Synergistic Research mpc question

The question I have is, is I it okay to connect the mpcs and the master control centers up to a SR power cell 6 se which has the preamp, dac and transport hooked up to it as well or would it be better for the active shielding mpcs and master control centers to be plugged into its own isolated power strip?

Yes. Beyond okay, its advisable. Preferred. Active Shielding is highly responsive to improvements in power. The better the source the better the MPC to power center works. I've had both.

Check out my system. https://systems.audiogon.com/systems/8367 Look close. Notice the Active Shielding coming out of the Medusa connected to the CTS speaker cables? That's because I took 4 MPCs, removed the plastic covers, had Michael Spallone upgrade diodes and caps, then hardwired them into the conditioner. These upgrades elevated Active performance like you would not believe. Huge improvement. Highly recommended. 

Just wondering if you have to be careful where you plug them in?

Not at all. The MPC is nothing more than a transformer, cap, and diodes. It does nothing but step down the line 110V AC to the 29V DC used on the cables. Current draw is nil. You might see a tiny spark sometimes when connecting. Relax. Its 29V. No big. Kinda cool actually.

One last question I promise, does it matter which way the mpc is plugged into the socket or can it be flipped either way?

Read the above again and think about it. Does not matter. They even omit the usual "only one way" plug where one is wider than the other so they can fit and share one outlet.

Sorry for the lengthy drawn out questions and thanks in advance for any assistance.

Not at all. Look up Michael Spallone here on site, search his MPC mods, have him do yours. Huge improvement. Incredibly cost-effective.

Thanks Millercarbon,
 It’s so refreshing to get such a thorough and helpful answer from someone who has first hand experience with SR products!!! I was expecting to get a lot of replies advising me to sell all my SR cables because there nothing but "snake oil" and buy something else. I have been slowly and carefully collecting them on the used market over the last few years and really like there sound. I did reach out to Michael Spallone a while back and am planning on sending him a few to mod for me. Your system looks awesome and although I haven’t tried it yet I am very eager to hear the swarm subwoofer set up. I have 6 Dayton hf 10" drivers and 4 of the 15" that need to be built and hopefully utilized throughout the listening/living room.
Thanks again, your answer gave me a lot of peace of mind since I have been plugging the mpcs in this way for quite a while and was never sure if it was correct even thought it sounded great.

@justinm you might want to consider getting away from all those wall warts and getting a Transporter instead which will tidy things up a bit and produce better sound for you.

Thanks lain,
Yeah I totally agree they are messy and my living room looks like a bad science experiment currently, which I plan on fixing by moving some of the equipment on the other side of the main wall where the speaker are positioned. I actually have 2 master control centers which help but I ran out of cables for them and need to make some. They are the older version of the transporter I believe and say Master Contol Center II and III and use a bnc connection for the active shielding cables. 

Thanks Millercarbon,
 It’s so refreshing to get such a thorough and helpful answer from someone who has first hand experience with SR products!!! I was expecting to get a lot of replies advising me to sell all my SR cables because there nothing but "snake oil" and buy something else. I have been slowly and carefully collecting them on the used market over the last few years and really like there sound. I did reach out to Michael Spallone a while back and am planning on sending him a few to mod for me. Your system looks awesome and although I haven’t tried it yet I am very eager to hear the swarm subwoofer set up. I have 6 Dayton hf 10" drivers and 4 of the 15" that need to be built and hopefully utilized throughout the listening/living room.
Thanks again, your answer gave me a lot of peace of mind since I have been plugging the mpcs in this way for quite a while and was never sure if it was correct even thought it sounded great.

You're more than welcome. Btw all you have to do is look at the way transformers and power supplies work to understand it cannot possibly make any difference. Transformers all work on AC. But the AC is always run through diodes to produce DC which is then stored in power supply caps. So no matter which way it comes in it all goes out the same. 

Now that being said what does matter is the quality of the power supply. If you have a Master Control Center I would look inside that. Then open your MPCs and look inside and compare the transformers. I had a center, used it for trade-in to get my Atmosphere IC. (SR has a pretty good trade-in program.) Anyway 2 of my MPC are regular and 2 are Tesla. Main difference SR tells you is quantum tunneling. I don't know about that but you can see the Tesla transformer is much bigger. Barely fits in the case. With Spallone mods I told him what I was doing he used better caps, the case won't fit back on. Doesn't bother me one bit! 

I don't know how tight you are on money but this is a very simple DIY mod. Basically buy a better cap and diode, solder em in. For me I know diodes are as different as caps. I have confidence Spallone has found the best sounding diodes. Having done this I know how much difference they make. So to me he is worth it. I just throw it out there in case, because you can save a lot on shipping and just swap them out yourself. It will be a lot better. Just not as good as his. He has had time to be able to try a lot and find the good ones, and he is very  good at this. 

As far as subs go, you need to DYODD. With speakers it all comes down to volume and design. And then with driving them it comes down to impedance. Take your time. Depending on how they are connected in series or parallel, and in what combination, you can figure out what load you want your amp to see. Then also for the drivers you can work out speaker cab volumes. Its almost all volume, not shape, that matters.

Your goal is to have subs in at least 4 locations. With 10 drivers you could have 10 cabs, or 5 with 2 drivers per cab, or any other combination you want. Also unlike the stereo pair where you want them both identical this is one where you're actually better off if they're different. So if for example you could make one transmission line or whatever tuned to go super low, that could wind up giving you even more flexibility in terms of getting super flat response. Although, to be honest, it seems to me if you have 4 or more it hardly matters what you do, its gonna be awesome. Kind of like the diode thing. Anything bound to be better than what's in there. The last little bit is like polishing the apple.

I will most likely send the mpcs off to Spallone because it is affordable and saves me the time of trying to find the best parts for it. I have taken a dead one apart to see how the cable is made so I can duplicate it for the power center. I didn’t realize the mpcs had different sized transformers inside them and will check that out before having the mod done. As far as the subs go I might just utilize 2 of the 15" on the front wall and 3 doubled up 10" throughout the rest of the room. I’m currently just using 2 10" doubled up in the corner of the front wall now which is okay but definitely needs improvement. I’m using Daton 250w plate amps for each 10" driver and there in sealed diy sono tubes with a volume just under 1cubic foot. I use speaker design software for all my speaker and subwoofer designs. I love diy but unfortunately don’t have the time to work on projects like I used to so they go very slowly.
 Thanks 

Sounds like a good plan. Time is a biggie. That's the whole reason I used Spallone. I've done this before and no longer have the desire or the time to go through the trouble of buying and trying 5 different things to find the best one when someone like Michael already has and knows exactly what to do. You will not believe how much better your cables sound with his upgrades.