Power conditioner use

[EricE]

Many, many moons ago I found that plugging in my (new to me then) ML Ascent i's into a Chang Lightspeed 3200 power conditioner mad a noticeable improvement in the sound that emanated from the speakers. A much "darker" background and "smoother" mids and highs....

I've been using a Chang 6400ISO on my ML's since then and still have the new Ascents plugged into them right now. I remember reading somewhere that it would be better to plug everything in the system into the power conditioner EXCEPT for the ML's. I have yet to try it myself but first I would like to hear the opinions and suggestions from the forum members here.

 

[Kruppy]

Power Conditioners

I am using a PS Audio Power Director 3.5 for all of my equipment. I've noticed a definite improvement. My SL3s, however, are plugged directly in the wall outlets.

I remember a thread, maybe 9 months ago, where Gilbert (of Blue Circle fame) and some others were posting specifically on Blue Circle conditioners, I believe. I remember the out come was that he recommmend not using a specific conditioner design for powering MLs. As you can see, I don't remember all of the details. You may want to search the archives.

I personally have not played around with conditioning the power to the speakers.

 

[Taz]

What would be the advantage to plugging your ML in to the wall? No protection no noise surpresion, the power draw is wery low so you should not be worried about current limits? More info needed?

 

[Kruppy]

I agree. I just haven't done it yet. The way my system is arranged now, I need to purchase much longer power cords to be able to do it. I've spent so much money lately on my system that my wife is about ready to put the clamp-down on my wallet.

 

[Munster]

If the speakers stop drawing juice after powering up I dont understand how a conditioner could have any effect on the sound. Please explain.

 

[lexor]

power cond

i was told by Martin Logan Co. that if there is not enough draw on the conditioner you can get strange results out of the speakers and this also holds true for power amps which should be plugged into the wall outlet, most conditioners do not have enough juice to handle the demands of the amps.

 

[EricE]

True points.

With such a minimal draw of power, how could a conditioner affect the sound of the ML's good or bad.....????

I did hear a difference but I think may have been because I plugged everything into the same power conditioner. Right now I have the ML's, amp, pre and SACD player all plugged into a Chang 6400ISO. I'll try this weekend with the ML plugged directly into a outlet and see if there is any difference.

 

[DavidG]

Static. . .

I'd be very surprised if just putting a conditioner on the speakers makes any difference at all. Think about it - the MLs draw power to build charge on the panel. That charge is a constant and even *static* charge - it's not a current that flows, so is not subject to peaks / troughs like any of the components upstream from the speakers. . .

Any mains interference won't make any difference to the charge - the frequencies involved just wouldn't have an effect on the voltage present on the panel.

The only thing I do use on my MLs is surge protection to protect the boards inside - a mains spike could cause damage to those!

Cheers,

David

 

[JonFo]

Balanced power, common ground

Going more on the premise that a common ground is most valuable electrical element, all my ML’s are on a circuit that is feed by the 5KVA Equitech transformer powering the rest of my gear.

No real change in sound from the speakers per se, but it was pretty good anyway. The rest of the system went up a whole notch in quality with balanced power though.
Oh and for those wondering, yes, balanced power (+60v/-60v) is compatible with ML’s.

 

[EricE]

A good audiophile friend of mine just installed a balanced power conditioner in his system and he said that it was the single greatest improvement to his system. He is a tweekaholic too and he has tried them all.

The Equitech components look very good but he found something for a little less $$$. I was pushing him to Equitech myself.

 

[Taz]

What did he get?

 

[walyworld]

try using monster power hts 2000-works well with my ascents

 

[amey01]

Going on from this, has anyone tried a computer based UPS? I have one at home but it clearly states on the back that it does not produce pure sinosoidal power and THD may be as high as 50%! So far, I have resisted the temptation to connect it up - what do you think?

 

[DTB300]

Going on from this, has anyone tried a computer based UPS?

Personally I have not tried it, but have read many times that a Computer based UPS will degrade your audio signals. Again...just what I have read from posts on other forums.

Dan

 

[Cherian]

A power conditioner will help MLs sound better!!! A good power conditioner using a very low impedance isolation transformer with good filtering on the secondary will help greatly. This will stop high frequency noise from getting through the ML power supply. A good power conditioner will attenuate to -60db any high frequency electrical noise, from 1 kHz to 5 MHz. A balanced power conditioner is good at getting rid of transformer hum on the load side by using a center taped transformer and creating a common mode loop. A balanced power conditioner will do nothing to get rid of electrical noise from the mains caused by other equipment on the circuit.

 

[Cherian]

I do not recommend using a NON sine wave UPS. These step wave UPS make a large amount of electrical noise. As high as 300V peak is not uncommon. Most of the time these low end UPSs are in standby mode so it is no big deal but when power fails your system will be slammed with huge electrical spikes. If you want a good UPS then I would recommend an on-line ups with output isolation. This will give you very clean power and rock steady voltage regulation. Just note this will be very expensive.