Power conditioner/protection question

Good to go

congrats!

I found using a pair of Duets a better way to go. One for front end, and one for power. Past that a Halley for power is yet a better path.

Having one however is better than having nothing. trying out different PCs for it will really help too.

What it is placed upon does matter some as well. Check it out.

Blindjim wrote:

"congrats!

(...) What it is placed upon does matter some as well. Check it out."

Blindjim,

Do you mean that the Duet requires a special stand/platform? Or some dedicated legs?

I just had an interesting experiment with the PS Audio Quintet. My gear is plugged into a Monster surge-protector, all it does in addition conditioning-wise is remove the RF noise. I unplugged everything from it and plugged it all into the PS Audio Quintet. I tried CD's first, and found that there was a slight improvement, bass was better in particular, and there was more clarity of articulation. However, when I tried LP's, the effect of the conditioner was extremely detrimental. It was as if the soul had been sucked right out of the music - the soundstage shrunk, dynamics were compressed, and instrumental timbres were flattened and much thinner. Also, even on recordings with fantastic soundstaging, just about all of the ambient noise of the original performance space completely disappeared.

I had previously read here and on that other forum that power conditioners have a much more beneficial effect on digital, and even more so for video than audio at that. I certainly found this to be true, as I said the effect on analog was very detrimental. I am still considering purchasing a Duet just to plug my new plasma TV into, along with the satellite HD box, my DVD player, and perhaps my CD player. I figure this way at least the digital will be separated from the analog. What do people think of that idea? One thing is certain - I will never consider using a power conditioner for analog again, I'll just stick with the Monster surge protector for that, as in my area we have alot of thunderstorms, so surge protection is a must, and does not have a detrimental effect on the system.

I think it's a YMMV thing. I tried plugging in both my tubed pre and SS amp straight into the wall (a PS Power Port outlet) and it sounded slightly less dynamic then plugging both units into the Quintet.