditioner made the LP's sound. We used recordings I knew to have spectacular soundstaging, and it all but disappeared with the conditioner. The conditioner also seemed to remove the ambient noise of the original recording space, greatly to the detriment of the effect. It also took much of the richness out of instrumental and vocal timbres, making the music sound much more analytical, and losing the warmth and sense of life and realism that analog usually has. We think that it may have something to do with the tube amplification, as this effect did not happen in my brother's system, and he has a solid state amp. However, there was a slight improvement for CD's with the conditioner, even with the tube amp, so we are not entirely sure of that conclusion. Anyway, in my system, the conditioner had a VERY detrimental effect on LP's.

Stehno, I am sure that you are correct, but would I be right in guessing that the "proper" line conditioners of which you speak are quite far above the price range of say the PS Audio Quintet?