Pwr. conditioner necessary w/dedicated AC lines?


OK guys, now I'm REALLY confused. I have been using a PS Audio P300 (all of the latest revisions) as a mainstay in my system for about four years now. It seemed to always work wonders in a previous set-up, in a different house/room, which DID NOT have dedicated AC lines.

Fast forward to the present were I now have the good fortune of having a dedicated room with independent AC runs throughout. I have been using the P300 for the last 3 yrs. or so in this room. Well, on a lark, I thought I would try to run my tube CD player (Droplet) direct to the AC instead of through my power plant (which was set BTW on "tube") and WHA-LA! It sounds a LOT better! ?? What's up with this???
The dynamics spang to life and there is better extension in the top end. Again..what gives here???

The possibly scary part of this whole scenario is - what if I have been "chasing my goofy audiophile tail", all this time, swapping, changing, selling and buying gear based on an erroneous negative sound effect that was possibly brought on by my Pwr. Plant on my front-end gear?!? Arrgh!

Just to be sure that this was not a fluke isolated to my Droplet, I also tried a different CD player that I have on loan and the same effects applied (sounded better "straight" into the wall AC).

Can anyone else relate a similar effect? Advice?? Comments??? Thanks.
denf

Showing 1 response by listener57

For the benefit of those without dedicated AC line wall outlets, one can use one of the new age power strips which do not current limit, and usually help non-dedicated AC lines to better power components, judging by the audible results rather than by a theory of what should be.
One of these is the Mapleshade Records top of the line power strip which worked in one of my tube systems, even helping the clarity, transient speed, and slam of a Cary SLA-70Sig amp with its old fashioned fixed power cord.
In another system, I plugged a different tube amp directly into a non-dedicated AC wall outlet using the comparable Mapleshade Records single component power cord to improve an Aronov LS-960I tube integrated. Here, the front end digital components are plugged into an older model (non-current limiting) Quantum power strip, the Quantum Octave, which is plugged into a non-dedicated AC wall outlet
Obviously, what is heard depends on the AC quality, and on the particular components, but few of us have dedicated AC lines for our system(s), and so this represents a middle path for those who have an interest in better performance on their same old AC lines.