Should Amps be plugged into a power conditioner?


Greetings,

After reading about the amplifier hum, it was mentioned that some knowledgeable people say NOT to plug an amp into a power conditioner. Plug it directly into a wall outlet. Thankfully, I do not have a hum issue, but am curious as to what others say about where to plug your amp into. 

Thank you!

jgjg123

I use a ZeroSurge on my Pass XA60 mono blocks.  ASR demonstrated that signal in was no different from signal out. I take this to mean no harm, just safe power.  I like safe power.

"As with all the other power tweaks, filters and cables, no fidelity improvement is to be had with 2R15W. It doesn't "clean" the AC in any way that I can measure. And as a result, real-life testing with an amplifier shows the same performance with and without. On the other hand, it is a major sigh of relief that despite pulling some 700+ watts out of the box, it had essentially no impact on the amplifier performance. 

Where this leaves us is that if you like its flavor of surge protection, you can proceed to use it for that purpose and not worry about power loss.

I can't recommend the ZeroSurge 2R15W as a fidelity improvement device. As a surge protector, going by what they say it does, it seems like a better bet than many cheap solutions.

I think one of the most beneficial aspects of a Power conditioner is that it protects the hardware. I can highly recommend what I have used. A relatively cheap Tripp Lite Power conditioner. After a thunderstorm I see the low  voltage light turned on the device or the high voltage light turned on depending on the situation.  It is compensating for the incorrect voltage which is a good thing.  Also, I would expect noise on the line under those conditions. With either light indicating a problem with the line, and the device compensating, I have not heard any sonic degradation. Thank you.

I plug my amps into Monster power conditioners that help with power outages, which is commonplace where I live. No hum. And thankfully I’ve never had gear affected by power surges. 

Shunyata Denali 6000S-V2 all Shunyata Apha V2 power cords, amp is a Aestheix Mimas, no issues with dynamics. 

Just curious regarding 'headroom' (and potentially limiting it using a power conditioner): can someone link to articles where they measured the actual draw of (high power) amps? I would assume the outpout power demand peaks are very short and should be 'covered' by large capacitors, with the resulting input power demand (draw) peaks being in a range that a power conditioner should NOT limit. 

I need to read up on the limitation of my simple and cheap conditioner, but envision a real world test: my air compressor (rated at 3.7 kW or 32A at 115V) draws a LOT (i.e. needs a LOT of head room), and its headroom IS noticeably limited (light bulbs dim when in DRAWS). When connecting it my conditioner, any 'headroom limiting' would be evident by the lights bulbs dimming a lot more and longer. 

Reverse test: my ICE design sub amp has a 1.325kVA rating for the transformer. Transformer power output is supplemented by a capacitor rated for 10000 mF at 160 VDC. The rated power consumption listed on the back plate for the amplifier is 1200W at 115V. That amp driven hard does NOT result in 'dimming' (my visual sign for 'headroom limiting'). Maybe a bit more of this helps with headroom?

But again, someone surely has measured such 'headroom limiting' from the power source. Sounds to me more like an issue of the power supply of the amp not having sufficient power STORAGE to cover the peak demand?  Reference the car guys with their gigantic power storage to overcome 'headroom limitation from power source'. Sound Storm Laboratories C352 Car Audio Capacitor – 3.5 Farad, Energy  Storage, Enhance Bass from Stereo, for Amplifier and Subwoofer, Warning  Tones, ...