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Power conditioner some say yes and some say no.

Depending on who I ask a power transformer conditioner can have a good effect on the sound while others claim they inhibit the dynamics of an amp. I don’t have serious power problems as far as I know but I enjoy my sound most of the time. I currently use a Hydra 6 for my entire system except for my amp where I use a Hydra 2. Would it make sense to invest thousands on a power transformer conditioner or would my Hydras be enough by isolating the components from each other. I was waiting for a Keces IQRP 3600 to try but the dealer I was to get it from died from Covid-19 before arranging my Keces to be shipped. I am out $4000 and am not so fast to drop another $4000 on the Keces. Perhaps in the future if it makes sense. I find that not many use transformer conditioners due to the dynamics limitations of the amp. Any help would be appreciated.
128x128mitchb
atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
11,632 posts
 
The audio companies have invented a component for people to waste their money.
Ha! Mostly true- the PSAudio is the only one that actually seems to work. As I probably mentioned earlier in this thread, Elgar made the best we've seen- and they got out of the conditioner market a long time ago. But their stuff was industrial/commercial and simply had to work. And it does. In addition to keeping the output waveform under 0.5% up to full current capacity, it also regulates line voltage. Pretty neat trick- the only other conditioner mentioned on this thread that can do any of that is the PSAudio.


You have to have active circuitry for the conditioner to really do anything of significance. Otherwise its a glorified power strip.
hifi59's avatar
hifi59
51 posts
 
While most good power conditioners can lower the noise floor, ime only one lowered the noise floor AND added punch, or leading edge attack, to the music when my amp was plugged into it. That was the Richard Gray 1200s. It’s a simple design with two huge inductors and it simply works, ime. No current limitations. No other detriment to the music. It just adds some muscle to the sound. The split second power reserve it provides is an excellent side benefit. Using a Pangea C19 20 A power cable in lieu of the stock power cable took it up another notch for a larger soundstage without question. This is not to say that others can’t do this too, as I haven’t tried every conditioner out there. For bang for the $$, the RG1200 is hard to beat. That’s been MY experience.
mitchb's avatar
mitchb OP
335 posts
 

The Keces IQRP 3600 improves the sound very much. I highly recommend it. It is beginning to get recognition worldwide according to the internet. I love mine. It is a large unit being 62 pounds and almost as large as my Pass Labs X250.8 amplifier.

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lmcmalo
20 posts
 

I have no idea how much the PS Audio power plants make a system sound better in house XYZ.    But one thing is: I know exactly what hey do.  And I can totally see how it will isolate a system from dubious power.  It’s AC-DC-AC conversion  and that process is good enough to isolate US - Canada power grids.  That’s a lot more than what I can say about any other vendor.  

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