Plugging your power amps into a bog standard power strip

[Dynamics]

I just took my cyrus mono x200 signature power amps out of my crappy tacima £35 power bar and plugged them into a £10 bog standard power bar. Wanted to see what would happen.

I'm hearing more decent detail and bass punch and I suspect the choke on the Tacima, or whatever it is - that donut shaped thing, is really affecting the power amps to draw best current off the mains.

Has anyone tried doing this in a good set up. Just reverting to bog standard power strips for power amps.

God I need a decent mains conditioner with common mode filtering etc I think.......

[brian2957]

I use this Simon http://www.custom-hifi-cables.co.uk/home/mains-filters-surge-protection/black-box-super-conditioner

Have a word with Sean , he's very helpful .

[Macca]

I always run the power amp straight into the wall socket. IME sticking any socket board in between the power amp and the wall socket degrades performance noticeably.

[struth]

My big belkin box has a power amp socket on it which is high current, so always used that

[Macca]

I have a Belkin with a socket labelled 'amplifier' but I don't trust it to be doing anything different. You've got a double wall socket, power amp into one, power strip in the other and run all the stuff that doesn't mind off that. I've tried conditioners and balanced mains and they all made the sound worse so I figure there is nothing wrong with my leccy.

I have plugged the power amp into the mains block by accident a few times. Every time I could tell something was up almost straight away so that's as good as a blind test in my book. I don't listen at background level though, suppose you might not notice it as much if you listen at low levels.

[struth]

yeah mine is marked high current amp I think. Good disto box. the cable on it is rediculously thick

[Simon_LDT]

Definitely run your power amps directly into a wall socket. I ran my monos through a surge protector/filter for well over a year and when I had been given advice to run directly from the wall I heard a noticable difference, mainly in the dynamic shifts and overall slam (fatter kick drums being a big giveaway).

[farflungstar]

Mine are hard wired to their own spur.

[Paul-H]

I always suspect these are the sort of item designed for a particular type of owner, you know they type, the one who claims they can hear a difference between two sets of £1,000 interconnects.

If your equipment is designed to work on standard mains then unless there is something wrong with your mains supply these things are pointless.

But no one especially those Audiophools that spend a fortune on them will admit to that will they

And still no one after all these years sees why Audiophiles are the but of so many jokes. Even when the tweeter video posted the other day and no one guessed it was poking fun at them even when it showed the group in the room moving an inch left or right forward or backwards trying to find the sweet spot and still no one could see the film maker was taking the pee.

[Haselsh1]

I used a Tacima filtered whatnot for about four years and when I eventually removed it the difference without it was amazing. Since then (2009) I have plugged my pre and power straight into a wall socket. It may not really matter but I am OK with things the way they are in my system

[Spectral Morn]

I always run the power amp straight into the wall socket. IME sticking any socket board in between the power amp and the wall socket degrades performance noticeably.

Where possible I would agree.

I use Mark Grant power strips and find them to be a good way of having kit plugged in ready to go. I also have an old Russ Andrews Kimber one into which my analogue kit is plugged. I also run some MK metal box units which I made into power strips.

My experience to date with re generators and filters is they tend to mess with the sound. There are pluses but there are also negatives as in I feel dynamics often sound sat on and truncated + I have heard treble roll off as well, as such I don't use any of these. Of course there is always one that doesn't do that but I have yet to hear one.

One little tweak you can do is if the power strip has a light in it, and you can safely remove it, then do so. I have heard this improve sound. I can only assume that the light flickering introduces noise. Best of all is a power strip with no light in it.

[Dynamics]

I used a Tacima filtered whatnot for about four years and when I eventually removed it the difference without it was amazing. Since then (2009) I have plugged my pre and power straight into a wall socket. It may not really matter but I am OK with things the way they are in my system

Yes I'm going to forget my Tacima. I reckon any cheap filter will always mess with the sound.

I think with any hi fi, if your speakers or amps don't change with conditioners, it doesn't necessarily mean it's the conditioner not working. I won't go into the reasons but it's obvious if speakers are in the budget catergory, how can anyone expect them to be improved with a conditioner. Not snobery but realism. That's also dependent on whether mains is badly affected too.

Most of all of the people on the other forum I was on, say conditioners are rubbish because they'll never hear any differences with speakers a few hundred quid. It's good there is more balance on this forum.

They aren't pointless as was said in a previous post as some of them make a good difference to sound quality and some manufacturers I've spoken to actually say they can improve their products.

[hifinutt]

I always run the power amp straight into the wall socket. IME sticking any socket board in between the power amp and the wall socket degrades performance noticeably.

most people seem to be of this opinion if you search forums and I agree too

however I do think conditioners make a big difference on source equipment

[Macca]

I think with any hi fi, if your speakers or amps don't change with conditioners, it doesn't necessarily mean it's the conditioner not working. I won't go into the reasons but it's obvious if speakers are in the budget catergory, how can anyone expect them to be improved with a conditioner. Not snobery but realism. That's also dependent on whether mains is badly affected too.

.

Don't really agree with you about speakers unless they are really down in the 'Amstrad' end of the market. Anything by a proper speaker manufacture that retails for a few hundred quid will show up any improvement worth having - of course the people you are referring to may well have other issues with their systems, or no problem with their mains feed. The only other alternative is that they do hear an improvement but are lying about it. Possible but unlikely.

[struth]

Really only helps if mains is being affected by something. Ive got dirty mains esp during week. That electric train just made things worse.

[Dynamics]

Don't really agree with you about speakers unless they are really down in the 'Amstrad' end of the market. Anything by a proper speaker manufacture that retails for a few hundred quid will show up any improvement worth having - of course the people you are referring to may well have other issues with their systems, or no problem with their mains feed. The only other alternative is that they do hear an improvement but are lying about it. Possible but unlikely.

I always think that the people who consistently say that quality cables don't make a difference, or mains conditioners or regenerators don't help, are those that can rightly take that view on their experience. More often that not I think this is because their system will probably not reveal differences of putting say £500 mains conditioners or even £200 conditioners on £400 speakers, let alone the aqariuses of thus world. ive had speakers in that type of bracket and I was struggling to hear changes in cables, let alone conditioners. The thing is you have to have benefit and the more of these things you add on, the more I think you have to have decent stuff in the first place. Also it means conditioners have more of aprofound difference, as with cables.

[Macca]

Well conditioners etc will vary but I have a suspicion that those who say there is no difference in interconnects or speaker cables have not tried it or have only tried a few that coincidentally were almost identical in performance. But that is a different story. Have to say I have noticed interconnect differences with very cheap (£100 RRP) speakers in the past although not used any budget speakers in more than a decade now.

[Dynamics]

Totally agree Martin, your suggestion is probably more of a better and more likely explanation. As you say, doubting for doubts sake.

But I can't believe what it's done taking that Tacima out. It made slight differences with my old pmc 20-23 speakers switching between the Tacima and a bog standard power bar, but I hadn't tried this test since upgrading my speakers to pmc 25-23s before Xmas which are quite a bit better speakers with more detail and mids, so the different power bar is probably going to be more revealing anyway.

One track I just tried had more subtlety and detail, then another more spaciousness. But I'm trying all the usual favourites at the moment. It's funny when you try the usual tracks you play, it's easier to note changes.

I did try all the low current stuff into the Tacima and power amps into a bog standard bar and I could notice a difference, but plugging them all into the standard bar is even better. But maybe the Tacima is just choking the system too much as a cheap device. I've put the Tacima on the telly now, which I'm thinking I might have better picture quality funnily enough. Might be bias on the telly though. Lol.

It's really making me think what is a really well designed conditioner going to do!!!!!...........

[danilo]

It's really making me think what is a really well designed conditioner going to do!!!!!...........

Well.. it WILL lighten your wallet ..that at least is indisputable :lol:

[Floyddroid]

Interesting thread and relevant to me at the moment. We recently had a new substation installed in the village and a lot of the overhead cables updated/replaced. since then i have noticed that the power supply for my pre-amp has become noisy and replaced quite a few light bulbs. I didn't think about the mains voltage until i recently bought a headphone amp and it was humming like a b......d. I contacted the manufacturer of the headphone amplifier who after some debate suggested that i had my mains voltage checked by a fully qualified electrician which i did. It was discovered that my mains voltage is running at 247 volts which is getting on towards the top end of the recommended voltage. I contacted the appropriate agency to discuss the matter and was told that it was in the range and therefore nothing could be done to lower the voltage by them to my property. With this in mind i contacted the electrician who informed me that the only thing he could suggest was wiring in an Optimisier on my distribution board in the garage. This would cost about £500 which is a lot of money. Any suggestions chaps?