When I was 16 years old (1970), I was a member of the only Government sponsored Boy Scout Explorer Post in the US. Met at the NASA tracking station in Corpus Christi TX. We had a “Communications “ theme. We used to get all kinds of retired space program stuff from the Mercury Missions. One item was a rack mounted “Power Conditioner”. It would take any kind of power from 105 to 140 vac 40 to 70 Hz and put out 1800 watts of pure 60 hz AC. We put it on an O scope it was perfect. We used it on our ham radios.
That is kind of a strange question. I don't know anyone personally who has a power conditioner that wants to get rid of it. That said, I have heard of many an audiophile selling their power conditioners and getting more and more expensive ones looking for something, likely some sound quality enhancement. Power conditioners are not cheap, even "inexpensive good ones". I have one myself and won't be giving it up until it fails its job, which doesn't seem likely in near future. Personally, I found no real difference in sound from any gear plugged into it at all, but I have a different and more earthly take on what a power conditioner's job is. Suffice it to say that with electricity being a coin-toss in most places I am sure my gear appreciates what the power conditioner does even if I don't notice anything sound-wise. I too appreciate my power conditioner's job (it is also a protector)....a couple of times I can actually count and say thank goodness. So yeah, keeping it around and keeping things plugged into it, thank you very much.
That makes so much sense. So the power conditioners were causing too much output impedence, which presumably means that power demands would cause the voltage the sag and not be able to deliver the necessary instantaneous power to the amps... which you can then hear directly. Sounds like power conditioners might be a good idea... on all the low-power equipment instead of on the amplifiers :-). -Matt
Get a 3 phase UPS installed to have : All noise, all interference totally removed. You get also much higher , undisturbed , continous power for your hifi eqpt. And much cheaper.
Wow, what a difference removing my power conditioner made! I HAD a Furman power conditioner between my Kawai Digital Piano and the wall socket. I HAD attributed the less-than-should-be sound to the small room acoustics, carpet, etc. I had put a sheet of finished maple plywood underneath the piano which un-muddied the mids and improved the highs to a degree, but the lower registers still dominated the higher registers and it lacked the depth and color I knew was possible. Without the power conditioner the sound is not as "clean", BUT; it IS vastly more dynamic and lively, and the higher registers are now balanced with the lower registers. It now sounds like a real piano. -- Anyone wanna buy a mint-condition-used power conditioner?
I highly doubt this. Unless that amplifier (or speaker) is voiced to sound better with that high-frequency noise on the line, it shouldn't be impacting its dynamics. Any little thing could add such a minute level of resistance to the power going to an amp, like a simple surge protector for example.
I went from a high quality surge protector to straight into the wall socket. Huge improvement, much better highs and mids, it really livened up the sound. I was shocked.
I agonized over weather or not to buy a power conditioner for years then finally bought one. I don't hear an increase or decrease in fidelity so I guess I have a glorified surge protector with a digital voltage display.🤔
Hmm... also, don’t forget that AC input power is running at 50/60hz... it *can’t* affect higher frequency ranges without also causing some very noticeable intermodulation effects. Given that we don’t hear that; I’m highly suspicious of placebo effects here... Anyway, instead of trying to stiffen the AC supply; I’d add low-inductance caps after the AC-to-DC power supply stage. This, incidentally, is routinely done in digital design; google ‘decoupling capacitor’ for more on the subject (and sometimes we use different cap sizes all connected in parallel because they react differently at different frequencies; despite the theoretically ideal model considering them equivalent to one cap of the same size as all the individual caps summed). 🤔
I did that to a separate power supply I built for a cyrus one amp 30 years ago. Russ Andrews provided the design sketch 1000va transformer DNM slit foil and polypropeln bypass caps. No more clipping! Great smoother sounding results. Thank for explaining why ;-)
Great explanation! The part about you experimenting with added resistance is what really convinced me (apart from already hearing the difference in my own system). Now I’m just saving up to get a PowerPlant!
So, I'm putting together a new 2- channel hi-fi system and here's my budget: $1,500 for speakers; $800 for amp; $650 for preamp; I have a CD player and TT; and $12,000 for racks and stands, cables, power conditioners, decoupling pucks, room treatment, and whatever else. Yeah, that sounds about right.
I’ve heard that ps audio power plants can have problems over time. And that they can have “dc leaking” or something like that. And that PS audio is not taking in the older models for repair because they do not have replacement parts for older units like that p500. Any truth in that concern?
The overall impedance of the mains power supply using the PS Audio conditioner is dictated by both the conditioner and the incoming supply to the conditioner because it is in series. There is no reduction in impedance as implied in this video at 7:17.
Paul, every time a discussion on conditioners comes up, you refer to your power plant and how much more it offers. I'm not doubting that, however, you do sell what appears to be a passive conditioner, which you never refer to. I'm not at the point of being able to afford a powerplant, and $500 for a conditioner seems large. I'd be interested in what made your conditioner better than the others. I'm sure it must be of good quality, it just seems like every time the topic comes up, you skip it as if it doesn't exist, which makes it hard to justify/consider spending a large (for me) amount of money on.
By a line-interactive UPS and put that UPS on a oversurge protector, then you plug your amplifier to it and listen there is a big difference, and a bigger difference if you live in an area with a lot of industry "google AC harmonics" those frequencies that comes in at tour ac lines will be filtered some, but not all..
Very interesting Personally, I owned 4 Krell amplifiers and all 3 amplifiers I've tried to use 240V instead of the 120V, dynamic and quality of sound increased substantially. If your amplifier can use 240 and you can have a electrician wire a dedicated line, DO IT.
People sell their no-longer needed power conditioners. Any half-way decent SMPS located in audio gear is able to compensate for avaiability or absence of any power conditioning and provide very stiff power rails at the very same time.
Paul you could have explained that it is called ac harmonics, and those harmonics are produced by cheap ac to dc converters, and here in norway there have been several cases that harmonics has been related to those new induction cooking stoves, there was a confirmed case where there was a wind turbine that a power company had put up that generated ac harmonics when it was producing power to the grid, so it can be in many forms, even a bad 3lead motor with a too small of a capasitor can produce ac harmonics due to the drop when engaged hope this explains a little more in-depth.
Just not sure that I buy this explanation as anything but a means to sell his $10,000 power conditioners. Anything could add such a minuscule minute level of impedance to the line, including things like a basic surge protector, which you need unless you want to risk your stuff getting fried. Speakers just don't need that much electricity, certainly not enough that a power conditioner would cause an amplifier to be gasping for breath. As long as electricity is getting to the amp, it has the power to do what it needs to do. Resistance in the line has the effect of lowering voltage, which is why extension cords can only be so long for a given gauge/thickness, because current (amps) starts going up to compensate. But as long as the voltage drop isn't too significant, or results in more amps being carried than the wire can handle (which a conditioner would not cause), I just don't see how it would result in an amplifier failing to reproduce certain components of the signal it's getting from an AVR or DAC. Perhaps the high-frequency noise that these conditioners remove is perceived by Paul as definition in the treble, but it's certainly not doing anything to harm a power amp's dynamics (unless the amp is simply huge, and the conditioner is too small for the load).
I will never use a power "conditioner". From my own experience a good quality power strip with EMI/RFI noise isolation combined with a good quality power supply (wall-wart/brick) does a far better job preserving dynamics/harmonics.
Bansaku Power strip is only for those who cant connect direct into a wall socket, cause they dont have any wall socket near their system. Power strips kills dynamics vs direct wall socket. I have strip, and two sockets are no filtering, and they have better dynamics, but nothing beat straight into a wall. But if i must have a strip in use, I would use some decent one, not that cheap use for computers for 10$.
MOST power conditioners are just beastly surge protectors. As far as "purifying power" or cleaning up "noise" does not happen in MOST all power conditioners. In fact, my Furman PL-Plus DMC does nothing for EMI noise filtering.
Hmm, for what it's worth power conditioning (or regeneration) is in my opinion used for inadequate engineering for the device/s that it will feed. My homebrew amps have enormous toroidals and excessive great quality capacitors (RIFA ones designed for SMPS with very low esr, also bypassed with film caps), so that's my ott way of getting very low power impedance. I have PTC surge reduction at the imput to the toroidals otherwise the inrush is a little brutal. The dynamics are wonderful and the lack of distortion leads me to playing rather loud without realising it.
The implication of paint protection they try to sell you on your new car is they haven't painted it right. The implication of power conditioner you're sold is they haven't designed the power supply right. Just don't buy cars that are not correctly painted, and don't buy hifi unless the power supply works.
@@CupOfSweetTea The point is that it should “sound right”. Whether the power supply is “military grade” or not is often (usually?) not part of that equation.
Please, Always check the focus on the camera before you start shooting the video you are going to post... It's even more important than fine-tuning the VTA before you copy a record to tape.
How can anyone think the impedance of the cord between the wall outlet and the component matters a shit when the copper in the wall is completely out of your control unless you had the place wired to your specifications? And what about the feed from the pole or underground transformer? No utility company is going to accommodate a request for special stuff there! Some years ago I bought a TrippLite LC1200 at a thrift shop for $8 or $9. If not for that deal, I probably wouldn't use a power conditioner at all, and I wouldn't think it was worthwhile.
Moral of the story: Not all conditioning devices are made to accomplish the same goals, and they are certainly not all built to the same degree of specification. Just as with vehicles.
@@SJMessinwithBoats1 I've never seen one of Paul's devices in person so I can only say that as a generality with a device of this architecture, you can absolutely use an inverter to boost 12V up to a "serviceable" but fairly poor quality 120V or use a 120V output generator to feed a regenerator which will finally deliver a solid, high quality power source. The same cannot be said of other architectures of "conditioners" which do not function as regenerators. What you must ensure, is that there is plenty of reserve capacity on the inverter or generator side as they're almost always less capable than the sticker would indicate and the Power Plant will consume all the energy necessary to make sure it has a slight buffer to work with. The devices of this nature I've worked with could be described as "exceptionally hungry" to get what they need from the wall in order to do their jobs. If under load your inverter/generator drops in output voltage then additional current will be drawn by the regenerator to compensate so overrating everything upstream of the regenerator is something I would highly encourage. It's not really an issue with batteries, but on a generator what you want to avoid is having the load make highly variable demands of the generator which will affect its speed and generally its regulation. A decent test might be to play the 1812 Overture at high volume and monitor the generator speed and output voltage for variation at the point of cannon fire as it represents a rather considerable amount of bass to track. The final point I would bring up from my experience with a variety of generators is that some of them have rather poor voltage regulation and I would want to be sure that any generator I plugged a Power Plant into would never hit it with too much voltage. I would be surprised if PS Audio didn't have some (or considerable) experience with a customer using either a generator or batteries for critical listening. My guess is that they would be happy to address your questions if you gave them a call.
Paul, you said something during the video that confused me just a little. You mentioned "passive" power conditioners...now I'm not sure if my Panamax is active or passive, and does it soften the sound, remove some of the detail and ambiance like you mentioned? Any are welcome to comment, would of course love to hear Paul's opinion, and thank you!!! :D
Doesn't a class A amp pull the same current all the time? I'd rather spend 5 grand on a fine tube amp that produces MUSIC instead of one whose output is only a high current 60hz drone!
Musical instruments and singers produce MUSIC. Amplifiers just reproduce what they are fed, no more, no less. If the amplifier is MUUUUUUUSICCCCCAL it is lying to you.
Wondering if a power conditioner would solve my issue: The issue started when we moved into a newly built house (with an old TV Tower nearby). I am using 2 amps with a pre-amp, HDMI's and RCA connections, 11 speakers and they installed 16ga speaker wire in the walls. The issue I’m experiencing is when the volume is very low there is a specific FM radio station that plays in the background (regardless of the source, or input). Some days are louder than others, there is also some kind of static buzz that accompanies it. The issue is heard through maybe half of the speakers, some louder than others and from either amp. The sound plays through the tweeters mostly. The issue persists even if i disconnect the RCA (signal cable)! Ive also tried a different speaker wire - no effect. Changing the HDMI’s, adding/removing components and moving around the RCAs all seem to make differences but nothing eliminates the issue. Also, on another circuit in the den of my house, my powered sub hums a bit when plugged in. Not sure if a power conditioner would help these problems?
@@alexanderbelov6892 ive had the electrican come over a few times.. he believes it is good. Further testing proved wrapping the speaker wire in tin foil seemed to reduce the issue by about 85% ! Go fugue.
@@Spirited_Driver Probably you have AM radio station nearby, so it induces some audio signal to your Hi Fi system. Or your Hi Fi system has improper circuitry to "tune" some radio waves. Sometimes electronics engineers forget that low frequency audio devices are usual electronic devices to work with 20 Hz 1GHz radio signals, so if radio waves are not suppressed with 100KHz low pass filter those signals will be amplified and appear in speakers.
@@alexanderbelov6892 its fm radio station 97.5fm The signal is induced through the amplifiers and speaker wires even if my Marantz receiver is turned off
Do conditioners affect the sound as much if they are just used with source components? You didnt specify but i assumed the issues you mentioned affect Amps more
I think you're right. In my experience, source components do better with a power conditioner, but amps do better when plugged into the wall. Adding a power conditioner to my phono stage improved the sound tremendously. Same with my DAC.
You need to align all your power cables from the Distribution Board through the conditioner to the Audio and video equipment correctly, otherwise it will drain the life out of your system. Power supply lines need to be properly designed otherwise you wasting your money on conditioners.
I think even if a power conditioner does what is expected from it, it may still do not improve sound. So investments into power conditioners are not good as price/performance ratio.
Hi paul, does a huuuuuge isolation transformer - i mean a 5kva block - not lower the impedance? Being a buffer by giving energy from the massive core and it‘s saturation? Or should i think of a dc bias to precharge the core?
I also used to wave at the USA Navy Pilots (TomCat) doing a turn in my back yard at Point Mugu. Oriole Dr. Also, being in the Scouts got my Star Scout brother and I a photo shaking the hand of an Astronaut. My Brother making it to the Base Paper. Also lived at the beach in a travel trailer before we got housing. LOVED that Jet Engine testing Facility next to the camp sites. Everytime they fired up one of those Mothers, it would Rain on us! Learned on a plywood ramp how to ski on. Pt. Mugu Also. Dad drove "Old Blue" a Diesel outdated Bus (Exhaust pipe glowing at that back as my Ramed the way up to Mammouth Mountain where I skied from the top only once. Real glad just to survive that as I did witness a man sliding at least half way down that thing. Mogules the size of cars.
Myself as well. Mainly I started using them to protect my equipment after I lost a receiver to a lightning strike. I guess with my cheap systems I dont notice a differance to sound but if I have a good amount of static electricity built up and touch my fidge in my man cave, my conditioner will shut down. Thats how I know its protecting my system and I am good with that.
Maybe time to build audio equipment that can coop with “normal” household power. Just like Naïm voor instance. Must be possible for these kind of prices.
Line-level devices do better with power conditioning, but power amps do better when plugged into the wall (even if the power conditioner claims it is non-limiting)
It’s possible to confuse a “power conditioner” with a good surge protector or more to the point a good and large sine-wave UPS. I wouldn’t even _consider_ hooking up an expensive component to anything other than the latter. If you don’t do that, you are a fool. Maybe you’ve never had a power spike or a brownout, and dealing with that is not the primary design objective of most high-end components. If it happens, you may very well be screwed, and the people to help you with that trauma are going to be hard to find, and probably rather unsympathetic.
I read all these interesting facts and opinions about power conditioners etc. For me, the information Paul puts on the channel is always giving me direction and giving me more usefull information than any hifi shop or forum I've been. So my conclusion is that I will connect my power amp with a quality power cable directly into the wall or into a 'direct' outlet on my W-Audio W4000. This is a power strip with for filtered and 4 nonfiltered/ditect outlets. My question is: How should I connect my other equipment? That is a pre amp, dac, cd player, streaming bridge and a headphone amp... Should these, for the same reasons Paul explained, also better NOT be connected to the filtering outlets and shall I get rid of this power strip OR do the arguments for not using power conditioning only apply to (power) amps?? Best regards, René from The Netherlands
My concern is not sterility but dirty electricity. It seems very few power conditioners actually do much to clean up this noise floor monster. Using one of these meters might help to determine of your power conditioner is actually doing anything. th-cam.com/video/oUqSDfsbs7E/w-d-xo.html
instead of using a Rube Goldberg Regenerator, why not just put a big lithium battery in the chain and regulate the power? It seems that would be far less expensive and less complicated. There are plenty of lithium generators on the market, why not make one for audiophiles. And then we could listen if the powers goes out too 😂
Because the output impedance of a battery is pretty high. The new fad is super capacitors, lots of folks playing with those and claim good results. Very expensive for the demands of a power amp... The other issue is noise from the regulator itself. It is very hard to make a low noise regulator for high current that does not add impedance (taking you right back to where you started). There is a good reason why better power amps use unregulated power supplies.
carlos oliveira a Rube Goldberg machine is an intentionally complex device to accomplish a simple mechanical task. Seems pretty relevant. You’re taking AC power converting it to DC then back to AC to achieve the magic sine wave. Granted I’m not a total nay sayer. My system always performs better at night. I just have to believe there’s a simpler more cost effective way to achieve the same result without having to pay $$$$ to get there.
I’m still using a Quintet after, what, 15 years? I’m in Florida and we have many weather related surges. The Quintet has saved my ass many, many times.
Dire Straits You’ve obviously never lived in Florida, at least not the Tampa Bay Area. Lightning induced surges are brutal for electronics, grounded or not.
@@ecyfoto I have lived in Florida, Jacksonville, Dania, Jensen Beach, The Savannas at Fort Pierce, Indian River Drive at Walton rd. Port St. Lucie, Lighting is brutal in Fla!
Boring! No no I'm not referring to Paul's video. We audiophiles get bored eventually and need a change again in sound while we like to think that will improve the sound we already had.
You hit EXACTLY on it Salvador! I think the term "audiophile" should be replaced with a more medical term like "obsessive compulsive tech junkie," because that's what we are! We buy something, LOVE it, and get bored and want to tweak it or replace it in a matter of time. That, is the never-ending quest....not the pursuit of perfect sound. We will never, ever find it. In fact, I think this reply is important....I'm gonna copy it and paste it as a comment. We are tech junkies! ;D
All of this is nonsense. The conditions of softening the sound or sterility are nothing more than too small of a conditioner. You are running your equipment in a brown out situ. Get a larger conditioner. Also equipment does a fine job of cleaning up the AC on it's own. When you hear the microwave through your speakers then use a different outlet for either and problem solved, but even when I try to create this situation and can see noise on my scope on the AC outlet I've never been able to find any noise at the speakers, with a scope or my ears. Noisy equipment has something wrong inside that a conditioner might help mask but will not fix. Too small of a power conditioner is almost always the issue with dynamic changes, plain and simple. Use your brains, ffs.
It's hardly "nonsense" and while a bigger more powerful conditioners is a good idea if one wants to go that route it none the less ignores the facts. Conditioners cannot fix the problems of power: regulation, dynamic impedance changes, fluctuating voltages, flat topped waveforms.
Another thing, if power cables made so much a difference in performance, then why wouldn’t manufacture include it In The design process... seems to me if I’m making a product that’s competing in the market, I’m going to use all the variables at my disposal. The cables aren’t expensive from a margin perspective. I can buy the same cables you resell for hundreds of dollars for less than a 100 bucks and get it from the same factory your using in china
Price and choice. People like you would not pay an extra $200 for an amp with a better, shielded, power cord. And at that price addition, some need a long cord, some a short cord etc. Your logic needs an upgrade.
bvocal do you know how much these expensive actually cost? I work for a company that makes cabling for the wireless industry. The margin is insane and we sell hundreds of thousands. Short run products means you have to charge monumental prices. You can buy a shielded cable for $50 on Ali express that’s as good as anything ps audio buys (they don’t pull wire-they resell)
Don’t get me wrong. I work in electronics manufacturing and I understand the economics of bringing a product to market. The bill of materials is just a fraction of the cost. My point is if cables made a competitive difference, why don’t companies include an entry level cable to beat out the competition. Paul talks about synergy all the time. Why then would they be including a cheap $5 cable with their products. If I believed in the necessity of a component, I would include it in the price. Especially when you’re talking about amplifiers that are already a few thousand dollars.
As if power regenerators from PS Audio would cost less than power conditioners. Make a regenerator under $1000 and then talk about who is abandoning who, for several thousand pounds I better invest in good quality power amp than your regenerator
I don't no way! Matter fact I most of the time only run full tilt on my Sony mdr-xb650bt head phones approx (106db) signal from a Lenovo tab 10 tablet with stereo speakers and ATMOS EQ system that I can pull the xtra bass out and do a little boost in the highs where the spotify hi setting leaves the highs down just.a tad. But on Wav I just take a little bass off and leave the top flat, then for a kids concert at the 15th row back I just give a little more boost here or there and Bam ! All's good In crazy man cave zone, where ever I go! 💗
I have no clue why your asking this. My best guess you can hear a difference when the volume is all the way up and there's a soft passage? What is a "Meridian Stereo" in your wife's Rover consist of? And why wouldn't you have a system in your Macho Wagon?
@LD Blake hahaha, I get it, I'm real lucky, the guy directly behind me rocks hard around his pool with an outdoor system and we never complain, so I can go full on inside and he doesn't complain.. plus I'm a rock drummer and they deal well with that also, everybody's happy !!
@LD Blake NICE !!!! and as soon as you said Steppenwolf I got chills, I came up on bands like them !! I was running them on a Fisher 500 with a set of AR3a's !!!
If you live in a third world country, and your lights dim when you heat your leftovers in the microwave, while simultaneously running mono blocks, it may help your situation. For everyone else, buy something nice for your wife...or maybe that tonearm and cartridge you've been eyeing 🤑
How does one begin to take this guy seriously when his company sells $700 audio cables? Am I to believe he somehow sells snake oil AND also gives good advice and information on power conditioners?
This is too much snake oil talk. Noise on the power lines is completely measurable and very rarely a concern even for a high-end system. Spend your money on speakers and amp before even considering anything concerning over priced power cables or power conditioners. If your system cost 10s of 1000s or Dollars, you might want these things because it’s part of the overall appearance more than actual audio fidelity.
Ian Brown There is no impact on the sound if there is no measurable impact on the secondary side voltage rails. You can easily measure ripple noise on your DC power rails in your pre amp and power amp. If you have well engineered amps, they will already include careful filtering of power line noise. Of course there are exceptions where your power lines have significant noise and your equipment is poorly designed to filter it out. Try to do an actual blind test and you will realize this topic is almost entirely snake oil.
Ian Brown BTW, if you have some old equipment with dried out power supply capacitors and realize these things can help, you should fix the equipment first. And even if the equipment is poorly designed, you can help on any noise problem by adding the right capacitors in the right spots inside the amp. A few dollars of capacitors will be a better cure than 100s of Dollars of external gear.
When I was 16 years old (1970), I was a member of the only Government sponsored Boy Scout Explorer Post in the US. Met at the NASA tracking station in Corpus Christi TX. We had a “Communications “ theme. We used to get all kinds of retired space program stuff from the Mercury Missions. One item was a rack mounted “Power Conditioner”. It would take any kind of power from 105 to 140 vac 40 to 70 Hz and put out 1800 watts of pure 60 hz AC. We put it on an O scope it was perfect. We used it on our ham radios.
That is kind of a strange question. I don't know anyone personally who has a power conditioner that wants to get rid of it. That said, I have heard of many an audiophile selling their power conditioners and getting more and more expensive ones looking for something, likely some sound quality enhancement.
Power conditioners are not cheap, even "inexpensive good ones". I have one myself and won't be giving it up until it fails its job, which doesn't seem likely in near future. Personally, I found no real difference in sound from any gear plugged into it at all, but I have a different and more earthly take on what a power conditioner's job is. Suffice it to say that with electricity being a coin-toss in most places I am sure my gear appreciates what the power conditioner does even if I don't notice anything sound-wise. I too appreciate my power conditioner's job (it is also a protector)....a couple of times I can actually count and say thank goodness. So yeah, keeping it around and keeping things plugged into it, thank you very much.
Thanks Paul! Bringing so much detail in your videos is Live Music in itself to the ears of all those who are yearning for great Audio!
That makes so much sense. So the power conditioners were causing too much output impedence, which presumably means that power demands would cause the voltage the sag and not be able to deliver the necessary instantaneous power to the amps... which you can then hear directly.
Sounds like power conditioners might be a good idea... on all the low-power equipment instead of on the amplifiers :-).
-Matt
Get a 3 phase UPS installed to have : All noise, all interference totally removed.
You get also much higher , undisturbed , continous power for your hifi eqpt.
And much cheaper.
Wow, what a difference removing my power conditioner made! I HAD a Furman power conditioner between my Kawai Digital Piano and the wall socket. I HAD attributed the less-than-should-be sound to the small room acoustics, carpet, etc. I had put a sheet of finished maple plywood underneath the piano which un-muddied the mids and improved the highs to a degree, but the lower registers still dominated the higher registers and it lacked the depth and color I knew was possible. Without the power conditioner the sound is not as "clean", BUT; it IS vastly more dynamic and lively, and the higher registers are now balanced with the lower registers. It now sounds like a real piano. -- Anyone wanna buy a mint-condition-used power conditioner?
I highly doubt this. Unless that amplifier (or speaker) is voiced to sound better with that high-frequency noise on the line, it shouldn't be impacting its dynamics. Any little thing could add such a minute level of resistance to the power going to an amp, like a simple surge protector for example.
I went from a high quality surge protector to straight into the wall socket. Huge improvement, much better highs and mids, it really livened up the sound. I was shocked.
I’m personally very happy with my power conditioner from Head and Shoulders.
David S. Vega I thought Head and Shoulders only made shampoo. hahaha
David S. Vega I bet your music isnt flaky!
Flake on my friend.
I agonized over weather or not to buy a power conditioner for years then finally bought one. I don't hear an increase or decrease in fidelity so I guess I have a glorified surge protector with a digital voltage display.🤔
Hmm... also, don’t forget that AC input power is running at 50/60hz... it *can’t* affect higher frequency ranges without also causing some very noticeable intermodulation effects. Given that we don’t hear that; I’m highly suspicious of placebo effects here...
Anyway, instead of trying to stiffen the AC supply; I’d add low-inductance caps after the AC-to-DC power supply stage. This, incidentally, is routinely done in digital design; google ‘decoupling capacitor’ for more on the subject (and sometimes we use different cap sizes all connected in parallel because they react differently at different frequencies; despite the theoretically ideal model considering them equivalent to one cap of the same size as all the individual caps summed). 🤔
I did that to a separate power supply I built for a cyrus one amp 30 years ago. Russ Andrews provided the design sketch 1000va transformer DNM slit foil and polypropeln bypass caps. No more clipping! Great smoother sounding results. Thank for explaining why ;-)
Great explanation! The part about you experimenting with added resistance is what really convinced me (apart from already hearing the difference in my own system). Now I’m just saving up to get a PowerPlant!
So, I'm putting together a new 2- channel hi-fi system and here's my budget: $1,500 for speakers; $800 for amp; $650 for preamp; I have a CD player and TT; and $12,000 for racks and stands, cables, power conditioners, decoupling pucks, room treatment, and whatever else. Yeah, that sounds about right.
Yeah ok 👌
I’ve heard that ps audio power plants can have problems over time. And that they can have “dc leaking” or something like that. And that PS audio is not taking in the older models for repair because they do not have replacement parts for older units like that p500.
Any truth in that concern?
The overall impedance of the mains power supply using the PS Audio conditioner is dictated by both the conditioner and the incoming supply to the conditioner because it is in series. There is no reduction in impedance as implied in this video at 7:17.
Paul, every time a discussion on conditioners comes up, you refer to your power plant and how much more it offers. I'm not doubting that, however, you do sell what appears to be a passive conditioner, which you never refer to. I'm not at the point of being able to afford a powerplant, and $500 for a conditioner seems large. I'd be interested in what made your conditioner better than the others. I'm sure it must be of good quality, it just seems like every time the topic comes up, you skip it as if it doesn't exist, which makes it hard to justify/consider spending a large (for me) amount of money on.
Read what the scope of "Ask Paul" is.The truth will shine down on you like blue showers from the sky, You're Welcome in advance!
@@SJMessinwithBoats 're
By a line-interactive UPS and put that UPS on a oversurge protector, then you plug your amplifier to it and listen there is a big difference, and a bigger difference if you live in an area with a lot of industry "google AC harmonics" those frequencies that comes in at tour ac lines will be filtered some, but not all..
Very interesting
Personally, I owned 4 Krell amplifiers and all 3 amplifiers I've tried to use 240V instead of the 120V, dynamic and quality of sound increased substantially. If your amplifier can use 240 and you can have a electrician wire a dedicated line, DO IT.
Someday, I hope to procure Krell. A Smaller one would be fine. Something about those heatsinks and doubling as a space heater...
Thank you for this important lecture on power conditioners. I can make an informed choice on a surge protector.
I like to own a PS Audio Power Plant one day.
People sell their no-longer needed power conditioners. Any half-way decent SMPS located in audio gear is able to compensate for avaiability or absence of any power conditioning and provide very stiff power rails at the very same time.
My guitar cable made a difference in noise.
I was using a thin cord, then bought a thick gold plated Monster Rock Cable, and boom the noise was gone.
upper level harmonics = spice of life
well, that............and redheads
After reading your book 99% True, your talk on Power conditioners came to life…
I have a £250 Isotek conditioner and the music is not only cleaner and more hifi, it also has more impact, bounce and snap.
Paul you could have explained that it is called ac harmonics, and those harmonics are produced by cheap ac to dc converters, and here in norway there have been several cases that harmonics has been related to those new induction cooking stoves, there was a confirmed case where there was a wind turbine that a power company had put up that generated ac harmonics when it was producing power to the grid, so it can be in many forms, even a bad 3lead motor with a too small of a capasitor can produce ac harmonics due to the drop when engaged hope this explains a little more in-depth.
Never use coils / inductors inline on power rails. Dynamics are squashed.
All power amps should go directly to wall power , conditioners are best left for the low voltage units like pre-amps, etc ..
Conditioners are best left on the shelf, in the shop. There, fixed it for you.
Just not sure that I buy this explanation as anything but a means to sell his $10,000 power conditioners. Anything could add such a minuscule minute level of impedance to the line, including things like a basic surge protector, which you need unless you want to risk your stuff getting fried. Speakers just don't need that much electricity, certainly not enough that a power conditioner would cause an amplifier to be gasping for breath. As long as electricity is getting to the amp, it has the power to do what it needs to do. Resistance in the line has the effect of lowering voltage, which is why extension cords can only be so long for a given gauge/thickness, because current (amps) starts going up to compensate. But as long as the voltage drop isn't too significant, or results in more amps being carried than the wire can handle (which a conditioner would not cause), I just don't see how it would result in an amplifier failing to reproduce certain components of the signal it's getting from an AVR or DAC. Perhaps the high-frequency noise that these conditioners remove is perceived by Paul as definition in the treble, but it's certainly not doing anything to harm a power amp's dynamics (unless the amp is simply huge, and the conditioner is too small for the load).
Before watching. I'm guessing a power conditioner is not the same as a PS audio powerplant.
That was a great explanation, thank you Paul!
What about a power conditioner to clean the current and the. Using a power plant after to ad the lost ambiance?
I will never use a power "conditioner". From my own experience a good quality power strip with EMI/RFI noise isolation combined with a good quality power supply (wall-wart/brick) does a far better job preserving dynamics/harmonics.
Mine is like 43db noise filtering is that any good?
@@m.morininvestor9920
It is like 99+% noise reduction. Sounds perfect if it does not cost a fortune.
Bansaku
Power strip is only for those who cant connect direct into a wall socket, cause they dont have any wall socket near their system.
Power strips kills dynamics vs direct wall socket. I have strip, and two sockets are no filtering, and they have better dynamics, but nothing beat straight into a wall.
But if i must have a strip in use, I would use some decent one, not that cheap use for computers for 10$.
Nothing beats straight into the wall. Try it, I was amazed at the difference.
MOST power conditioners are just beastly surge protectors. As far as "purifying power" or cleaning up "noise" does not happen in MOST all power conditioners. In fact, my Furman PL-Plus DMC does nothing for EMI noise filtering.
Because I went bald so there was no reason for any in my life any more.
if you use the right power cable it act like a filter to noise and connecting it to the wall gets the best result ....
Hmm, for what it's worth power conditioning (or regeneration) is in my opinion used for inadequate engineering for the device/s that it will feed.
My homebrew amps have enormous toroidals and excessive great quality capacitors (RIFA ones designed for SMPS with very low esr, also bypassed with film caps), so that's my ott way of getting very low power impedance. I have PTC surge reduction at the imput to the toroidals otherwise the inrush is a little brutal.
The dynamics are wonderful and the lack of distortion leads me to playing rather loud without realising it.
I am getting randmon popping coming from my def tech 6080 towers even with everything turned off but the towers plugged in the wall.
So the gist is that we should abandon line fuses or breakers? They’re both just fusible resistors (heaters)
The implication of paint protection they try to sell you on your new car is they haven't painted it right. The implication of power conditioner you're sold is they haven't designed the power supply right. Just don't buy cars that are not correctly painted, and don't buy hifi unless the power supply works.
The “quality of the power supply” is not the point of high-end audio.
@@declanfarber I don't understand. So the power is irrelevant?
@@CupOfSweetTea The point is that it should “sound right”. Whether the power supply is “military grade” or not is often (usually?) not part of that equation.
Please, Always check the focus on the camera before you start shooting the video you are going to post...
It's even more important than fine-tuning the VTA before you copy a record to tape.
How can anyone think the impedance of the cord between the wall outlet and the component matters a shit
when the copper in the wall is completely out of your control unless you had the place wired to your specifications?
And what about the feed from the pole or underground transformer?
No utility company is going to accommodate a request for special stuff there!
Some years ago I bought a TrippLite LC1200 at a thrift shop for $8 or $9.
If not for that deal, I probably wouldn't use a power conditioner at all, and I wouldn't think it was worthwhile.
Moral of the story: Not all conditioning devices are made to accomplish the same goals, and they are certainly not all built to the same degree of specification. Just as with vehicles.
Can Paul's power regenerator be used with a power inverter. 500 watt, from 12v?
Peter S The REAL moral of the story is to never light a campfire in the forrest, Smokey!
@@progressiveguy9959 we lit many a fire in the hills of Southern California while hiking with Boy Scout troop 248 out of Point Mugu NAS California.
@@SJMessinwithBoats1 I've never seen one of Paul's devices in person so I can only say that as a generality with a device of this architecture, you can absolutely use an inverter to boost 12V up to a "serviceable" but fairly poor quality 120V or use a 120V output generator to feed a regenerator which will finally deliver a solid, high quality power source. The same cannot be said of other architectures of "conditioners" which do not function as regenerators. What you must ensure, is that there is plenty of reserve capacity on the inverter or generator side as they're almost always less capable than the sticker would indicate and the Power Plant will consume all the energy necessary to make sure it has a slight buffer to work with. The devices of this nature I've worked with could be described as "exceptionally hungry" to get what they need from the wall in order to do their jobs. If under load your inverter/generator drops in output voltage then additional current will be drawn by the regenerator to compensate so overrating everything upstream of the regenerator is something I would highly encourage. It's not really an issue with batteries, but on a generator what you want to avoid is having the load make highly variable demands of the generator which will affect its speed and generally its regulation. A decent test might be to play the 1812 Overture at high volume and monitor the generator speed and output voltage for variation at the point of cannon fire as it represents a rather considerable amount of bass to track. The final point I would bring up from my experience with a variety of generators is that some of them have rather poor voltage regulation and I would want to be sure that any generator I plugged a Power Plant into would never hit it with too much voltage. I would be surprised if PS Audio didn't have some (or considerable) experience with a customer using either a generator or batteries for critical listening. My guess is that they would be happy to address your questions if you gave them a call.
Brian David Loveless We seem to have quite an age difference. When I was a kid, what I typed wad "Smokey the Bear's" slogan.
Paul, you said something during the video that confused me just a little. You mentioned "passive" power conditioners...now I'm not sure if my Panamax is active or passive, and does it soften the sound, remove some of the detail and ambiance like you mentioned? Any are welcome to comment, would of course love to hear Paul's opinion, and thank you!!! :D
What do you think of ferrite rings? It has series resistance/inductance at very high frequencies, but does almost nothing at low frequencies.
Doesn't a class A amp pull the same current all the time?
I'd rather spend 5 grand on a fine tube amp that produces MUSIC instead of one whose output is only a high current 60hz drone!
Musical instruments and singers produce MUSIC. Amplifiers just reproduce what they are fed, no more, no less. If the amplifier is MUUUUUUUSICCCCCAL it is lying to you.
Wondering if a power conditioner would solve my issue: The issue started when we moved into a newly built house (with an old TV Tower nearby). I am using 2 amps with a pre-amp, HDMI's and RCA connections, 11 speakers and they installed 16ga speaker wire in the walls.
The issue I’m experiencing is when the volume is very low there is a specific FM radio station that plays in the background (regardless of the source, or input). Some days are louder than others, there is also some kind of static buzz that accompanies it. The issue is heard through maybe half of the speakers, some louder than others and from either amp. The sound plays through the tweeters mostly.
The issue persists even if i disconnect the RCA (signal cable)! Ive also tried a different speaker wire - no effect. Changing the HDMI’s, adding/removing components and moving around the RCAs all seem to make differences but nothing eliminates the issue.
Also, on another circuit in the den of my house, my powered sub hums a bit when plugged in.
Not sure if a power conditioner would help these problems?
Does a newly built house have proper grounding?
@@alexanderbelov6892 ive had the electrican come over a few times.. he believes it is good.
Further testing proved wrapping the speaker wire in tin foil seemed to reduce the issue by about 85% !
Go fugue.
@@Spirited_Driver
Probably you have AM radio station nearby, so it induces some audio signal to your Hi Fi system.
Or your Hi Fi system has improper circuitry to "tune" some radio waves. Sometimes electronics engineers forget that low frequency audio devices are usual electronic devices to work with 20 Hz 1GHz radio signals, so if radio waves are not suppressed with 100KHz low pass filter those signals will be amplified and appear in speakers.
@@alexanderbelov6892 its fm radio station 97.5fm
The signal is induced through the amplifiers and speaker wires even if my Marantz receiver is turned off
@@Spirited_Driver
🤦♂️FM encoding is not that simple to decode with any amp. 😮
Do conditioners affect the sound as much if they are just used with source components? You didnt specify but i assumed the issues you mentioned affect Amps more
I think you're right. In my experience, source components do better with a power conditioner, but amps do better when plugged into the wall. Adding a power conditioner to my phono stage improved the sound tremendously. Same with my DAC.
You need to align all your power cables from the Distribution Board through the conditioner to the Audio and video equipment correctly, otherwise it will drain the life out of your system. Power supply lines need to be properly designed otherwise you wasting your money on conditioners.
The best explanation.
Maybe because they have unreasonable expectations that it will make a bad system sound good.
I think even if a power conditioner does what is expected from it, it may still do not improve sound. So investments into power conditioners are not good as price/performance ratio.
Wasn't the MIT power conditioner a parallel filter?
Hi paul, does a huuuuuge isolation transformer - i mean a 5kva block - not lower the impedance? Being a buffer by giving energy from the massive core and it‘s saturation? Or should i think of a dc bias to precharge the core?
Beautifully explained as always, thank you Paul.
I had a VTL St150 ten years ago, and it didn't like the Monster Cable power conditioner. Not at all.
Love my P3
P3 means something else to me, My Father and brother both worked Avionics on them. Orions.
@@SJMessinwithBoats1 I used to live near an Naval Air Force Base and they would do fly-bys all the time. Always loved seeing them.
@@timbathras2660 Nice!! I loved going to the air shows on Pt. Mugu, saw the Blue Angles many times.
I also used to wave at the USA Navy Pilots (TomCat) doing a turn in my back yard at Point Mugu. Oriole Dr. Also, being in the Scouts got my Star Scout brother and I a photo shaking the hand of an Astronaut. My Brother making it to the Base Paper.
Also lived at the beach in a travel trailer before we got housing. LOVED that Jet Engine testing Facility next to the camp sites. Everytime they fired up one of those Mothers, it would Rain on us! Learned on a plywood ramp how to ski on. Pt. Mugu Also.
Dad drove "Old Blue" a Diesel outdated Bus (Exhaust pipe glowing at that back as my Ramed the way up to Mammouth Mountain where I skied from the top only once. Real glad just to survive that as I did witness a man sliding at least half way down that thing. Mogules the size of cars.
I kept all my power conditioners.
You were conditioned.
Myself as well. Mainly I started using them to protect my equipment after I lost a receiver to a lightning strike. I guess with my cheap systems I dont notice a differance to sound but if I have a good amount of static electricity built up and touch my fidge in my man cave, my conditioner will shut down. Thats how I know its protecting my system and I am good with that.
@@scottyo64 surge protector.
@@Geerladenlad thats basically what it is
Id love to buy a power conditioner to get rid of the constant ringing in my ears.
Maybe time to build audio equipment that can coop with “normal” household power. Just like Naïm voor instance. Must be possible for these kind of prices.
Yes. Build it in. No extra chassis needed. Build it in to handle that component. Oh wait. We've done that. It's called the SMPS.
Line-level devices do better with power conditioning, but power amps do better when plugged into the wall (even if the power conditioner claims it is non-limiting)
Great explanation Paul. I intend to get one...one day. :)
Thanks Paulskie!
Nice sales pitch
the cheapest Power Plant is about 2500€ ?!? ......
It’s possible to confuse a “power conditioner” with a good surge protector or more to the point a good and large sine-wave UPS. I wouldn’t even _consider_ hooking up an expensive component to anything other than the latter. If you don’t do that, you are a fool. Maybe you’ve never had a power spike or a brownout, and dealing with that is not the primary design objective of most high-end components. If it happens, you may very well be screwed, and the people to help you with that trauma are going to be hard to find, and probably rather unsympathetic.
I read all these interesting facts and opinions about power conditioners etc. For me, the information Paul puts on the channel is always giving me direction and giving me more usefull information than any hifi shop or forum I've been.
So my conclusion is that I will connect my power amp with a quality power cable directly into the wall or into a 'direct' outlet on my W-Audio W4000. This is a power strip with for filtered and 4 nonfiltered/ditect outlets.
My question is: How should I connect my other equipment? That is a pre amp, dac, cd player, streaming bridge and a headphone amp... Should these, for the same reasons Paul explained, also better NOT be connected to the filtering outlets and shall I get rid of this power strip OR do the arguments for not using power conditioning only apply to (power) amps?? Best regards, René from The Netherlands
My concern is not sterility but dirty electricity. It seems very few power conditioners actually do much to clean up this noise floor monster. Using one of these meters might help to determine of your power conditioner is actually doing anything. th-cam.com/video/oUqSDfsbs7E/w-d-xo.html
The Tic Toc on the upper left side of the screen keeps time.
instead of using a Rube Goldberg Regenerator, why not just put a big lithium battery in the chain and regulate the power? It seems that would be far less expensive and less complicated. There are plenty of lithium generators on the market, why not make one for audiophiles. And then we could listen if the powers goes out too 😂
Because the output impedance of a battery is pretty high.
The new fad is super capacitors, lots of folks playing with those and claim good results. Very expensive for the demands of a power amp...
The other issue is noise from the regulator itself. It is very hard to make a low noise regulator for high current that does not add impedance (taking you right back to where you started). There is a good reason why better power amps use unregulated power supplies.
A regenerator is hardly a Rube Goldberg device.
Do you know what that means? Think of a regenerator as a reverse amplifier mechanically.
carlos oliveira a Rube Goldberg machine is an intentionally complex device to accomplish a simple mechanical task. Seems pretty relevant. You’re taking AC power converting it to DC then back to AC to achieve the magic sine wave. Granted I’m not a total nay sayer. My system always performs better at night. I just have to believe there’s a simpler more cost effective way to achieve the same result without having to pay $$$$ to get there.
@LD Blake can you prove your findings? You speak in matter of fact quite often.
Great video, thanks.
I’m still using a Quintet after, what, 15 years? I’m in Florida and we have many weather related surges. The Quintet has saved my ass many, many times.
Dire Straits You’ve obviously never lived in Florida, at least not the Tampa Bay Area. Lightning induced surges are brutal for electronics, grounded or not.
@Dire Straits I'm sorry, that's incorrect. I've helped many customers with insurance claims for blown gear due to extreme surges, lightening, etc..
@@ecyfoto I have lived in Florida, Jacksonville, Dania, Jensen Beach, The Savannas at Fort Pierce, Indian River Drive at Walton rd. Port St. Lucie, Lighting is brutal in Fla!
@@SJMessinwithBoats Amen!
Boring! No no I'm not referring to Paul's video. We audiophiles get bored eventually and need a change again in sound while we like to think that will improve the sound we already had.
You hit EXACTLY on it Salvador! I think the term "audiophile" should be replaced with a more medical term like "obsessive compulsive tech junkie," because that's what we are! We buy something, LOVE it, and get bored and want to tweak it or replace it in a matter of time. That, is the never-ending quest....not the pursuit of perfect sound. We will never, ever find it. In fact, I think this reply is important....I'm gonna copy it and paste it as a comment. We are tech junkies! ;D
@@Mixing_It_Up I couldn't agree more with you. We are two of a kind, OCDphiliacs!
WHY do you sell power conditioner then? Is yours any different?
One word x 3 profit profit profit
They don't really Hum.....🤣
Because they're overpriced for what you get until a local lightning strike fries your gear.
All of this is nonsense. The conditions of softening the sound or sterility are nothing more than too small of a conditioner. You are running your equipment in a brown out situ. Get a larger conditioner. Also equipment does a fine job of cleaning up the AC on it's own. When you hear the microwave through your speakers then use a different outlet for either and problem solved, but even when I try to create this situation and can see noise on my scope on the AC outlet I've never been able to find any noise at the speakers, with a scope or my ears. Noisy equipment has something wrong inside that a conditioner might help mask but will not fix. Too small of a power conditioner is almost always the issue with dynamic changes, plain and simple. Use your brains, ffs.
It's hardly "nonsense" and while a bigger more powerful conditioners is a good idea if one wants to go that route it none the less ignores the facts. Conditioners cannot fix the problems of power: regulation, dynamic impedance changes, fluctuating voltages, flat topped waveforms.
Why do people abandon their power conditioners? Because they do nothing except sit in the corner.
Another thing, if power cables made so much a difference in performance, then why wouldn’t manufacture include it In The design process... seems to me if I’m making a product that’s competing in the market, I’m going to use all the variables at my disposal. The cables aren’t expensive from a margin perspective. I can buy the same cables you resell for hundreds of dollars for less than a 100 bucks and get it from the same factory your using in china
I pretty sure the Sprout 100 comes with a cable.
Price and choice. People like you would not pay an extra $200 for an amp with a better, shielded, power cord. And at that price addition, some need a long cord, some a short cord etc. Your logic needs an upgrade.
@@bc527c bullseye
bvocal do you know how much these expensive actually cost? I work for a company that makes cabling for the wireless industry. The margin is insane and we sell hundreds of thousands. Short run products means you have to charge monumental prices. You can buy a shielded cable for $50 on Ali express that’s as good as anything ps audio buys (they don’t pull wire-they resell)
Don’t get me wrong. I work in electronics manufacturing and I understand the economics of bringing a product to market. The bill of materials is just a fraction of the cost. My point is if cables made a competitive difference, why don’t companies include an entry level cable to beat out the competition. Paul talks about synergy all the time. Why then would they be including a cheap $5 cable with their products. If I believed in the necessity of a component, I would include it in the price. Especially when you’re talking about amplifiers that are already a few thousand dollars.
As if power regenerators from PS Audio would cost less than power conditioners. Make a regenerator under $1000 and then talk about who is abandoning who, for several thousand pounds I better invest in good quality power amp than your regenerator
Why not both?
Just buy one cheap skate
Because they are pure snake oil and a waste of money.
I'm curious how many of you listen occasionally at " live concert levels" ???
Y'all know why I'm asking right 😎
I don't no way! Matter fact I most of the time only run full tilt on my Sony mdr-xb650bt head phones approx (106db) signal from a
Lenovo tab 10 tablet with stereo speakers and ATMOS EQ system that I can pull the xtra bass out and do a little boost in the highs where the spotify hi setting leaves the highs down just.a tad. But on Wav I just take a little bass off and leave the top flat, then for a kids concert at the 15th row back I just give a little more boost here or there and Bam ! All's good In crazy man cave zone, where ever I go!
💗
@@SJMessinwithBoats1 awesome !!
I have no clue why your asking this. My best guess you can hear a difference when the volume is all the way up and there's a soft passage? What is a "Meridian Stereo" in your wife's Rover consist of? And why wouldn't you have a system in your Macho Wagon?
@LD Blake hahaha, I get it, I'm real lucky, the guy directly behind me rocks hard around his pool with an outdoor system and we never complain, so I can go full on inside and he doesn't complain.. plus I'm a rock drummer and they deal well with that also, everybody's happy !!
@LD Blake
NICE !!!! and as soon as you said Steppenwolf I got chills, I came up on bands like them !! I was running them on a Fisher 500 with a set of AR3a's !!!
Get outta here with that.
If you live in a third world country, and your lights dim when you heat your leftovers in the microwave, while simultaneously running mono blocks, it may help your situation. For everyone else, buy something nice for your wife...or maybe that tonearm and cartridge you've been eyeing 🤑
poserwannabe is better to live in a third WORLD Country .You dont have S-o many Laws to put you in trouble
@@user-ep7el6vt7o Yea because we all know how the west hates audiophiles and ban loadspeakers and tube amps.
Show us some #s.
So power conditioners don't work 🤔?
And your product does?
Talk about some salesmanship 😂
How does one begin to take this guy seriously when his company sells $700 audio cables? Am I to believe he somehow sells snake oil AND also gives good advice and information on power conditioners?
This is too much snake oil talk. Noise on the power lines is completely measurable and very rarely a concern even for a high-end system. Spend your money on speakers and amp before even considering anything concerning over priced power cables or power conditioners. If your system cost 10s of 1000s or Dollars, you might want these things because it’s part of the overall appearance more than actual audio fidelity.
Ok, so try using an expensive Shunyata power cable, power conditioner or one of Paul's power plants. Tell me there is no impact on the sound.
Ian Brown There is no impact on the sound if there is no measurable impact on the secondary side voltage rails. You can easily measure ripple noise on your DC power rails in your pre amp and power amp. If you have well engineered amps, they will already include careful filtering of power line noise. Of course there are exceptions where your power lines have significant noise and your equipment is poorly designed to filter it out. Try to do an actual blind test and you will realize this topic is almost entirely snake oil.
@@ThinkingBetter lol, "if it can't be measured it doesn't exist". What a canard. You are empirically, factually incorrect.
Ian Brown BTW, if you have some old equipment with dried out power supply capacitors and realize these things can help, you should fix the equipment first. And even if the equipment is poorly designed, you can help on any noise problem by adding the right capacitors in the right spots inside the amp. A few dollars of capacitors will be a better cure than 100s of Dollars of external gear.
@@ThinkingBetter Just don't buy one friend!🍌🐵