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Power Conditioners: Audioquest Niagara 5000 or Shunyata Denali 6000S

I’ve been trying to decide which of these two power conditioners might make a better purchase. Do any of you own either, have chosen one over the other, or better yet, gotten to A/B them? I’ve found some, but not a lot, of information online comparing the two. So I thought I’d ask if any of you might know something more.

They both come in at $4000 retail which is my budgetary limit. The Niagara is active, the Denali passive. Some threads compare the Denal a little less favorably to the twice as expensive Audioquest Niagara 7000, for what that’s worth. I heard that the Audioquest Niagara 5000 may hum or buzz under some cirumstances. Anybody have that issue? I’ll probably never get a chance to demo them out here in the hinterlands so I’m hanging on your every word before I drop another wad of cash on one or the other.

There is also an Audio Magic conditioner at the same $4000 price point, but I didn’t quite understand it’s function in comparison to the other two. I’ll have to reread that product description.Someone else recommended a Richard Gray model that confusingly turned out to be a giant-sized surge protector.

Anyway I’d appreciate if any of you have any input on this somewhat obscure topic of power conditioners. I’m looking at one of these two power conditioners as opposed to a regenerator, or pure isolation transformer, or other type of line conditioner. If it’s of any import my equipment is a VPI Classic 2 SE turntable with an Ortofon 2M Black moving magnet cartridge, a Marantz SA8005 CD player, a Luxman 507uX Mark II integrated amp, and Magico A3 speakers all to be on a dedicated line and plugged into the conditioner. I am not interested in purchasing used.

Thanks for any input or advice. I hope someone out there knows something about these two.

Mike
skyscraper
lp2cd
64 posts
 
Allow me to third the recommendation of Equi=Tech *balanced* power conditioners. https://www.equitech.com/ They are the original, and still the best. Equi=Tech is mostly focused on the professional/studio market and does not promote itself or cater to the consumer market, so their products can be a bit challenging, and pricey, to obtain. Other *balanced* conditioners are fine, I use a Furman IT Reference 20i power conditioner very successfully with my "living room system," but I have Equi=Tech for my studio. I can’t point to any real differences.

The KEY aspect of any high-end power conditioning for any audio system is that the output AC voltage should be *balanced* between the two conductor legs, using a huge and heavy toroidal transformer. This will be naturally noise cancelling as well as surge protecting, and will result in a very noticeable improvement in your system's sound. Your wall outlet power is unbalanced, with a "hot" (black) and a "neutral" (white) leg. Fine, and easier and safer, for most purposes, but not for audio/video. I find it odd that most high-end power conditioners don’t well explain this and are coy about whether or not their output is balanced. One often has to read between the lines in their promotional literature. So happy hunting. Beyond balancing the power with plenty of reserve, the differences between the various high-end conditioners are minimal.


skyscraper OP
219 posts
 
lp2cd, thanks for the explanation I have read up on the Furman IT Reference 20i. and will have to revisit the Equitech. I started researching the Equitech the another night but never finished. How much noise or humming does the transformer produce in either of your power conditioners? Noise is the problem I’ve been running up against with the isolation transformer type power conditioners. If I could find a quiet one I’d be much more inclined to go that route.

Mike
twoleftears's avatar
twoleftears
1,457 posts
 
I too was put off by not infrequent reports of transformer hum in several models, including Equitech and Torus, who are another industry staple.  I was able to try out (with full return privileges) a Furman IT Ref 15, and it was completely quiet, but didn't do anything noticeable for my sound.  The problem is that until you install product X in *your* room with *your" mains electrical supply, you can't 100% forecast what it will do, or not do.
lp2cd
64 posts
 
Audiogon just trashed my lengthy reply, and I'm not redoing it. Sorry. In short, both units are completely silent both in operation and the effect on the system. VERY worth it.
inna
5,245 posts
 
Since everyone is making recommendations I will too.
To begin with, I would get $130 Furman surge protector/ kind of conditioner and listen for a few months while trying to figure out what is not quite right if anything. Then tell us what happened and we would try to advise. There is absolutely no need to begin with fancy and very expensive units, whatever they are.
Mike, I might just have saved you thousands of dollars. On the other hand, saving too much on speaker cables would be a wrong thing to do. Cables for your set up should be both high resolution and slightly on the warm side of neutral, to be schematic. That's not easy to accomplish and should cost. Power cord for the amp is another matter but again - not $200 piece of junk.
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