Power conditioning: how did you choose the best approach for your system?

[FredM]

I wonder, please assent a generic question about power conditioning, as national power grid setup/specs/quality are different:

- is the contribution of a power conditioner also different?

- should choices about power conditioning vary per country?

[Summit]

19 minutes ago, FredM said:

I wonder, please assent a generic question about power conditioning, as national power grid setup/specs/quality are different:

- is the contribution of a power conditioner also different?

- should choices about power conditioning vary per country?

 

Different power conditioning are made with different tech and methods to minimize noise on the mains. Many also has some kind of overvoltage protection. I don’t think it’s related to different countries, but the noise profile can vary from household to household depending on type of polluters. The main aim is EMI RFI filtering, but we also have DC offset which can degrade SQ.

[PeterSt]

7 hours ago, semente said:

but on how certain types of music may or may not be more or less effective when used to evaluate "neutrality".

 

I most certainly agree with that (classical being a good one). But we were not talking about neutrality in the post you quoted from. 

 

I too went a bit off track by mentioning neutrality out of the blue, but that reacted to Kimo. 

 

That I use electronic music (of the very specific kind) to "create" neutrality, remains as a fact. 

[Ralf11]

1 hour ago, McNulty said:

After the solid-state / SET debate, the discussion regarding electronic music is also getting a bit off-topic IMHO. So please open a new thread if you would like to further discuss on music types to evaluate HiFi.

 

or use the existing thread on that topic!

[Ralf11]

1 hour ago, FredM said:

I wonder, please assent a generic question about power conditioning, as national power grid setup/specs/quality are different:

- is the contribution of a power conditioner also different?

- should choices about power conditioning vary per country?

 

Good Question - it can vary by country (e.g. Nigeria vs. England) or by production source (a PV system can put a lot of noise on the line due to the DC to AC conversion).

 

Noise can also vary if sources are nearby.  I've posted before about this and about noise tests of my own power.  For example, an R-1 zone likely has lower noise than an apt. building.  A ham radio operator, some factories, maybe a medical care facility could all put noise on the line... BUT will it get to you?  Noise attenuates with distance, so if you are blocks away, and on a different distribution transformer (the big cans on the a pole near your house that sometimes explode) there should be little effect.

 

For many people (and maybe most), it is a decent supposition that noise sources in your own home are the real issues (and easier to do something about).  Your refrigerator, A/C, heat pump, LED or Fl lights are all culprits.

 

A dedicated line makes a lot of sense when building or doing an extensive remodel.  Less sense if you just want to tear out things and put one in otherwise.

 

Moving likely noise sources to outlets that are fed from a different column on your panel than the HiFi system costs nothing (may not work in every country).  Or just move them to any different line.

 

As always, "when you measure... you know something" (Wm. Thompson)

 

[PeterSt]

10 hours ago, Ralf11 said:

Good Question

 

Is that you, Ralf? Wow

[PeterSt]

I am reluctant to claim that countries would matter. This, despite the topology varies wildly (5 different in the UK alone) and that thus would influence DC (offset) performance of our own DAC. But that is not noise... 

 

A customer who also measures (with more HF gear) measured crazy noise behind the USB interface which should not be there. After a long search he found a huge transmitter antenna at 11km away the culprit. 

I forgot what was transmitted over the antenna. Probably related to something with Thunderbird 5 (the customer is in England all right). 

[Ralf11]

I picked a country with likely bad, bad power and one with generally good power - there are ~~ 600 countries so we'd expect some variation.

 

Any adv. country should have pretty good power in general, with noise issues arising from your own house or some nut next door.

 

OTOH, The Dutch attempt to build a very powerful defense got over-powered by the US...

[PeterSt]

[fas42]

As someone who has been working with this approach for 35 years, getting the gear you are currently using to work as well as it possibly can is always the solution for the most satisfying playback for all the recordings you happen to have. Power conditioning is part of that solution - it's guaranteed to never be all of the solution - jumping all over the place, looking for magic answers to pop up if you just happen to push some right buttons, is a mighty inefficient method for achieving the best results - methodical stepping through every area, trying things out, and then going in yet another circuit of looking at each factor, trying to refine it a bit more than it was previously, is the surefire way of evolving SQ in the right direction.

 

IOW, just because some power conditioning has "helped matters" don't assume that what you've achieved is as good as it gets - always keep in the back of your mind that it could be improved, with more knowledge, and experimentation.That mindset is a key factor in making all recordings 'work' - I have never been disappointed in attempting to get "more" from some album, by redoubling my efforts.