Taking Power Conditioning to the Max?

Not having the financial wherewithal that others have, I've settled on going straight into the wall with my integrated and SACD player. I have two Porter Port outlets that share the same and only leg that services my audio and video needs.

My limited experience placing anything between the amp and CDP resulted in diminished dynamics and/or a softening, albeit slightly, of the sound. 

The best one was a simple Blue Circle Thingee FX2 but it still had a slightly negative effect. Out of the blue, I used it as a stand alone device plugged into an open outlet on a Cullen Cable power strip (no filtering or conditioning) and the results were wonderful.

I never thought there'd be that much noise on my lines but there it was, plain enough for anyone to hear. Better decay, detail, air, extension, tighter base, and so on. It's easy to determine by unplugging and plugging it back in as the resultant change in sound is immediate. 

The power strip has a built in 4' power cord and the Blue Circle Thingee"s IEC uses a 6' power cable for a total of 10' to the outlet. Bypassing the power strip and going straight into the open outlet on the wall subtracted 4' of power cord.

The odd thing is, there was more attack and leading edge with a lessening of body in the mids and base. It seems there's too much filtering happening, or something more than filtering happening, when placed closer to an outlet that parallels what happens when the unit is used as an inline device.

That tells me that having dedicated lines is more important than filtering or conditioning close to the sound source. I've read where some manufacturers don't stop at filtering/conditioning but try to give audiophiles a certain type of sound that's appealing when they should just be content with cleaning up AC noise. It's quite the jungle out there when it comes to this.

All the best,
Nonoise

@steakster 
I feel you're spot on with your break down re: HF and LF anomalies that serve as clues that indicate something amiss with your power as it describes my experience almost to a tee.

I've always been able to ameliorate the effects but not entirely, until I fiddled with the Blue Circle Thingee, using it not as it was intended.

All the best,
Nonoise

Some people doubt this even matters. One guy at work thought I was nuts. So I had him and his wife over, and put on her favorite CD. After playing one track I said excuse me, went out to the garage and flipped off the breakers leaving only the listening room on. He had some clue but his wife had no idea. Came back said sorry bout that and now what's your favorite track? Played that and the second its done she whips around gives me this look says what did you do it sounded SO MUCH BETTER!?!?!

This is the simplest test that really works and anyone questioning the value of conditioning should try it, assuming of course they really do want to know even if it might contradict everything they think they know. Which, if they can hear, it will. Also anyone shopping for power cords or power conditioning can use this as a kind of baseline, as what you get better work at least this good else why pay money for it?

Now to the OP the more direct answer to your question is after a whole bunch of trials like this I have upgraded from what was originally an ordinary circuit to a dedicated line. The dedicated line is 4ga, and at 240v. Just below the listening room is a silver wired audiophile step down transformer that brings the 240v to 120v. That goes directly into a Bybee based DIY distribution box with an assortment of audiophile outlets. All the wire from the panel to the box is cryo'd.

Not sure if that is elaborate by OP standards or not but it seems to work pretty good for me.

Try a Rosewater energy dc storage and generation system.  The BEST 70K you will ever spend.

You want clean power, consider going off the grid. 

https://stromtank.com/s5000/

Hi @jmeyers I have done something similar to you. But I did it in a different way. I too believe that having clean noiseless power helps. It certainly can’t hurt, at worst. I got a dedicated 20 amp circuit installed going directly from my breaker box directly to the Shunyata outlets in my listening room. From there currently I have 20 amp AQ Tornado HC Power Cable going to a PS Audio Power Plant P20. From there core components are fed from the P20 to them by AQ Tornado HC 15 amp Power cables. I do have some Shunyata Venom HC and non HC Power cables running to some things from the P20 as well. But I am in the process of upgrading and trading in all my Shunyata Venoms to Deltas. I may even switch out the AQ Tornados for Deltas. The other thing I did was a bought a boatload of Greenwave dirty electricity filters and plugged them in all over our house with many in my listening room and on the dedicated circuit. They come with a electrical noise digital and audible measuring device so you can actually measure the amount of noice on your line in mV. You might want to pick up one of these devices to measure the noise on your line. Mine now measures depending on the outlet less than 15mV or even in the single digits. I think there Greenwave filters are great. Another good indication of how well they work is by plugging one of them into a Shunyata PS8 along with a PS Audio Noise Harvester. The Noise Harvester converts line noise to light. So the blue lightbulb on its top is constantly flashing on the typical line. On my line, it doesn’t flash at all. This likely means that these is no or very little noise for the PSA Noise Harvester to “harvest”. I think you have done a great job. My recommendation is to change your 15 amp line to 20 amp giving you more capacity. Also I wonder if the Denali and Hydra are overkill. I would think that your power should already have been cleaned by the time it is received by those units. 

I use isolation transformers, regeneration, and batteries as required. Big isolation transformers run three 12-2 AWG lines for sources and amplifiers. The amplifier transformer powers a central power supply using 100 kg of chokes. Ripple is about 1/10 of a microvolt.

Another circuit powers a motor controller / regenerator for the turntable. Batteries power the phono/pre.

As a result, my system is BLACK.

I'm with @lalitk , Stromtank seems like a great solution. I've heard it at an audio show and everything sounded great. They also have a smaller version, the S2500.

The problem with AC line conditioners is, dirty power doesn’t just come from the grid. It comes from everywhere, including the grid, the environment, your own domestic electric wiring, appliances and power outlets, and from your own audio equipment and its cables. For clean power, you have to deal with all those sources. At least.

My advice is, don’t spend more than $4,999 on an actual AC line conditioning unit.

@steakster Just wanted to say thanks for that perfect description of what happens when power quality goes to pot.  You saved me some time today describing exactly that to a person via email.

@Elizabeth 

Thanks for reporting that plasma TV's are noise generators - I had been wondering if that were true. Useful information based on actual measurements. Thanks again.