You mentioned a surge protector in the same breath as the conditioner. My surge protector (non battery backup type) has saved my system from power spikes and burn out many times.

Great video once again. Where I live I suffer from quiet a bit of DC on the mains which causes the transformers in my power amps and active sub to become saturated. This causes them to physically buzz and reduces their efficiency. I have installed simple DC blocking circuits to each of these components and that has almost entirely eliminated the buzz and has had a positive effect on sound quality, particularly dynamics. An audiophile friend has attacked the problem from the other end. He went around his house systematically unplugging all of his electrical appliances whilst listening to his system in order to determine where the mains borne noise originated. Instead of plugging his hifi into mains conditioners he plugged his fridge and boiler into them to much greater effect.

The utility transformer that supplies your home is an excellent low impedance source.. Will give you all the current you need at rated voltage.. No snake oil needed...

I've definitely noticed changes in audio quality from using noise filters, but what actually intrigues me more is that the lighted displays on my amp and dac actually change. In audio, people sometimes use terms like "blacker/deeper blacks" when referring to filtered power, but when I use a Shunyata PS8/Defender the actual LED screen on my DAC seems to have higher contrast and a slightly cooler quality of light.

Your old location had much better recording audio quality.

Hi Paul, I am a guitar player and play in different locations with my high school jazz band frequently. I have noticed that my tube amps seem to have issues with squealing (not EMI hum or ground loop noise) when I am at my school, but this has never happened when I have been playing at home. I have had to replace the preamp tubes in my amp because of this, however, this has happened multiple times with multiple amps. I know this is not a hi-fi question, but I love your videos and was wondering if you think purchasing a power conditioner such as a Furman could solve this? Thank you so much and I love learning about electronics and audio from all of your videos.

Thank you Paul. I find myself saying that frequently. Someday I hope to research the subject at hand with you BEFORE spending money on the new idea that has consumed my thoughts. 😊

I think the key thing to keep in mind is what is that passive power conditioner really rated for. The specs on the box are probably just what they don't want you to go over to prevent a meltdown - aka lawyer ointment. My system amp is a heavily modified Hafler d220 that has 22,000uf filter caps in it so it draws hefty power slugs off the line. I do use a power filter but it's a surplus military model that is rated at 40 amps RMS and I notice no degradation of the sound or power output with it in the system. That said I'm 70 years old and my hearing may not be as good as yours is, if you have any doubts plug large power amps in BEFORE any line filter. I would suggest dedicated 20A outlets for your audio equipment to make sure your getting good power for your system. I also use a 30 amp shielded isolation transformer to feed my audio system (240v primary and 124v secondary), that sucker weighs about 100 pounds - it's hanging from the floor joists in the cellar.

Hi Paul, love your videos, but may I suggest getting a lavalier or shotgun mic for your videos? The sound would be so much better.

What are your thoughts on AVR (Automatics Voltage Regulators) like the APC ones that handle 1200 watts? Would they have a restrictive effect?

Fascinating topic. I believe that the camera guys audio was plugged in to one of those UPS Paul was referring to...just a guess though. Enjoyed the topic anyway!

Good advice. Thanks.

Makes sense. Ive just plugged in some monitors into my usp, and the frequency line noise, can be heard clearly. When plugged directly to Ac outlet, sounds as should with the built in Amps in Monitors. I was curious if I should plug my Audio to any protectors for protection and especially a Subwoofer I have yet to make it compatible for my circuit breakers (2000watt Sunfire MarkII) since im having electrical shorts or Surges issues from my room being connected to with the water heater line for some odd reason, even with little appliances plugged in or wattage pulled, half the house will trip. Im still trying to find a solution into having my Subwoofer connected with my Audio Speaker monitors, without having to trip my circuit breakers. Ive left my Subwoofers out to not risk the chance from being destroying with my surge issues . Any additional tips would be great! I almost went out to shop a Power Conditioner for audio, until i stumbled this video. Kind of figured in the back of my mind, of what you stated, with empiedence going against each other, it would be a waste of time and inconvenience?

Hows your Dectet power conditioner? you didn't speak about that in the video.

I was just in Chipotle's the other day and noticed the 3 way built in speakers where designed with tweeter on bottom and the woofer on the top. So unless you have a high end power conditioner for audio then just plug your gear straight into your grounded outlet?

will a USA voltage power plant also help a step up European transformer or better off a power plant for the 230 voltage and add the step up before the power plant? - the scenario is for using European audio equipment here in the us.

Thanks for your video, can one measure the effects of power conditions? For companies who invest huge amounts in their amplifier power supplies, do they really encourage products like these? All that care and effort, for a user to then put in a huge variable that will affect/even negate all of the testing and measurements of the amp before it left the factory. Hard to imagine. I certainly have heard some companies that specifically ask users not to plug their amps into these conditioners. I’ve tried a few of the high end ones (not yours though!) and am unconvinced. well designed amplifiers put so much effort into the power supply. Why muck around with it.

Where I have my gear at there is only one wall outlet...but have 6 items to plug in. Intergrated amp, power amp, 2 subs, turntable, and cd player. If I dont want or need a conditioner...Can I use a power strip or a surge protector without worrying about losing any power to my amps or subwoofers?

Great topic, worth a remake.

I would like to see real data with graphs showing this because this video has a lot of physic principles halfy explained and made to fit a product.

Was thinking about buying a pure sine wave inverter for my equipment. Not anymore, but on the other hand I will continue to use the Furman power conditioner.

Would a Monster Power HTS1000 (UK) restrict or improve audio? I do not have an extremely high end setup. I use a Yamaha MCR-N870 (mini system) Project Debut Carbon Evo, Schiit Mani, & 2 macbook pro's. Not looking for a dispute, just wondering if using the Monster Unit would benefit the humble setup I have.

Improved power handling has been on my list for quite some time. Without placing you in the awkward position of product promotion, as some people watching your videos appear to be sensitive to, how is your Dectet power conditioner resolving the issues you've described? The P5's price is out of reach for me.

Another good video Paul well done.... No out going music today why ?..... Think about going back to the old location Paul if the acoustics are better there, but do the segment anywhere so long as the acoustics are good... I asked a question for the "Ask Paul part of this You tube channel almost 2 and half month's and still I have not gotten a response ?...

Did you ever design a soffit mounted 15" + horn speaker setup for Chipotle? I have a particular memory of walking into a Chipotle and being surprised by music that sounded great. I was legitimately confused at first!

You mention passive conditioner & UPS's (bad idea), but what about a ferroresonant line stabilizer/conditioner?

what about a Furman Elite-15 PF i (I use that). I was surprised about your answer.

whats about lag during gameplay due to some sort of disruptions due to power. when im at another house i dont get that its not the internet

Why get surge protection and line conditioning? My down the street neighbor hired an incompetent election to wire his house and ended up blowing out the entire block, 16 houses including mine. I had to replace dam near everything in my house, heater, micro wave, TV, stereo equipment, oven. Hard to believe most of what I mentioned was turned off at the time! I'm now in the process of having the power service to my house upgraded and fortunately it has a whole house surge protector installed, but I also made the decision to include additional layers of protection. I'm all for getting the best sound possible but I'm still going to protect my investment.

I’ve learned something day after day I watch your videos, thanks, but I can’t help noticing that’s a huge classic RCA Victor Records Dog you have there, 👍

How can you tell if a power conditioner is limiting the power? Is there some way to measure?

What do you think of furman power conditioning?

What a great resource are these videos , thank you for making my system sound better , I should be paying $ for this.

My problem with power plant and I have tried a few they do nothing for EMI

Line-interactive UPS will not generate sinewave signal unless using the battery when the power is out. Your will not encounter that generated signal from UPS if your power is on.

Most UPS's, including ones that deliver pure sine wave output, are "standby" UPS's. Meaning, the UPS does not generate anything. It only passes along the power from your wall's outlet (that is, unless it also does power conditioning, then that can be an issue). The only time the type of "wave" that a standby UPS puts out matters, is when the power goes out (or drops below a triggering threshold for your UPS). Then, the UPS will switch to its batteries, and will deliver a square wave, or stepped sine wave, or sine wave, to your equipment (the type of wave is not configurable -- so you have to purchase the type of UPS that is best for your needs and your budget). But if your power is so bad that your UPS needs to switch to its battery (or if your power goes out), then that is probably better to feed your equipment any type of power wave than having your equipment suddenly turn off, or having your equipment starve for power (if the power from your outlet drops too low). There are "on-line" UPS's that 100% of the time do double conversion of the power. These are the most expensive class of UPS's, and do the best job, and are the least efficient. They turn your wall outlet's power from AC to DC, and then turn that DC to AC and feed that newly generated AC to your connected equipment (this double conversion process will cost you some electricity, as that double conversion uses some electricity to perform that function). Although that provides the cleanest power, with zero interruption from power issues, it might not feed a stereo the best power (as Paul explained). An on-line UPS is typically used where the connected equipment must have perfect power 100% of the time. As quickly as a standby UPS can switch to its batteries, it does still take time. Most equipment will not be affected by those milliseconds it took for the UPS to switch to its batteries. But if those milliseconds are an issue, then an on-line UPS is the solution. With an on-line UPS, then no matter what is going on with the power from your electric company, not matter how erratic, the power being delivered to your equipment will never see it. That equipment will always be getting freshly generated power from the on-line UPS. Note that an on-line UPS is never silent. They can be very quiet. But never silent. They make noise because they are always doing double conversions of your power. Apparently, that cannot be accomplished with complete silence. Perhaps it is their cooling fan that contributes to the whisper of noise? I just know that some noise is always present. Cheers!

This video needs a power conditioner. Is there a fountain in the office? Lol

So the best thing to do of Possible is Build a Dedicated Room Wired on it's Own Circuit Separated from Reat of the Home to Run High End Audio Equipment. Possibly Hospital Grade Outlets would make best sense

Snake oil, just like speaker wire (cable?). My question to speaker cable people ($500/ft.), if your cable is coloring the sound in such a good way, how much do I run? A little or a lot???

Shunyata Research addresses these concerns, SOTA.

Is that a real Jasper Johns in the background or a repro?

I have a different question for you. I own a small sound/lighting company, providing sound and lights for live entertainment on stage for small to medium venues. I also do DJ/KJ. One event I am tasked to do every year at a local county fair, is set up a sound system for a demolition derby arena. There is no permanent electric power source set up for this event, requiring me to utilize the 120volt tap on a crank-up light plant generator. These generators vary greatly in their quality and usually do not provide a constant voltage output, even to the 120 volt recepticle. I recently had this experience. My system runs through a rack-mount surge protector/line conditioner which has a digital volt meter. When I plugged into the generator, the output voltage going to my system was sitting at 183 volts. I made the mistake of having my Behringer NU4/6000, 4 channel power amplifier plugged into the surge protector. I heard a pop and channels C & D went dead. I shut down the system and unplugged. They switched out this generator for another unit and I plugged into it. The output voltage to the 120 volt tap was reading 159 volts. (Actually fluctuating between 159 volts clear up to 173 volts. Taking a chance, I turned on my system. The Behringer amp was still working on channels A & B only. The system did tolerate it. Later, after dark, they switched on the lights on the light plant. After several minutes, the output voltage went down and stabilized at 124 volts. My question is this: Is there any kind of device that I can use to not only protect my system from this kind of voltage problem; but also be able to regulate the voltage myself so that this doesn't happen again?

Howdy. Rectification in the amp. generates a lot of current harmonics. The power supply transformer also generates some inductive current which is the same as the transformer magnetization. The harmonics and the magnetization all end up as reactive power. They lower the power factor. I agree that UPS.s do not handle reactive currents very well. And I presume that PS Audio has had this in mind designing power plants resulting in superior performance. I wonder if the ancient technology of using two syncronous induction machines would be a feasable way, running one as a motor driving the other as a generator, to provide low impedance power ? Mains voltage fluctuations do not cause axle speed variations in syncronous motors as they do with regular induction motors. Fluctuations cause only a very small change in axle angle relative to the motor magnetic field. I believe the generator can easily handle the reactive currents coming from the amp. Regards.

UPS running a pa system.. why?

I have enjoyed your videos for a while now. But I'm concerned about the "stepped wave" you mentioned. Surely we all know that those waves are not actually stepped, that is just an easier way of marking points along the waves journey. A bit like a dot-to-dot.

Furman Power works great with my Audio Components especially with PS Audio power cables

YOU LOVE TO TALK

This is only my viewpoint. Good equipment should have appropriate immunity to mains imperfections. Its an integral part of audio design to deal with typical power fluctations and noise. Its not really fun to spend time on power supply design. Good circuit topology and layout will tolerate quite a significant amount of power issues. A large portion of money often goes into the power supply of a unit and that is were cost cutting often takes place. An oversized toroidal transfomer is not a guarantee that the power supply is as good as it can be. Maybe one should be able to buy a power amp output stage only chassis and add power supplies of different grades, maybe based on amplifier type and speaker impedance. I can imagine adding chokes and other devices that can create magnetic fields can interfere with sensitive circuits if in the same chassis. I think there is so many people that can’t hear and justify the snake oil that they won’t pay a premium if the enhancements are included as a standard. Reminds me a bit of special edition models of manufacturers.

All businesses should have at least two women at the front desk reception area, both women should be experienced tickle fight practitioners and all businesses should encourage excessive giggling while the tickle fighting is in progress.

The vegan thread was funny; comments are a real hoot sometimes. I guess he didn’t see the ones where you were doing your answers while hiking.

Guys..... Your typical wall socket voltage is what, 120VAC. Your typical current draw can be up to 15amps. So, how much is this equipment drawing that something is going to limit it like a power conditioner? Can you back this up with any factual information besides your opinion Paul? If your equipment is drawing more than 15 amps of current, sound like you need more power to begin with. If a power conditioner is some how "limiting" the provided power to the equipment, sounds like it was defective to begin with, or 15 amps is simply not enough for said equipment. Please elaborate on this.....

The noise filter is destroying the sound - yikes! Please go back to your original location. Generally much better as was the musical intro 😉

Why on earth would anyone think they need a UPS on their stereo in the first place?

i seen one of his and it was 9999 lol the unit is ugly i can get a mcintosh for around 6 k used when i decide to not be a miser ill go with the mac

The local Chipotle use Klipsch Heresy's for audio reproduction.

And here I am unable to tell the difference between a $3000 amplifier and a $30 000 amplifier driving my speakers... (Magnepan 1.7 which should be enough to be considered "resolving".)

With all due respect sir, if the small changes on the AC side do have an effect on audio quality, then the DC power supply built into the amp is poorly designed. The DC power supply should be designed to provide enough stable power to the amp, regardless of noise on the AC side. If the ac side doesn’t provide enough power at all, that can’t be solved by another device in the chain. If high frequency or impedance on the AC side have an effect on the sound, fixing the power supply inside the amp is way easier than putting some snakeoil device in the chain.

Without power conditioning, already built in by the amp designers, the equipment simply wouldn't work. Additionally, even low cost gear has an RF filter in the form of a common mode ferrite choke/inductor and associated capacitors. There's no need to add any more power conditioning and those who insist it is necessary are audiophools or trying to extract money from them. Any subjective noticeable difference is bound to be psychosomatic.

So spend $5k - 10K on a power plant from PSaudio cause everything else on the market will make our sytems sounds terrible right? OK send me one so I can see for myself

I get attention to ps audio yesterday. I viewed the products at the website. And I was desperately disappointed when I see the back panel of the product. In particular the Stellar M700. They look cheap because to the fact that they are black with white print, the heads of the screws lap and can be seen. The power switches are very cheap types snap ins. The input jacks are scrappy Chinese standard components. Should be better for this price range. All over it looks like all other dirt cheap products on the market. I would not expect such a bad design of a back panel in this class PS would be. From my point of view it is a bad idea to have a design like this. Mostly In the dark behind of a rack this becomes a difficult job due to the dark design. A design process does not end at the top cover. You could and should do it better.

I dunno, that dog looks fake to me

if you lived in austrlia you view would be totally different we are supposed to be running on 230 volts but it fluctuates that much ie 215 to 250 volts in 1 day no voltage reg and conditioner and your gear will be history

Sound quality is bad

Anybody who's anybody is running their system off DC power anyway.

Terrible audio on this clip , which is very ironic when it comes from PS audio

snake oil!!

Once again absolute BS from this guy to sell his products. This like many of his videos make me laugh out loud. SNAKE OIL

PS stands for poor sound quality? For a non native speaker it is difficult to follow. Did you know that Audio is more important than Video?

Paul this audio sounds like trash. Come on you can do better than this.

Why don't you focus on getting rid of that disgusting roll of fat around your stomach instead of worrying about power amps? You are in horrible physical condition. Stop eating garbage and hit the gym.