Richard Gray's 400 Pro = Emperor's New Clothes??

container@163.net.

I took your advice and upgraded my system and agree with you, power conditioners like RG 400 Pro are very audible.

Definitely made my system worse. (Not a joke).

As every system is different if the device works great if not don't blame the RGPC chances are its your system that’s not up to mark.
Athipaul

Or, some systems do not have electrical problems where the "band aid" of power conditioning is an improvement.

It would take two pages for me to list all that I did to get my electrical right. Lets just say that the stereo alone has 14 dedicated runs with preferential grounding and a 750 amp (Commercial property) Trans Socket meter from the local power company.

Seem ridiculous? Well, my electrical cost about $3800.00 to get it right, about the price of two aftermarket ultra high quality AC cords.

Lots of ways to get the power supply right, I believe it's best at the source.

I have no use for conditioners which compress dynamics, slur high frequencies and alter the phase of the music. If you have problems of operating off a terrible local electrical grid, live in an apartment or high rise where everyone in the building is beating on your stereo, then yes, maybe conditioning is preferable to having none.

Newmanoc, my comment was not aimed at your suggestion of the Furman, that comment by you was a general opinion and I welcome those. I would indeed try the Furman if I had the opportunity.

What caused me to respond was the statement "don't blame the RGPC-it's your system that’s not up to mark."

I wanted it clear that some of us have worked very hard on our systems and power supplies and (so far) power conditioners have proven worse rather than better. I print this comment fairly often at Audiogon because I think most of the high end systems here would benefit greatly from a super dedicated electrical system like I've done.

The price is certainly right, I did mine for about $3800.00 and many members have more than that already invested in conditioning that may not be needed if everything else was right.

I know Richard Gray personally, he's been in my home several times and even repaired one of my amps. I flew him in from New Orleans and picked him up at the airport.

I know what his conditioners sound like and they are not beneficial in my situation.

My electrical has been redone all they way from the (dedicated) transformer in my alley to dedicated lines to EVERY piece of equipment. By that, I mean the four power supplies of my Aesthetix Io and Callisto have four breakers (one for EACH power cord-20 amp rated with preferential ground).

This follows every piece in the system, 14 dedicated circuits and 2 each 240 volt circuits for testing European equipment.

have you tried an RGPC? Does it indeed compress dynamics, slur high frequencies and alter the phase of the music as you suggest?

I guess I should ask: Have you maximized your electrical to the potential limit and then compared that against power conditioning? If not, you have a one sided reference and your certainty of the outcome is supported only by the fact that it IS BETTER than where you were.

Darkmoebius:

Regardless, I did find the RGPC units did a great job of quieting my noisy AC system. Of course, my surplus isolation transformers work just as well at <20% of the cost.

Well said.

I don't hate power conditioning, I just want to make everyone aware that a good solid electrical grid is vital to maximum performance and that should come BEFORE investing in add on equipment.

I suppose it's possible to invest in the total reconstruction of your electrical and still need conditioning, but for me and several in my audio group, that is not the case.

The quality of your electrical power sets the stage for every piece in they system. Improve power supply at the source by even a little and reap the rewards at every gain stage.

I don't know where you live or what standard the PUC holds over your electrical supplier so my answer may not apply to your situation. I'll describe my situation and the experience I gained from going through the chain and hopefully that will help.

Where I live (in Texas) if power is NOT up to specification or you have potential demand that exceeds what can be supplied, the power provider must upgrade your service to match your needs.

I had a commercial electrical contractor that worked with me and he knew people at the local power company. We requested an upgrade when I was running my 14 dedicated lines for stereo and the provider complied with new transformer, new heavy drop, new Trans Socket meter and all labor (for free).

I paid the electrician about $3800.00 to rewire and the contractor and electrical provider worked out the details. Even if the provider will not do a new meter base for free, it would be worth paying for an upgrade.

That's all I can tell you, unknown what the rules are where you live but it's sure worth fighting for to get the power right. Otherwise everything else you do is after the fact and in my opinion, impossible to make 100% right when you're starting out wrong.

My comments probably sound over the top, but understand that most peoples idea about good power is the lights light up when the switch is turned on. The electrical supplier is not going to upgrade unless they have to. It's your job and your contractors job to convince them you need better. I got that accomplished but then again, I could have been in another state or another time of year and gotten nowhere with these guys.

I will say though, another guy in my audio group who lives in another part of Dallas completely rewired his stereo room about a year ago and he went even further than I did. Larger meter, more runs and even a solid copper drop from his own transformer.

Again, he used a commercial electrical contractor that's accustomed to doing office buildings and businesses and our home systems seem simple to them. All a matter of perspective and experience.

Definitely get help from a big commercial electrical contractor, sit down with the lead man or manager and let them know up front, exactly what your goals are.

If the contractor argues, says you don't need it or does not care, then shop until you find an ally. Your contractor has to believe it's important to get better service for you and then work with the service provider to get your service upgraded.

It was contractor number three here in Dallas that hit the home run. McBride Electric, the same contractor that does Texas Instruments and Raytheon as well as countless commercial properties.

There must be a company like that near you. Do your homework via phone first and don't be afraid to tell them what you want in your electrical system.

To win them over, I got extra support by dragging in the fact that my photography lighting and multiple computers are reliant on great power and no down time.

Sad tales of losing business and clients due to bad electrical immediately got their attention even though they are not responsible to deliver perfect power, if they perceive you have a real need they push it through.

If you re-read my post of 2-21-07 you'll see my suggestion was to get help from a big electrical contractor.

If you can find the right contractor, a company that works with high end commercial properties, government buildings, computer rooms and such, they can help you. Getting them on your side is a bit of work, but I managed to do this on three occasions now in my area.

There's no telling who you reached when you called your electrical provider, likely some person who's accustomed to dealing with irate calls about billing errors and complaints about power going out.

Big electrical contractors deal with your electric service providers linemen and supervisors, the guys in the field that go on site when big service drops are being installed on commercial sites.

A friend of mine here in Dallas just had his own utility pole and transformer installed that services his system. Granted that was not a freebee, he had to pay since it was such a specific request.

So, It is possible to get this kind of work done, at least in this market. I don't know about other areas but I thought it would have been impossible here until we managed to get it done.