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 2 responses by stehno

No need to be confused. Whenever I speak of line conditioning as being absolutely foundational to any system worth listening to, I always qualify that by including the word 'proper' with line conditioning.

So why include the word proper? Simply because way too many people think any line conditioning must be better than none and you have just demonstrated that simply is not the case.

In fact, I've witnessed this same performance gain at a friend's house when we removed his ps audio 300 from his APL-modified Denon 3910 and plugging it straight into the wall.

If you want line conditioners that actually benefit the sonics without inducing their own harm, then just like any other component, you must do your homework. Regardless of how many people are buying a given product.

With regard to dedicated circuits/lines, they actually have little/nothing to do with proper line conditioning.

Dedicated circuits/lines are to help isolate your components from appliance and dimmer noises from within the home, but so will proper line conditioning

Moreover, 'proper' line conditioning should include bi-directional filtering in order to prevent the bi-directional digital noise generated by a cdp/dac from infecting other components.

But in short, 'proper' line conditioning should suffice for all of your AC filtering needs.

On the other hand, dedicated circuits/lines ultimately should only benefit your amplifiers by ensuring they have enough juice to properly reproduce the very dynamic loud/complex musical passages. And in my experience with installing dedicated circuits/lines the macro-dynamic improvements were be tremendous. Dedicated circuits/lines should be installed for all but the smallest current drawing amps.

-IMO
Denf, I stand by my previous statement, one must do their homework regarding any component but particularly with line conditioners.

For some reason, as I and others seem to have indicated, on average there seems to be far more poorly designed line conditioners than perhaps any other component. That's why I always use the term 'proper' when discussing line conditioners.

Far too many times have I witnessed even the most popular brands (which often times are never the best) strip away the dynamics and/or induce their own sonic harm and/or do nothing.

Currently I'm using two 15 amp dedicated lines and one 20 amp dedicated line and three Foundation Research LC-100 dedicated and passive and bi-directional filtering line conditioners. These line conditioners are a bit costly at $3500 each and outweigh the cost of my Nuforce SE amps several times over, but a man's gotta' do what a man's gotta' do. :)

Personally, I've been using what I consider fabulous line conditioners for the last 5 years and I cannot imagine listening to any system without 'proper' line conditioning. It is that foundational when done right.

-IMO