Power Condition

read-alot

Another opinion on Power Conditioning.

My conditioner is on the big brown truck so I will have my own opinion by this weekend.

http://www.naimusa.com/html/faq_articles/faq_2.html

"You absolutely do not need one--every power conditioner we know of reduces musical performance dramatically" ---quote from the Naim article--

drew spelts

I don't buy it. My power conditioner is also on the big brown truck and should be here by wensday I believe. I have talked to some prety high end retailor guys about the power conditioners and they are very adimet about Furman's line. Now I know they sell them and that might be why they push them but I asked the guy who installs the $80,000 systems and he says that it would be foolish not to use a Furman because..... In a huge power grid F**kup in a new residential area where they had just got done installing a $40,000 theater the grid peaked at 100's of volts and basicaly all the residents of that area had huge insurance claims for all their apliances and computers but these people came back to his store and told him their story and how greatful they were that their investment was saved by a $2000 piece of equipment. That was testimony enough for me. He also said that the Furmans were the only conditioners that they had ever heard that actually helped with the sound quality. One last coment he made was that you do not have to get the conditioner model that has reserve capacitor banks inside because in 99% of the cases you would not be able to tell nor would you need the reserve. This store is called DTX which stands for Digital Theater Xperts. They have one of the small handfull of completely all digital Home Theaters in there store and it is prety damn amazing. They use a $15,000 Meridian projector and an $8,000 Meridian DVD player $3000 screen just to project on so that it is 100% acoustically transparent. The speakers are digital all the way until the 6 inches of wire after the internal amps that atach to the speakers. They use the $10,000 velodyne sub. It's prety nuts. The best part is that whenever they order something really specail in for a client they can set it up and test it out for a week in their theater's I bet it helps with break in on the subs tremendously. They even get companies that come through and have them demo their FINEST equipment to their clientel and thats extra fun to have them show you that stuff. I would have never dreamed that a place like that could exist in the middle of Nebraska. All this is just my 2 cents and I believe that Naim would change their tune if they produced a line of conditioners.

Early B.

read-alot wrote:

"You absolutely do not need one--every power conditioner we know of reduces musical performance dramatically" ---quote from the Naim article--

That statement is ridiculous for four reasons:

1) it is totally false
2) like any other electronic appliance, audio gear is susceptible to voltage spikes, etc., so to say "you absolutely do not need one" is irresponsible.
3) I've used several power conditioners, and the only one that slightly (not dramatically) reduced musical performance was a very cheap one that wasn't designed for audio. If that were true, many of us heavy into hi-fi wouldn't use them.
4) They are lying to promote their own products! I would never buy from them based on principle.

read-alot

Hey Drew Im with you, especially after I plugged the Mitsubishi Hi Def in.
I haven't had time to plug the amp the B&K and the Apollo yet.
Do you think power conditioners like all electronic equipment have to break in?
Looking at the improvment in standard definition the color is what jumps out it is almost to where the Hi Definition was before the conditioning. I just can't believe what I am seeing.

read-alot

Early B. wrote:

That statement is ridiculous for four reasons:

1) it is totally false
2) like any other electronic appliance, audio gear is susceptible to voltage spikes, etc., so to say "you absolutely do not need one" is irresponsible.
3) I've used several power conditioners, and the only one that slightly (not dramatically) reduced musical performance was a very cheap one that wasn't designed for audio. If that were true, many of us heavy into hi-fi wouldn't use them.
4) They are lying to promote their own products! I would never buy from them based on principle.

Early don't shoot the messenger but Anthem makes the same statment as Naim in the owners manual that I have for their pre-amp.

venomclan

Hi Guys,
I think that Naim is shooting themselves in the foot to promote thier own brand. So far with my PF60, the colors on my non-hd CRT are much better using my PS2 no less. I have not tried movies or music yet but hopefully this weekend. If it can handle my Krell Kav250a without resistance, it can handle anything.

I like Furman products. They are more geared towards the pro music industry. If the PF60 did not come along, I would probably get a Furman. I think a dedicated line is the best all around. I plan to get a dedicated and use it with the pf60.
Venom

sickicw

power conditioners usually fall into one or more of a few categories...

- A tool that cleans the bad harmonics of the power
- A tool that regulates the voltage to 120V
- A tool that reconstructs the sin wave to 60Hz
- A tool that changes the sin wave to other frequencies
- A tool that helps with surge suppression
- A tool that lowers the impedance of the output and stores current
- A tool that isolates the power from other sources
- A tool that produces balanced power

In my opinion, the one that makes the biggest difference in audio performance is lowing the impedance of the output compared to the wall. This will let the amp draw more current and sound more dynamic. This is usually accomplished with a very large transformer based conditioner often advertised as balanced power.

Also cleaning the power and regulating it to 120V seems to do wonders for the TV.

Just determine what your goal is and then buy a conditioner based on that.

You can find out what different power conditioners do from the following link…

http://www.psaudio.com/articles/power_comparisons.asp

jm1

sickicw wrote:

In my opinion, the one that makes the biggest difference in audio performance is lowing the impedance of the output compared to the wall. This will let the amp draw more current and sound more dynamic. This is usually accomplished with a very large transformer based conditioner often advertised as balanced power.

Bingo; which prize would you like. This has been the best option I tried so far. If you can afford the price of admission, you will not be dissappointed.

drew spelts

read-alot wrote:

Hey Drew Im with you, especially after I plugged the Mitsubishi Hi Def in.
I haven't had time to plug the amp the B&K and the Apollo yet.
Do you think power conditioners like all electronic equipment have to break in?

I believe that they do not "Have to break in" However if you research how magnets you start to understand how domains in the metal can be aligned and that in my opinion is the key if there is one to break in. I bet it improves the sound and picture by 1-2% but probably not more than that but I believe that it is possible. I am not sure if the amps turn AC into DC but if that is what is happening then the domains are most likely lining up after a period of time and allowing the electrons to to be shared from molecule to molecule a little easier. So in short yes if its DC no not really if its AC in my opinion.