[Gopher]

Its taken me quite a while, but I've got my system voiced just the way I like it.  A tweak here or there is assumed, but I'm happy with my component choices which is huge for me.  I recently picked up an Audion preamplifier which has been the last building block towards me nailing the sound--the problem, they are notoriously sensitive to the power they're being fed.

I live in a condo which is in a multi-story building with several other units.  I'm also smack dab in the middle of a law school, a state court, a federal court and a minor league baseball stadium...   Yes, I have very poor power and probably significant EMI/RFI issues as well.

Last night I spent hours playing with what component was plugged into which outlet in order to make a very high noise floor go away.  It finally resolved that no digital and analog can share a socket, which is annoying as I liked the sound of my system with my amp and squeezebox touch plugged into a Maestro outlet and my preamp and DAC in a porter port.

I've got an APC S-15 unit, but I never warmed up to it.  I've also noticed if I turn it off all together my noise floor drops significantly.  I haven't tried these components in the APC based on not really loving its presentation (I use it for my TV, FIOS BOX, router, ps3, hd-dvd, turntable motor, etc.)--I prefer my components direct to the wall.

Is my problem one that a proper power condition would likely resolve?  A buddy is planning on bringing over his Bybee Purifier v.2 in the near future, but is this likely the issue?  His system has a super low noise floor which he attributes to the bybee, but I doubt his power is anywhere near as polluted as mine.  If his Bybee drops the noise and lets my system sing, I'll likely pick up the Bybee 4 outlet mini purifier, though its more then I should be spending:  http://www.tweekgeek.com/bybee-power-purifier-mini/

Any thoughts?

FWIW my cabling is Wywires throughout except for a Sablon uber Robosto PC on my amp.

[Big Red Machine]

Get a BPT or Furman unit with transformer.  Solved my noise issues.

[rw@cn]

You may just get a million recommendations. I would first find out approximately how much noise you have and see if any recepticles are quieter than others by using a noise sniffers (look in one of the Audio speciality sites). Given that you live in an apartment, much of the noise you will see belongs to your neighbors.

Set your budget and call the Cable Co. Why them? They have a lending library and you can sample the different units until you are satisfied. The hassle is in the shipping, but you will get what you want. There may be other companies that have similar policies, so shop around.

[konut]

Interesting. I have the S15 and a Belkin PF60. When I was experimenting with different configurations I found that my Sharp LCD lost a certain something when plugged in to the S15 and that it looked better in the PF60. By the same token My Bryston BDA-1 DAC sounded better when plugged in the S15. My amps and sub are directly into the wall. It won't cost you anything to see if you might get a quieter noise floor if just your preamp and DAC are plugged into the S15.

[Quiet Earth]

Is my problem one that a proper power condition would likely resolve?

If you remove the pre amp and go back to using the Decware as an integrated amp, is the noise problem greatly reduced? I'm just wondering if you always had some noise issues but now you are hearing them amplified with the added gain from the pre amp. Or,,, maybe you have a grounding issue that is caused by the pre amp itself. Or, possibly it is just further aggravated by the addition of another active component in your system.

There are some things you can try before you buy a power conditioner.

If you have external earth ground banana jacks on any of your metal cases you can experiment with some hook up wire and connect the cases together to see if it makes a difference in hum and noise levels. Use the pre amp as a star grounding point for the earth wires if you can.

You might also look at the direction of the shields in your signal interconnects. Instead of using the normal procedure where the cable shield is attached at the source and open at the destination (i.e., the arrow is pointing in the direction of the signal flow), try pointing all of the shield ends toward the pre amp. That means the arrow will be backwards from all source components to the pre amp. This will give you a pseudo-balanced configuration for single ended wires. All of the shield ends of the cables will be connected at the pre amp and the pre amp will be earth grounded directly to the wall socket.

I'm not saying this is a sure fire fix, but the experimentation of cable direction and earth grounding between components might provide some improvement in noise levels. It can be a tedious procedure but it's worth a try. Once you get that nailed down, then you can concentrate on further conditioning of AC power.

Also, if any of this advice is wrong, I encourage anyone and everyone to correct me. I like learning about this stuff too! 

[Gopher]

I think the fact that I have my amp's volume fully open as opposed to the 10% before contributes greatly to the noise I'm hearing as its there even with preamp off.  Its not a noisy amp, but with it wide open the noise floor is definitely present. 

I just received a Bybee Purifier conditioner (mini) today which I'm hoping suits my needs well.  I'm excited to bring it home and plug it in--really hoping the noise floor disappears and I see some nice improvements in SQ too...   I also have some Music Rails going in my Squezebox PSU...  hopefully these two changes yield big things. 

[Ericus Rex]

I had similar noise when I plugged my amp directly into the wall.  Plugging it into my power conditioner stopped it.  It's just a fairly inexpensive Audioprism.

Have you tried moving components away from each other?  I once got a new amp which caused a system buzz that drove me crazy until I found the problem.  My amp and pre were seperated by just one shelf and one was picking up noise from the other.  Putting another component in between and giving the amp and pre a little more distance solved that issue.

[rollo]

  Had a opportunity to meet Grover and hear his system. Never heard Zu's sound that good. Loved the analog and the TT as well. However what really impressed me was the computer front end with Bolder modded EE DAC and Squeezebox. Just did not think it would sound good. Why?? So far the only computer gig that pleased my ears has been Wavelength and Empirical Eudio setups. However it did in spades. It appears Wayne knows his stuff as well as Gopher in putting the system together. Not bad for a young'n.

 charles
SMA

[Don_S]

EDIT

I just received a Bybee Purifier conditioner (mini) today which I'm hoping suits my needs well.  I'm excited to bring it home and plug it in--really hoping the noise floor disappears and I see some nice improvements in SQ too...   I also have some Music Rails going in my Squezebox PSU...  hopefully these two changes yield big things.

Well?  Spill already. What did you hear?  Inquiring minds need to know. 

[Gopher]

My noise issues have been neutralized!  At the recommendation of fellow ACer, Wywires (Alex) I ran my television's coax cable through the noise filter in my APC S-15 and the noise floor has dramatically improved.  My analog is now where my digital was (NF wise) and my digital is pretty much silent from my seat.  Breath of fresh air indeed.

I'm still pondering a power conditioner none the less--right now my contenders are an Uberbuss which Charles was nice enough to bring to my home, a Shunyata (Sunnydaze brought his to my home) and a Bybee which I'm half way through a 30 day trial on. 

All have real strengths over stock power with the uber lending more harmonic foundation and stage width, the Bybee bringing forward a lot more micro detail and stage depth and the Shunyata bringing a really smooth, fatigue free quality to listening--it was also quite holographic.