Power Strip vs. Line Conditioner

The previous posts said it well. If you need conditioning--it almost always helps things--go that route. The only area you need to be careful with conditioning is on power amps, even ones that are made for high current I have found frequently degrade the signal. I too prefer to plug power amps directly into the socket (I've replaced all the sockets with Hubbel sockets). If you don't really need the conditioning you might try one of the Monster power strips--they have a few that have a little filtration and good quality plugs. I use one on a smaller system in the house and am pleased. You can probably pick one of them up used for around $100.

A "power strip" is a glorified extension cord and in most cases junk IMHO. A very good conditioner will help considerably if your power is dirty, which is most of us. I use a Reference grade Vansevers conditioner. I has a plug-in made for amps, which sounds better than the wall in my system. Vansevers also makes a amp specific conditioner designed not to limit current (It called "The Unlimiter").
There are also products like those make by PS Audio that "regenerate" the AC power comming into your house into new fresh AC power.

There are also products like the Blue Circle BC-86 Noise Hound Power Pillow that has not plugs itself; and just plugs into a open outlet on your wall or power strip; and cleans the power for the whole circuit. I do not know how it works, but I have demo'd one and it does work.

At the risk of repeating, the above advise has been dead on in my experience. If I had a place where I could assure the quality of the power right out of the socket, that would be the way to go. However, living in a New York appartment, where the power is significantly less than stellar, I have found a power conditioner to be a good improvement for as many things as I can plug into it (I am even running a power strip off of the conditioner, and have found that preferable than running it straight out of the wall). It's not uncommon for the lights to flicker from time to time, but with a decent conditoner that gets evened out and not passed along to the equipment. True, its a bandaid where a lack of injury would be preferable--but where the injury is unavoidable it makes for a good addition.

I have a dedicated 20 amp outlet with a 14 outlet Vans Evers plugged into it. Everything is plugged into the Vans Evers, including the amp (Hafler 9505 DIABLO), powered woofer and the Acoustat interfaces. This amp sounds better this way, so one needs to experiment. Don