Dedicated Electrical

+1 @ditusa 

@offbrandracing ,

I would either wait or just PM agon member @jea48,

He has provided what I consider the soundest advice on anything electrical on this forum for years.

Bob 

Immathewj, power conditioners used to be all over the map but today are like most things more consistently good. Even so they are like all components very individual and to be judged on that basis. The way I see it there are so many areas of improvement it is just as good to do fuses, springs and so on first and leave conditioner for later as the other way around. As long as you are putting one foot in front of the other and not sitting still you are making progress and that’s what counts not any one particular thing. 
The conditioner test is on my (very) long list of ideas to try when I can find the time. In my system a step down transformer goes from 240 to 120 and then another one is in the conditioner. All of this can be changed to compare, but being hard wired is a bit of a project, not like most things people would just plug and unplug. 
Many years ago I had some Electraglide power cords and learned that they were not earth ground. They looked like they were, they had three prong connections at both ends, but they weren’t. The dealer told me they did this because it sounds better. This was at least 30 years ago. Then at Chuxpona21 (do a system page search) Silversmith owner Jeff Smith was here. He thinks so much of floating ground he carries a cheater plug around in his pocket, eager to prove how much better it sounds. This is a guy who designs cables for a living. So I am not surprised if some of what you have was made that way as part of intentional design. 
 

Thank you, @millercarbon ; to have enough outlets for all the gear (amp, pre, digital source, sub) on the one dedicated circuit, are there any acceptable alternatives to connecting an outlet to the existing outlet that I am going to use as the dedicated circuit? That probably sounds like a stupid question, but is there such a thing as an acceptable grade of strip (other than a power conditioner)?

And as it happens, I do have a power conditioner; I bought it around 25 years ago from a dealer in Philthadelphia who was very good at selling me things. At the time, I considered the $600 to be outrageously expensive. It is the "Prometheus Power Flo" and there is no point on doing a search on it as I just did and . . . nothing. I have used it and not used it (was in the NOT mode the last time I was running my system on three ’dedicated’ circuits, and if it made a difference, my ears were not picking it up. That typed, I am the first to admit that I probably don’t have the ears for this "hobby" . . . however I do enjoy immersing myself in in music and my ears are good enough to tell when it sounds good or not so good.

First rule of audio, if you don’t hear any difference, don’t worry. My rule anyway, if I don’t hear it, why bother? So it seems to me you already have a power strip, in this case one called "Prometheus Power Flo" and so you might as well use it.

That said, there is a way to determine for yourself whether it "works" or not. Start by plugging everything into it and listening to your system that way. Do this long enough to get used to the way this sounds. Then unplug one component and plug it directly into the same outlet as the conditioner. This avoids potential differences between outlets, possibility of ground loop noise, etc. This is a true test because the only variable is the conditioner.

Hopefully you prefer the conditioner. But if not then use the same process to find a power strip.

Don’t worry if you don’t hear any difference. In this case there are two ways to go. One, you remain happy as a clam, content in being satisfied with whatever you have. Two, this bugs you and you want to find out whether your lack of hearing any difference is based in reality, or a lack of listening skill.

I know which one it is, but remain agnostic on which choice you make. For the simple reason this is all about building a system you enjoy. Not me. Not anyone else. Just you. If I can help you be happy with what you have, that is just as gratifying to me as if I can help you learn to master all the many ways you can make it better, and appreciate it for being better.

To that end I will soon be writing a series of articles on how to listen, critically and effectively. How to evaluate what you are hearing, with the words to describe and talk about this with others. And best of all, how to develop the ability to do this with aspects of sound you are not currently aware of or able to identify.