Mains Conditioning Systems - Discuss.

[Stu @ M Developments]

i Guys,
have had a good look around and cant find anything specifically discussing peoples personal experiences with mains conditioning systems.

I currently have a cheap and cheerful Takima mains filter fitted, and the general consensus seems to be that this will do more damage than good to the sound.

So, rooting around and discussing such things in person with Dave at MCRU has got me looking at solutions such as the Isotek solus and Aquarious.

Would love to hear peoples personal experience with such equipment before I go out and spend yet another large wad of money on such a controversial device.

[RichB]

I use the tacima with my amp, dac, tv, dvd and stb. The general consensus seems to be that they are fine for everything except amps which should go straight into the wall. Unfortunately this isnt possible for me as I only have 1 socket which i run the tacima from

When i first put it in i thought I could distinguish a tighter better bass but pretty much forgot about it after that. For the money they cost I'm happy that it provides some form of surge protection, seems solidly made and is a more 'hifi' solution than a cheap multi plug type thing. Not sure if I'd justify spending more money on mains conditioning for my gear, diminishing returns i think for my system, when i could probably acquire more components or great quality original recordings or even go on a holiday given the price of some gear.

I'm toying with the idea of trying some better mains cables for my amp and dac but couldnt really justify spending more than 50quid for one.

[MikeMusic]

i Guys,
have had a good look around and cant find anything specifically discussing peoples personal experiences with mains conditioning systems.

I currently have a cheap and cheerful Takima mains filter fitted, and the general consensus seems to be that this will do more damage than good to the sound.

So, rooting around and discussing such things in person with Dave at MCRU has got me looking at solutions such as the Isotek solus and Aquarious.

Would love to hear peoples personal experience with such equipment before I go out and spend yet another large wad of money on such a controversial device.

I found Russ Andrews silencers and purifiers worked ok.
Currently run a PS Audio PPP which does make a nice difference
Can you plug all of your kit direct into unswitched sockets ?
If not that makes a great difference for not a lot of dough
Then there's special sockets that can also help, priced accordingly.
Don't know the Solus or the Aquarious

[Beobloke]

I use an Advanced Electronics ASR250 mains regenerator to power my amplifier and turntable - I tried it in Central London and it made very little difference. Took it home to the depths of the Hampshire countryside and the differences were quite surprising.

Having tried several other filters and conditioners, I would say go for a unit that actually regenerates the mains signal rather than just faffing about with it a bit.

Also, don't worry about plugging your sources into such a unit unless it has lots of sockets that you feel obliged to use - it's the amplifier that will benefit the most from being powered by it, plus your turntable if it happens to have a synchronous AC motor.

[MartinT]

it's the amplifier that will benefit the most from being powered by it

I couldn't agree more, my power amplifier responds to regenerated power much better than the source components.

Much more on regenerators here.

[Effem]

The Belkin range of mains conditioners work very well and won't break the bank.

The PF40 has plenty of sockets on the rear so only one wall socket is needed, plus it's one of the few units I have tried that doesn't compress the sound so the amplifier can be connected through it.

Sensible money too for a PF40 on ebay

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Belkin-Pur...a#ht_914wt_952

[Ali Tait]

Yes agreed, they work very well for the money.

[synsei]

I'm very happy with the performance of the Belkin PF30 I bought from Dave Brooks, it was an excellent investment

[John]

Three ways to go

1) Mains condictioners Tend to be good for Dacs Cd Players etc but generally do not work well with amplifiers
2) Balanced Mains Make sure you have plenty of headroom of power I use a 3KVA transformer works really well
3) Reginarted mains A bit more costly Yet again plenty of headroom is good advice

I would try and get a 21 day sale or return if going down option 2 or 3
In some homes they make a massive difference in other homes they seem to make little difference This could be down to a number of factors in my case my house is built in the 30s and has a Industrial Estate near by

[synsei]

The issue for me is that I only have a single socket available to power my system. I bought a good quality un-fused 2 way adapter a while back and the PF30 is plugged into one outlet and the Mini-T is plugged in t'other. The Techie, DR5, Arcam CDP, Sony MD and Caiman are all plugged into the PF30. Sometime soon I intend to upgrade the single mains socket to a good quality, unswitched double which I hope will offer up some improvement in SQ