[ledoux1238]

Hi,

I am new to this forum. I have been an audiophile since the late 1980's when still living in New York City. Then I moved to Taiwan, started a family, and right around the time my son was born, I put everything in storage as there was just not enough space for my listening habit.

In 2018 with a substantial change in my family, parents passed away and a grown son, I dug out my old gear and tried to start where I left off. The system consisted of Verdier La Platine TT, SME V arm and a ZYX Airy 3 cartridge; Wadia 16 CDP; MFA ( Moore Frankland Associates ) Luminescence pre-amp; Legend Audio / Von Gaylord Audio Triode mono amp; and AE1 Mini-monitors. I literally had to relearn a lot: I had forgotten how to set up a tonearm, pre-amp malfunction, and one of the amps blew...etc.

Fast forward to 2021, my system has changed quite a lot except for the Verdier TT. The additions consist of a Trans-Fi Terminator linear tracking arm with a Auido Tekne MC-6310 MC cartridge ( replacing a ZYX Ultimate 1000 ); Channel D Lino 2.0 phono pre-amp; Lightspeed Passive Attenuator; Wadia 16 CPD now used as  transport only with a Marvalve DAC2 ( Made In Taiwan , and more to report ); Von Gaylord Audio Nirvana mono tube amps; Eminent Technology LFT-8b's planar hybrid.

I am experiencing a very strange situation with my amplifiers. Since 2018, I have had three tube monoblocks malfunctioned. My regular amp, the Von Gaylord Nirvana was sent back to Sacramento for repair. One of the amp's transformer was shot. The amps that the Nirvana replaced, its sibling, the Triodes' transformer was also shot. Most recently a friend lent me a pair of great vintage tube amps, International Projector Corporation AM 2067. At only 20 watts they drove the ET's incredibly well. However, one of these amps malfunctioned last week after a couple of months of use. The diagnosis right now is that the 20 year old power conditioner from Audio Magic is the culprit. And the search for a new power conditioner led to this forum. There are quite a bit of information on both the P.I.Audio UberBuss and the Puritan PSM 156. These are my current candidates for power conditioner replacement.

I hope to learn a lot more here.

Thanks for visiting!

Albert

[Blackmore]

Welcome to AudioCircle

[Phil A]

Welcome!

[JLM]

Welcome!

I always ask when approaching power conditioners: why do you have one?  Situations are different all over.  Some have old appliances (a major issue).  Some have a total disaster of wiring at home or in their apartment building (another major potential issue).  Some live with an old substation, inferior wiring between the substation and their home, and/or the substation is shared by antiquated factories (again major issues).  Those are the primary indicators of the need for power conditioning. 

My previous house was 50 years old, bought and sold several times, lots of rewiring poorly done (swimming pool to central air), and still had a 60 amp fuse box serving it.  A friend brought over a (at the time) very nice/respected power conditioner which made almost no difference, which really perplexed him. 

[ledoux1238]

Welcome!

I always ask when approaching power conditioners: why do you have one?  Situations are different all over.  Some have old appliances (a major issue).  Some have a total disaster of wiring at home or in their apartment building (another major potential issue).  Some live with an old substation, inferior wiring between the substation and their home, and/or the substation is shared by antiquated factories (again major issues).  Those are the primary indicators of the need for power conditioning. 

My previous house was 50 years old, bought and sold several times, lots of rewiring poorly done (swimming pool to central air), and still had a 60 amp fuse box serving it.  A friend brought over a (at the time) very nice/respected power conditioner which made almost no difference, which really perplexed him. 

I do need at least a power strip as they are just not enough outlets in the room. I must say that the Audio Magic power conditioner was definitely an improvement over a regular power strip.

[FullRangeMan]

Welcome Albert.

[ArthurDent]

Greetings & Welcome to AC Albert