Power Conditioner Advice please...

I'm late to the discussion, but I want to share my experience with installing an isolation transformer into my system.  I have tube system consisting of class A mono blocks, phono preamp and line stage.  Together all components draw about 5 amps from the wall.  I am on a 15 amp dedicated circuit and have never had an issue of limited power or breaking the circuit breaker.  I have a Furman P-2400 IT which is a 20 amp device, so I think it's sized properly for my system.

Like you, I live in a city with all kinds of noise, electrical, radio frequency, and environmental noise (traffic, sirens, subways, etc).

The affect is pure music.  More of everything good, the noise floor is gone in the music.  I am now hearing more detail, harmonic textures all the way down in the lowest bass registers.  And dynamics, wow, I'm hearing dynamics like I have not heard before in my system.

I think there is a distinction between a power conditioner and an isolation transformer.  I can say with very positive results in my system, the isolation transformer will not have any negative downsides, only positive benefits to a very large degree depending on the resolution of your system.

First of all, I need to explain that that, at the same time as buying the Dectet, I also bought some after market power cables. So what follows is actually a review of the Dectet with new power cables, not my system as before.

A review of the Dectet with better power cables actually makes more sense because it’s now more revealing of any changes. PS Audio also recommends using an after-market PC with the Dectet, to get best results.

I have taken two weeks to fully burn (over 200 hours) in the new PC's and the Dectet. I gave the process lots of time to give it the best chance of success and to be sure of any differences I could pick up, with and without the Dectet in play.    

At the risk of high jacking my own thread, the change with the new PC’s (no Dectet) was overwhelming. I can’t believe I had been sceptical for so long. Easily one of the biggest improvements to SQ I have experienced. I now understand what a black background means. It’s a very strange concept to find you can’t hear the noise when it’s there, but you certainly know about it once it’s gone.

The PC’s  I bought were £40 each, OCC copper, de-oxit treated, gold plated, twisted and dual shielded with an AudioQuest IEC. I figured these were some pretty good specs for the price and so bought four of them. The company is called W&M Audio.    

Getting back on topic, my system sometimes sounded flat during the day, it was not engaging and the theory to be tested was whether electrical noise in the mains was the issue and if the Dectet could remove it.

Ambient back ground noise was also a suggestion and so I did check the background noise and compared during the day and night. It was the same at an average of 30db for both.

So I plugged in the Dectet and initially I heard no difference. The sound then changed quite a bit over the next week (which may have also been the PC’s burning in some more) and so I just kept it playing 24 hours a day until everything settle down and the sound stabilised.

What I was left with was really disappointing. The sub-bass became very strong and the upper bass disappeared. The highs were dry and everything just sounded wrong. It was either the new (cheap!) PC cables or the Dectet so I took it out of the chain and plugged everything back directly into the wall. It sounded great. Everything just came back to how it should be and now the system is much more consistent and, whilst the sound still varies, it’s much less and more enjoyable, regardless of the time of day or night.

So it would seem that some of the issues I was having with a drop in SQ during the day were due to noise getting into the system via the cheap power cords.

My experience with the Dectet was not good but there are plenty of other reviews out there which find the opposite. I have returned the Dectet to the retailer and who have kindly offered to refund. No downside here as far as I am concerned and a worthwhile process to undertake.

The conclusion here has to be, for anyone thinking of buying a power conditioner, make sure you upgrade your PC’s first.      

I have used PS, but go "commando" for my taste. It takes me awhile to adjust to the new sound, but once the warts are revealed, I simply can not tolerate them. Try it, but have a return option if it doesn’t please your system. Power cords do make a difference in my system..  I made my own with the very top Furutech ends and Accrolink cable.... very easy to do....very pleased     Dead quiet.

This is an excellent conclusion - power cords first. Exactly.

soma70,
I'm not an "expert", nor a shill; in fact I was a little skeptical about power conditioning as a concept. However, like you, and I assume many others, I noticed a marked improvement in sound in the wee hours, so I tried a power conditioner expecting very little gain in sound quality. I bought the Blue Circle PLC FX2 X0e because it seemed to offer the most bang for the buck. I was very pleasantly surprised! It afforded a clarity to the sound of music, that was not at all subtle. I suspect there are many more learned members whose experience  will advocate for some other device, and that's fine. This is why there are many options. I have not tried any other power conditioning devices; I can only tell you that that this one is enhancing my listening experience.