What should a typical house voltage read/be?

Passive line conditioners help a little, can eliminate some high-frequency noise, protect against spikes, things like that. If you really want clean power, you have to go to something like the PS Audio "P" series, which actually generates a brand new sine wave from scratch. And for any of you crazies out there, the ultimate is what's called a "motor-generator", which is exactly what it sounds like, a big electric motor hooked straight to a big generator. It not only will deliver a pure sine wave of tremendous current capacity with very high efficiency and reliability, but also provides 100% absolute line-to-load electrical isolation. I'm surprised nobody is selling these for audio use yet. Obviously, it can't be placed in the listening room, but that isn't a problem that can't be solved.

I have a voltage meter on my line (I live in Washington DC) continuously and it always reads between about 116v and 119v. This, and the responses above, makes me wonder about those manufacturers who sell the types of PLC's claimed to correct for the supposedly wild fluctuations in AC line voltage. Is anybody actually experiencing this problem out there? Is this sort of "correction" being sold for any legitimate reason?

Wow Glen, that's pretty high. If a manufacturer was "pinching pennies" and building components "on the edge", that might be enough "over voltage" to pop some caps, etc... Even if you were to have a noticeable voltage drop, you might be better off than some of these folks in OLD houses running at maximum efficiency... Sean
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110/220 is old school voltage like twenty thirty years ago. These days we call it 120/240 give or take ten percent. I checked mine last week when I got done adding three dedicated circuits to my H/T system it was 130 volts. It always seems a little high around where I live. That reading will change during different times of the year so keep an eye on it.

Power companies usually quote the voltage as either 110 or 120, depending on the type of transformer that's feeding your house. But more often than not, they will push the limits on the high side deliberately, because they sell more power that way! Even going from 120 to 123 is a 5% increase in wattage (at least for resistive loads like light bulbs), not bad to add to the bottom line if you're a bean counter. Going from 110 to 125 is a 30% increase in power consumption!

All is well! I believe voltage will usually come in between 117 V. to 125 V. I recently upgraded from an ancient wall outlet to a high grade outlet, as well as cleaning wire ends and terminals (MAKE SURE THAT THE CIRCUIT BREAKER OR FUSE IS OFF!) and the voltage jumped from 120 to 123! Not bad! Happy Tunes!

My house also runs at 123 volts pretty steadily. Believe me, this is a good thing in most cases. Sean
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