Power Conditioning Help Please?

Agree with Lak the first place to start is dedicated circuits and high end AC outlets.

Good question re: budget. I try to make a habit of buying "near state of the art" gear...and always second hand to attain excellent bang for the buck. Deciding on budget for "tweak" gear like power conditioning seems a bit dicey for me. If I KNEW I'd hear considerable, positive impact, I'd be willing to lay down for something good...make sense?

Thanks to all for the advice and counsel...the ball is in my court now and I appreciate your collective feedback.

I’ve had Legacy speakers for several years now. First I had the Focus 20/20s and now I have the Whispers. Although efficient, Legacy speakers can still be very challenging for many amps because of their hunger for current [amperage]. It is well known that the Focus 20/20s are current hungry with an impedance dip below 2 ohms, and I believe I read somewhere that the Whisper may be even more demanding. If you have everything running from a cheap Monster power strip, then your whole system is very likely bottlenecked right there. Especially your monoblocks/speakers…I would guess anyway.

Here’s something to try – Find another circuit and plug your pre-amp and source into it if at all possible, and then plug just your main amps into their own circuit with power cords as short and/or heavy as possible. Try this when there are not big demands on any of those circuits elsewhere in your house.

Perhaps doing this would give you an indication of whether or not dedicated circuits are worth while. If there is a big improvement, then you know what to do [new circuits]. If there is not…well…then the jury is still out.

Anyway, this is just my out-of-the-blue suggestion. BTW, I also use Shunyata stuff. The Hydra 2s are not that pricey here on Agon, and they go very quickly all the time, so you know there is a resale market if you don’t like it. Remember though, it takes a 20amp power cord.