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
Twoleft ears, yes the proof is in the pudding. Whatever I get it may or may not work or buzz, or do my laundry for me. I’ll hane to find out the old fashioned way and return the item if need be. I know they’ll stick me with the return shipping so I’ll have to make a good a choice as I can right out of the gate.

Lp2cd, sorry your post disappeared. I would have liked to have read it. I’ve had a few of mine go up in smoke too. A number of times Audiogon said my posts had not taken, but there they were when I checked. You never know. But you say both the Audioquest and Shunyata are are silent, so that’s encouraging. I’ve had two reports of the Audioquest Niagara 5000 buzzing, but none of the Shunyata making any noise, which is swaying me in that direction, I’ve a couple more models to research more now though. Thanks anyway for the short version.

Inna, nothing to do with this post, but I am going to get the Audioquest Rockets 88’s speaker cables that Magico recommended. I tied my brain in a knot trying to figure cabling out, and finally figured second guessing Magico on a subject I did not fully comprehend after hours and hours of studying, was a mistake.

I am going to approximate wiring by connecting my 20amp dedicated circuit’s 12awg Romex with a hospital grade 20amp C19 plug (I think that’s the correct number) to plug directly into the power conditioner. The power cord that came with amp will have to do until I get some other non-audio projects completed. Hopefully the power conditioner will clean up the signal so much, fancy power cords from it to the amp, cd player or turntable will be unnecessary. Only the interconnect from the CD player to the amp remains unaccounted for at present.

I am going to get a $4000 or thereabouts power conditioner, so I feel I’ve given my system a good shot at functioning up to it’s capacity. Also I want to feel that I have not cheaped out, which inevitably costs you more in the end. Once I get all my other non-audio projects completed, I may revisit my stereo system for tweaks and a turntable balanced supply device. Thanks again for your help, consideration and ideas.I actually have followed some, and you are responsible for my getting the Luxman amp. If you ever come over you can autograph it for me.

Mike
Mike , thank you. But I will only share responsibility for Luxman, not cables and power conditioners. One final thought. It's a guess of mine not knowledge. I believe, most of Magico users have digital source as the only or main source, though there are members here with Magico who have both analog and digital sources. Magico people know it and gear the sound to the liking of that crowd. Acceptable set-up for digital may not be best for analog. This includes cables and cords. Anyway, you'll find out.
Oh yeah, forgot to mention it. Since you are going to buy fancy conditioner you will definitely need fancy power cord between it and wall outlet. $1200 Shunyata Alpha NR ? Conditioners are not substitutes for power cords, they work together.
Inna I demoed the Magico's with vinyl records only, so I'm fairly confident that analog should be okay.  Perhaps the cd player will work even better.

I left out a word in my post above. I am going to use a dedicated Romex line straight to the power conditioner from the service panel, so there will be no power cord to it. It's almost like hard wiring, except I'll put a C19 12AWG 20 amp hospital grade plug on the end of the Romex. We'll see how that works.
I honestly don't understand in what way a power cord could improve the function of a power conditioner. I'm not saying it doesn't, I just don't understand how it might. I do understand how an inferior cord, or zip cord, could degrade the signal from the wall outlet to the power conditioner, but I'm eliminating that cord completely by running the 12AWG Romex straight to the power conditioner, so there should be no signal degradation other than what the hospital grade plug might provide.

Somewhere along the line I'll try an experiment and insert a audiophile quality cord between the Romex and the conditioner and see if there is any improvement, or change, in the sound of the system.  And don't worry, I always accept responsibility for whatever decisions I make. I was only trying to throw you a compliment for taking the time to reply to my posts and helping me figure things out.

Mike


skyscraper
I am going to use a dedicated Romex line straight to the power conditioner from the service panel, so there will be no power cord to it. It's almost like hard wiring, except I'll put a C19 12AWG 20 amp hospital grade plug on the end of the Romex.
You might want to check with NEC and your local electrical code. What you describe doesn't sound compliant because Romex isn't intended for that use.