beginner advice!

[Old Bob]

good morning!
I just read in stereophile of the audioquest Niagara 1000.

the review was pretty positive. power conditioning is very new to me.

I have a triode tube integrated amp.

would this $1000 conditioner give me a difference I could HEAR?

any advice?

best

bob and thanks

[Mike]

YES!!! The 1000 is a great power conditioner. It will help clean up the top end grunge on the line.

[Mr Peabody]

Not familiar with that unit but in general power conditioning will yield a quieter background which in turn helps to hear detail. Sometimes there's other benefits like increased bass and/or bass detail.

On power amps pay attention to the current limit of the conditioning unit if any versus how much current your amp can draw. Some conditioners could actually degrade the sound if your amp gets starved.

I've noticed benefit from conditioning throughout my system but lower level signal units like phono stages really seem to improve. Next, I'd say my digital gear.

Also, it seems to me those with higher resolution gear, and, those who are really in tune with what their system does, notice the most difference.

[KeithR]

Not sure your exact question - though I normally wouldn't run an amplifier into any conditioner.

[sheltie1]

Hey Bob!

In my opinion, it really depends on where you are located and what's around you..... If you are in crowded urban area (with lots of neighbors/etc on the same power grid as you), then there is a good chance you may be able to hear a difference. If you are in a setting where your neighborhood is smaller (or you are in a very rural type area), then there is chance your power there is fairly stable (from my experience), and if so, you may hear little effect.

The amount of difference a power conditioner makes can very so much from home to home, it's really to hard to say with certainty that you would hear a big change. If you do, like noted above, you generally will obtain a quieter background with increased bottom end definition, along with a bit better detail.

[jerryz1963]

I'm sure many will disagree, but I will give you my take on "power conditioners." As an electronics technician with a pretty solid grasp of physics (ex Navy Nuclear Engineer) I cringed and still do when I see devices come on the market with wildly exaggerated claims and an equally wild price tag. IMO, if you want a great power conditioner, get a true sine wave inverter of adequate power output and a battery pack or power supply that can adequately power it. you'll be many dollars ahead, and there is no way a "power conditioner" is going to improve on it. Frankly, if a power conditioner makes a huge diff in your audio and video experience, then shame on the engineer who designed the power supply. When I build amps, I pay a LOT of attention to the power supply. I use voltage regulation and I don't stint on the power supply capacitors. The capacitors in a power supply are actually little different than the storage battery in your car. They hold in reserve the energy that your audio circuits require. variations in the power coming from the wall should be handled by the power supply. I am SURE many will disagree, but I'm rather convinced that what many think they hear as improvement is imaginary, called "expectation bias." The gold standard for testing should be double blind listening tests if real OBJECTIVE testing is not possible. in the FWIW category, I was able to swap back and forth between power from the utility company and power from my immense battery pack (one ton of lead acid batteries) and heard no difference.

[Speedskater]

Remember that 'power conditioner' is an undefined term. It could mean almost any combination of the following.

a] Noise filter - a low-pass EMI/RFI filter.
b] Surge protector - although it's better to have surge protection at the home's service entrance.
c] UPS - note that many UPS's are not really UPS's!
d] Line voltage adjuster.
e] Balanced power transformer.
f] Isolated power transformer.
g] DC blockers.
h] Regenerators (PSAudio)
i] Power Factor Correction
j] I forget? But I think that there are more.

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
The short answer:
Most systems with well designed components, don't need power conditioners.

[hifinutt]

good point ss but using a conditioner with some of my components does give me protection against lightning etc . i have also tried a number of dc blockers [isotek syncro ] in the past and they do make a difference . on one pre amp i really heard the improvement when i had one . as has been said , it often depends on where you live as to their effect.

[Speedskater]

For lightning protection, the best thing is a whole home surge protection unit placed at/near the main circuit breaker panel.

[CPP]

For lightning protection, the best thing is a whole home surge protection unit placed at/near the main circuit breaker panel.

And depending on where you live, that might not help at all. Mother Nature will light your house up during a close or direct hit. Been there, lost my home surge protection,power meter, AC, Stove, TV, Ceiling Fans, Garage door opener, a turntable, phono amp fancy surge protection etc...

Some cool NASA figures:
An average lightning strike discharges about 30,000 amperes. The current in a lightning strike typically ranges from 5,000 to 50,000 amperes depending on the strength of storm. NASA has recorded strikes of 100,000 amperes and there are other reports of strikes over 200,000 amperes.
A tall thunderstorm cloud can hold over a 100 million volts of potential whip ass.
The estimated peak power per lightning stroke is 10^12 watts (1,000,000,000,000 watts or 1,000 Giga Watts). The total energy in a large thunderstorm is thought to be enough to power the whole of the USA for 20 minutes.

But any protection can help from those wayward hits on the power line, better to be safe.

[Speedskater]

If you get a close or direct hit, nothing going to help. But still there is no need for a point of use surge protector.
Bill Whitlock makes an argument for not having any point of use surge protectors, but it might be OBE.
OBE, that's Overtaken By Events. As the average home may have two dozen surge protectors, some hidden inside appliances and entertainment components.