Which "tweeks" are more important

Btstrg:

I had the electrician install an EP2050 "Waveform Correction Absorber". It mounts to the panel. You can read about it at:

www.ep2000.com

This product was designed to protect and purify power for huge, high tolerance computer aided manufacturing equipment and is now being offered for home use. Great company to work with and very interesting product that both protects and purifies without any of the downside effects (and cost) of power conditioners ETC.

Hope this helps.

I recently added a device from Environmental Potentials to my electrical panel that had a substantial impact on the sound of my system. Mostly the improvement is in lowering the noise floor and allowing more detail to emerge in a warmer sonic landscape. I'm no electrical engineer so I cannot begin to explain how the thing works but I do know that it provides protection from lightning and other line surges and also filters out hash introduced by any of the circuits feeding/leaving the panel. I do have a dedicated line (20amp) that runs from my new 200amp service about 5 feet to a series of three Porter Ports behind my entertainment center. I also had copper buses installed in the panel. All these updates were incorporated at my direction by the electrician who replaced the service to my house. (BTW, the transformer sits on the pole in front of my house--a bit of luck there). And of course, everything I told the electrician to do came from suggestions made right here on the A'gon so thanks everyone. Hope some of these ideas are helpful--basically I agree, get good power to your gear.

The EP2050 was $500--be sure to mention the recent review on Enjoy the Music to get that price. Deal directly with the manufacturer--I spoke to the owner of the company who designed the circuit and he was very generous with his time--I wish I could remember his name! It cost very little to have it installed by a licensed electrician. I have to say it has made a noticeable improvement to my system. The noise floor has come way down and it eliminated hash that somehow crept into my dedicated line that I really did not know was there until the 2050 was put in place.

If I can comment on the dedicated lines since there is much being said here--I'm not convinced you need to go as far as some would have it. A single 20 amp dedicated line to a quad outlet with some nice Porter Ports is plenty of power for all your AV needs. I can't imagine any hifi system needing more juice than that and running multiple dedicated lines is not only more expensive but also risks introducing hum and noise that may defeat their intended purpose. I think having a dedicated circuit for your hifi system to provide a steady stream of power is a good thing--but you know what they say about too much of a good thing! As to power conditioners and the like, I'm persuaded they alter the sound but I'm not sure they uniformly improve the sound. This may be why so many end up for sale on this site--people end up thinking of them like cables to tweak and adjust the sound. The EP2050 is a whole different approach and, if you are like me--part of the "set it and forget it" crowd--it seems a much better approach.

I'm sure I'll get hammered for this one but what the heck.