[Wayner]

Let this be a lesson to me.

Here is the story. In March I had Frank rebuild my OmegaStar SS preamp. When it returned, I was very pleased with the sonic improvement. However, I noticed a slight hum when I fired the system up with the 260EX amplifier. The hum didn't increase with volume and was on every position on the selector switch. I have this amp on my Paradigm Studio 40v.3's which are 92db efficient so I thought it must be that. Hummmmm.

This morning, I put the FM classical station on and the hum seemed louder than normal. I decided, this is enough! Down under the desk top I went. With everything shut off, I unplugged the input IC's to the amp and turned eyerthing on. DEAD QUITE! Ah-ha, those damn cheap interconnects have finally burned me.

Then, with a suspicious eye, the Adcom ACE-515 power conditioner caught my eye. When I got the upgraded OmegaStar back from Frank, I put this "thing" in as it was just sitting on the shelf in the laundry room.

Thinking about the source for almost all hum I thought about ground loops. My God, There is one, at least on the neutral side. The Preamp plugs into the Adcom for power and the Adcom plugs back into the preamp's outlets to fire the sequential turn-on cycle in the Adcom. Pulling the Adcom control ac cord from the preamp made the system dead quite.

Out of the system the Adcom FLEW.......to its original home collecting lint....in the laundry room.

What is the moral to this story? I know we all admire Frank and his products. Why do we not listen to his words. Pehaps I will have to download the entire collection of Audio Basics and re-read. The moral to the story is KISS, or Keep It Simple, Stupid. The power conditioner was the source of the very noise and hum it was suppose to remove. Imagine that.

Now I'm going to listen to some hum free vinyl and think about what an idiot I am sometimes (most of the time?).   

W

[warnerwh]

Years ago I bought a Monster conditioner. It turned out the problem was that conditioner.  These days I do plug my pre,crossover,DEQ2496 and tuner into a Tripplite Isobar.  I figured Dan Banquer liked them and for 70 bucks does the job. Amps are always just plugged into the wall.

My theory is that I've had a nice stereo since the early 70's. I never have had a problem caused by the power. As a matter of fact I've never had a problem with anything that I recall so why do we need conditioners now?  Maybe I'm wrong but it seems like any noise in your power line would be eradicated by the transformer in your component, or at least most of it.

[Brett Buck]

I never have had a problem caused by the power. As a matter of fact I've never had a problem with anything that I recall so why do we need conditioners now? 

    You don't. Period. However it has been determined that some people can make a lot of money selling all sorts of unnecessary devices to various ignorant "audiophiles". Hence magical power cords, magical damper stones, SACDs, and many devices that apparently require elfin magic to operate - since they violate the basic laws of physics.

  Maybe I'm wrong but it seems like any noise in your power line would be eradicated by the transformer in your component, or at least most of it.

    And the rest of it is taken out by the power supply caps. If it will take out 60hz it will take out virtually anything.

      Brett

[Wayner]

I don't have any magic power cords, all stock.

I bought the ACE-515 about 15 years ago because it had a feature for sequential turn on/turn off. I have never heard any difference in power "conditioning", nor have I ever claimed that I have experienced such effect. Actually the ACE-515 was bought to turn on a Sunfire Amplifier that had no power switch!

W

[Lancelot]

I'm not sure things are quite as simple as they seem. I do not use a power conditioner and have never used one that seemed to make a difference BUT the dedicated line I installed did make a positive difference as well as putting Audioprism quietlines on other circuits. I also have my own home .
IF you live in an apartment, have multiple computers, satellite decoders and many other electronic devices deemed necessary by many, Im not sure that some type of filtering and voltage control  MIGHT be necessary.
Its a little too easy to assume what doesn't work for us is inherently unecessary for others.

[lazydays]

I don't have any magic power cords, all stock.

I bought the ACE-515 about 15 years ago because it had a feature for sequential turn on/turn off. I have never heard any difference in power "conditioning", nor have I ever claimed that I have experienced such effect. Actually the ACE-515 was bought to turn on a Sunfire Amplifier that had no power switch!

W

I gave one of those Adcom 515's away the otherday. Never knew if it even worked. I do use a Monster conditioner in both of my systems, and they seem to work very well. The bigger one is programable, and is very convienent. But still I don't have my mono blocs hooked into the conditioner as I doubt that it could supply the needed current. I'm planning on adding a second unit in front of those amps just for saftey sake.
gary

[Wayner]

Well, I discovered yesterday that my old FM tuner (Soundcraftsmen T6200) also adds hum no matter where I plug the outlet in. I may get rid of it as it is 20 years old. I may try a 6-plex from Tripp-lite. We use them at work and they seem to isolate noise from each duplex anyway.

W