Who has dumped the power conditioner?

Prior to today, my last experience with a power conditioner was about twenty years ago. Its dramatically bad impact on the sound of my system turned me off to the very idea for all this time.

I installed dedicated lines to my room with high quality outlets a couple of years ago, which improved the sound, but there was simply no getting around the fact that my system consistently and dramatically sounded better in the late evenings, Sunday evenings in particular. This led me to conclude that poor power quality was robbing me of the full potential of my system.

After doing some research and speaking with the manufacturer of my speakers and distributer of my amp (Bobby P. of Merlin Music, distributer of ARS-Sonum Filarmonia), I decided to buy a used Equitech 2Q. It arrived tonight.

I'm shouting this from the rooftops: This is not a subtle improvement! Every aspect of sound reproduction has been positively and significantly impacted. Much blacker background, lots more low-level detail, bigger soundstage, more dynamic, more relaxed, more natural, more authority.

I live in Portland, OR, so have all the inherent power problems associated with being in a city. It's hard to say how much improvement someone else would get, but I couldn't be happier. This is possibly the most cost-effective upgrade I've done in 30 years. It wasn't cheap, but it was significantly cheaper than upgrading my speaker cables, for example.

Equitech 2Q Power Conditioner > Mac Mini > Altmann DAC > Cardas GR IC's > ARS-Sonum Filarmonia > Audience AU24e > Merlin VSM-MMe's

Tbg,

I totally agree that so much is dependent on synergy and integration of components. For example, I've had speakers in my room that have been absolutely raved about, but sounded REALLY BAD in my room with my electronics, no matter how I set them up.

Unfortunately, trial and error is often the only way for us to figure out what works best in our particular situation. This is why I went with the recommendation of the designer of my speakers. He hasn't steered me wrong yet in these matters.

best,
Glenn

Al,

Thanks for the link. Unfortunately, I'm one of those people who is extremely limited in technical knowledge, so I honestly don't understand much of what you wrote.

You wrote: "The effectiveness of a balanced power arrangement, such as the Equitech provides, can particularly be expected to be both system dependent and unpredictable."

When you say "unpredictable" do you mean that in a given system, a balanced power unit will be unpredictable? I'm afraid that I'm noticing this. After my initial glowing account, the next day I was hearing some glare and harshness that was almost worse than anything I had before. However, late in the evening, the sound was better than anything I had ever heard before from my system. So it seems that the quality of power going into the unit is still affecting the sound.

I'm wondering if there's anything that can be done. When it's good, it's REALLY good, but when it's bad, it's pretty bad. I know that some have suggested adding some kind of filter or power regenerator upstream from the balanced power unit. Do you have any thoughts on that idea?

Follow up:

I just wanted to update my situation. After consulting with some trusted experts, I decided to try replacing the stock power cord that came with the Equitech. It was suggested that the small copper conductors in the beldon pc were resonating with more voltage draw. I was pointed toward something with a solid core, so I ordered a JPS Labs Power AC+. This has totally fixed the problem and further opened up the soundstage. It's kind of annoying that I'd have to spend an additional $400 for an expensive power conditioner to be listenable. But, oh well. I'm thrilled with the way things are sounding.