I'll agree with the post directly above (and others) with one exception. I own an Innouye Line Conditioner (highly recommended by UHF Magazine in Canada) and find it to work exceptionally well with my turntable, but that is it. My integrated amp definitely sounds better plugged into a hospital grade outlet in the wall. Decent power is not a real problem where I am (London, Canada, pop. 300,000) and the CD player may show a very minor improvement (really close to call-could go either way) plugged into the conditioner during the day, but at night time, when I do most of my listening, CD sound is definitely better plugged straight into the wall, so that's where it is all the time. So my advice would be to investigate good powercords for your system first unless you're using a turntable which "may" benefit from some kind of conditioning.
POWER: conditioners vs filters vs cords
OK. I've heard a lot of contradictory stuff on power accesories. I'm going to throw this out to the roundtable and hopefully clear up some of the fog. I've heard the following: 1) Most full blown conditioners ($500+) do everything better. They stabilize input power, clean up ground loops, filter noise and insulate against power surges. However, some compress dynamics. 2) Most surge supressor/filter units ($200-$350) clean up ground loops, filter noise and insulate against power surges. (but a good power conditioner makes the system sound better overall) 3) Good power cords kinda clean-up ground loops and kinda filter noise; their major advantage is a blacker background, better dynamics, soundstage and imaging. 4) If you have a full blown conditioner, better powercords are redundant and offer little advantage. Am I on the right wavelength here? I have a minor intermittent ground loop, and I know my power is a bit on the dirty side, infrasonic garbage wise. So the question is this: I want to improve my sound quality by cleaning up my power supply without blowing a small fortune. I'd like to invest between $200 to $400(list price) but I wouldn't be adverse to bumping the price to $650 if it REALLY makes a difference. What do you recommend? Your opinions on any part of this subject are welcome and product recommendations would be appreciated. Thanks, Morbius2130aol