Hey Guys,

Spent the day listening to some high end audio equipment and a few things were brought up when talking about putting together a decent system, like adding a power conditioner and power protection. Are these components necessary and if so, which products do you recommend?

Also, I listened to speakers with and without an amp today. Wow, what a difference, not just louder but deeper and fuller. So i've got to add a decent amp now. lol! Looking forward to hooking up the old M50s to an amp to hear the difference. Probably going with ADA1000 5 channel.

Power conditioners which provide protection are an iffy proposition. Many power conditioners detract from sound quality. I auditioned several and ended up with an Isotek Evo3 Aquarius. I think it actually improved the sound quality compared to plugging directly into the 15 amp wall outlet. I also got an Isotek Polaris strip.

Don't know why that would be, but my ears told me yes.

Cost benefit ratio? Dunno, but I did it.

I have whole house Surge protection in addition to power strip surge protection at my devices. I never understood the value of a power conditioner other then to generate a sale. Any decent audio device should have enough filtering to reject any line noise.

The only reason I use one (a commercial Sine wave UPS with full battery generated output) is because power in my area is very poor. Brown outs and spikes are very common. Very hard on capacitors.

I cannot afford to replace my gear often, so protecting it with pure 120v clean power and keeping it cool and ventillated is important for longevity.

There are far greater factors to worry about than power conditioning when sound quality is the goal. A power conditioner may or may not help, its debatable, but chances are there are much larger gains to be made elsewhere first. As an electrician, I can see how a power conditioner may be warranted if you are near noise generating industrial or VFD controlled loads on the grid. Plants, mines, oilfield etc. Again, from a gear protection point of view.

well, i guess my main concern, being in sunny Florida, is lightening, does a conditioner offer any protection? I've learned that surge protectors, even those with battery backups, do not, as i've lost a few and the equipment they were attached too on several different occasions.

I would go whole house surge protector if lightning is the issue.

Lighting can enter in many ways so surge protecting your cable Line and telephone line (if you still have one) is also important. The whole house unit is designed to melt down ... I’d still be surprised if it could take a full strike. I don’t think any of these solutions are guaranteed to protect you from a direct hit ... just too much energy to dissipate. We do our best to minimize the damage.

P.S. I’m sure it can be done but I’m not sure what it would take to get you to 100%

Unplug power conditioner from wall outlet!

stick it all in a Faraday cage, unplug all ethernet connections, antennas, and other wiring running outside of the cage, and run it off of battery. 100% safe!

That should even help in the event North Korea detonates an EMP.

Yes, No worries on EMPs... But a direct nuke hit ... well, I guess before we propose to put the cage in a very deep bunker we might consider that an insurance policy might be the best solution after the surge protectors.

If you were unlucky enough for a direct hit sadly there is no current tech that can handle such extremes. Aside from unplugging from the wall. As most insurance would also consider that to be an act of God and sadly not covered.

Have you guys seen Danny Richie's{GR Research} you tube vids.

He has a personal setup with everything coming from DC Battery power. Supposed to be unreal. Clean detailed pure music. According to some other reviewers that have heard it. Though he hasn't released so many of the details on you tube. Probably all info of the making of the power supply on his Audio Circle forums.

There are brands of UPS that we use for servers that also employ similar designs. I can tell you that spreadsheets are clean and detailed, and email with a wide presence in the organization because of these magical devices!

As far as I'm aware his set up is a little different from a typical UPS. As it uses multiple batteries for the supply, Car type I think.

Is "act of god" defined? I can apply that to anything "it was gods will"

In any case ... I'm sure they will cover anything for a price ...

If anyone is interested there is a guy on youtube that covers aspects of amplifier and power supply design in a practical way with schematics and testing. I have really learned a lot there on this stuff.

JohnAudioTech

Here is a good one
https://youtu.be/Q2uiENcHXY0

Consider the vast majority of protectors have a let-through (clamping) voltage of 600V. This means your equipment will see 600V in the event of a transient provided the protector works as it ought to. Most 120VAC equipment is designed to withstand 330V per UL unless otherwise specified.

Act of god {Flooding, Lightning, Forest fires} I know some people our local insurance have told Sorry Not Covered, from such types of events. If you have the right people a very effective excuse.

John Audio Tech is great. So much info from him. I love those old antique radios he does. Mr Carlson's lab is another really detailed show. They really take the time to explain everything and share their past mistakes willingly. xraytonyb is another really good repair guy too.

I like those guys too! Xraytonyb rebuilt a mitsubishi amp and preamp I own that was my dads. I think I will rebuilt it in the future and his 2 part vids on it will be super helpful!

Very very generous when people like those share their knowledge. Dlab electronics is another good one. He’s all about tube radio gear and guitar amps.

Johnaudiotech is awesome as a way to help me fall asleep when I’m restless thinking about work. Bad sleeper as I get older.