Power conditioning from the ground up


I am exploring power conditioning for my rig. I have read plenty of threads where the opinions seem to be varied.

I am looking into replacing wall receptacles, adding a power conditioner, upgrading wiring to a thicker gauge and dedicating several breakers for my set-up.  

Some questions I have:

If I had upgrade the wall receptacle but my in-wall wiring is subpar, will the wall receptable be redundant?

If you have a power conditioner but you have a cheap $1 duplex outlet, is the power conditioner redundant?

I am trying to better understand where my focus should be. In regards to what I am looking to achieve, I want the usual (blacker blacks, deeper soundfloor, wider soundstage, less grit, more details, etc.) 

Ultimately, I would like to achieve as close to a holographic image as possible to where the image is suspended or hanging in the air. Maybe the answer to query isn't power conditioning, I would like to hear your ideas for how to achieve what I am seeking within my current set-up if possible:

VPI Scout 1.1
Soundsmith Zephyr MKII (HOMI)
Rogue Audio Cronus Magnum (KT120)
Zu Soul MKII
Zu cables

Thanks,

Aaron


asp307

Showing 1 response by folkfreak

I can share my experience with balanced power having used an Equitech 10WQ in my last system. This is a big (385lb!) built in conditioner that while providing good power was a pain in use. I found the system to be unreliable constantly triggering its GFCI circuits whenever other household appliances went on and off. On the end Equitech advised me to bypass all the GFCIs which I did but that involves popping the hood and reqwiring the circuits. In addition having a built in balanced conditioner will affect the resale of your property as most buyers will not accept non standard outlets, and ripping one of these things out during a sale is not easy

My current installation uses a Torus WM 75 which has the benefit of balanced power at the input while normal phase power on the outlets. In my opinion this is an ideal setup and the Torus conditioners are pretty good value, robust and very reliable

rest of my setup is SR quantum tunneled Romex in the walls (which had to be stripped of its outer sheath to meet Oregon code) to SR outlets and Oyaide WPC covers. I also installed Environmental Potentials ground filter and surge protector on the front end. Obviously it's hard to do a before and after on a setup like this but I can safely say my system has never sounded better and I'm certain that the input power is not a limitation