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Aljoscha
7
Feb 7, 2014
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you could probably do it for less than 5$. Power Conditioners are a scam.
Feb 7, 2014
Sherwood
93
Feb 7, 2014
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AljoschaIf you think you can buy that transformer for less than $5, be my guest. I have built one of these before, and rather than build another I'm buying this one.
Monster power conditioners are a scam, but the idea of power conditioning is worthwhile. This unit is very well priced, like lots of Yulong stuff. As with anything, DIY is cheaper, more rewarding, and a hell of a lot more hassle.
Feb 7, 2014
Aljoscha
7
Feb 8, 2014
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SherwoodI don't think I can buy a transformer for less than 5$, and I don't think that I could build a replica of the power conditioner for 5$. I am saying that the effect that this thing could possibly have on your equipment can be achieved by stuff worth less than 5$. Your Amplifier already has a transformer in it and if it's even a mediocre one it will do everything that this thing does already. The only thing you could add is a protection against huge surges, like lighnening strikes, but if you're considering buying trash for 300$ you probably have a high-end amplifier that does this too.
Feb 8, 2014
Tristor
97
Feb 9, 2014
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AljoschaThe quality of power that is put out of a transformer is affected by the quality of the input power. I'm not going to write an essay on basic electronics, but at the end of the day if you have terrible quality power in your area you will hear it as noise in your audio signals. Having a conditioner that can reduce ripple and smooth out transient voltage spikes makes a huge difference in the overall quality of output power coming from the transformers in your audio electronics.
As I stated before, if you don't have any power quality issues in your area then you probably won't notice any difference and having a power conditioner is probably pointless. If you have power quality issues, then a power conditioning stage in your circuit becomes essential, whether that's a basic power conditioner like this unit or using some sort of device that employs AVR with full sine wave output (like higher-end UPSes). The difference is immediately noticeable in the effect it has on the noise floor of the signal.
Also, the idea that a varistor is going to protect anything against a lightning strike is laughable. Simple surge protection in devices is intended for handling the types of voltage surges that occur every day due to load characteristics in the power system, not for stopping damage due to things like lightning strikes regardless of what the marketing material may say. The only way to prevent damage from a lightning strike is to provide a solid path to ground and employ a lightning arrester (usually by way of a MOV) where power comes into your building. If your utility company isn't a bunch of totally lazy schmucks, they'll already have lightning arresters on the poles at regular intervals which are maintained (they're required to be there, the maintenance quality is what may be in question).
A simple way to understand the noise floor sans any artifacts in recording is to simply listen to your headphones at your normal volume level with nothing playing in a quiet room. If you hear anything at all when there's no input audio signal, what you're hearing is noise that's in the output due to either power noise, EMI, or RFI. Tube amplifiers can also cause some noise in the line and there's not too much you can do about that except get less noisy tubes, as it's inherent to how tubes work. Power conditioning works by removing SOME of the sources of noise that may invade your audio output, thereby reducing the noise floor and allowing for an increase in audible dynamic range. This is especially important if you listen to tracks with significant quiet sections, such as a classical music.
Feb 9, 2014
Aljoscha
7
Feb 9, 2014
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TristorThe idea that your input power could produce a higher noise ceiling is flawed, your equipment uses DC. After rectifiying the power, the amplification circuit only cares about the root mean square of the AC. That means you don't even need sine waves, you could even use triangle or other waveforms. If your AC has "ripples" which lead to non-constant root mean squares, you will only notice this as a very slight and fast deviation in volume. However you won't hear it, because your amplifier already makes sure your power is constant over short timescales.
Feb 9, 2014
dorkvader
199
Feb 10, 2014
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Tristorexcellent post! one thing to add:
When listening to your noise floor, I would recommend making a "silent" track in audacity (or whatever program you like) and playing that. I do this to test if any of the other components in the system (DAC, source, etc.) introduce noise.
I would also recommend proper grounding of all your equipment.
Feb 10, 2014
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