Looking for advice on inexpensive power conditioners or filtering

I do a lot of needledropping at 24/96 and I notice frequent electrical noise in the high end. After trying different cables, etc., I've pretty much concluded that the problem is likely "dirty" AC. for instance if someone in the house is using an electric razor or the microwave, I get all kinds of junk showing up in spectral views in iZotope RX.

I don't feel like sinking a pile of money into some high-end power conditioner as this isn't really an audible thing (it's mostly all above 20kHz) but if it's possible to remove without breaking the bank, I'd like to do so. I see fairly inexpensive power conditioners from Furman, Pyle, etc. on Amazon and wonder if one of these might help. Again, it's not really audible, but if I can clean it up, why not!?

Anyone have experience with these?

 

What's your budget? You can try a Furman as I've had good results with Furman cleaning up dirty electric. You can also try a Wireworld Power cord as they are power conditioning Power Cords. You can also try one of those small devices you plug into the power outlets as well. Power | Shop High End Audio Equipment - Music Direct

 

Shunyata makes a lot of products that would fit your description. I have the PS8/Venom power cable pair and it does the job for under $1000. Not certain what your budget is. Good luck!

 

I'll be blunt. Assuming you live in a house, I'd just pay an electrician to have a dedicated line to your stereo equipment, thus bypassing anything which would otherwise be tipping its toe in your current and creating or exacerbating the buzzing you describe. It would likely cost you far less, too.

In the last couple of weeks, two members bought power conditioners which did nothing to solve the issues they had. They're marketed as miracles but I've rarely seen them help anybody out in a significant way.

Make sure you can return it for a refund. That's my advice, if you decide to buy one.

 

If it's not audible why bother?

 

Read up on what you have interest in, make sure you understand what they do. A "power conditioner" does just that, conditions the current coming in and may/can limit the current, which can have negative effects on your amp. Your amp needs the ability to draw the current to handle music peaks, if it gets limited there you will not have those dynamics in music.
It's in the same vein of pop, click, hiss removal software for vinyl....they remove music bits as well as limiting the pop, clicks and hiss. Better for your ears to just buy a new record.......

 

Sent you a PM/

 

How about those magnets that clamp around the interconnect that are supposed to 'clean the juice'.

Did you lift the ground on any of the offending equipment?

 

I have experience with several brands. They sorta have their pro’s and con’s. If I were in your shoes I would go with a mid series Panamax unit. I have had good experience with Panamax specifically for lowering or eliminating noise. It doesnt do as well with surge protection... but its quieter.

Surge X and furman do a little better for surge but are not as good for noise.

I would avoid Pyle. They sometimes have good stuff and sometimes useless junk in way of products.

There is a lot of truth in adding a dedicated circuit. Not always possible. Check your grounds. Don’t use the microwave! God gave your wife small feet so she can get to the stove close like. Never buy her a watch, there’s a clock on the stove. I only say these funnies here because they would not be appreciated at home.

 

I have this in my system, did the job for me..

APC H10 Home Theater Power Conditioner

 

Blue Circle power conditioners

I can whole-heartedly endorse, as have many others. Even the most basic ones will make a noticeable improvement.

 

If your power line is supplying dirty power, the rectifier & capacitor bank(s) in your gear can pass at a low level noise beyond the standard 120Hz ripple. I believe this can show up on the audio continuously beyond the pops & other obvious noise. Hearing that requires top performing audio gear with a high resolution.

 

A computer UPS device from some place like newegg may help.

 

Because he's now aware of it. Some people are like that. If I told my mom there was a small hole in the wall behind one of the hung picture frames, she'd absolutely need to have it fixed pronto regardless of the fact nobody would ever see it.

 

Ha, it's more like telling your mom there's a ghost in the house. Then again much of this hobby is like hunting for poltergeists.

 

For the past two days I've experienced a strange problem with my system. Yesterday morning and this morning I got terrible distortion coming out of the speakers. I isolated it to the power amp / preamp (the headphone outputs on all the input devices sounded fine). After turning the system on and off several times and not having anything improve, I concluded something is dying in power amp or the pre-amp. A last try later on in the morning, and everything's fine. Same thing today -- earlier I got the same, overwhelming distortion. At the moment, past 11 am, everything is back to normal.

Could this be a power related / power conditioning problem? Or a intermittent problem indicating a component failure? I suppose it could be the latter, but it's interesting to me that that things righted themselves at approximately the same time for two days in a row.

Any ideas?

 

If it's getting back to normal again, maybe it's something else in your house or a neighbors house interfering (or a HAM radio or some other source of EMI)

 

I kinda don't think it's in our house -- we haven't changed anything or bought any new electrical/electronic stuff, but living in the Tokyo region and the fact there's a big electrical substation maybe three quarters of a mile from us could have something to do with it...

I hope that's it. Having an amp or preamp down isn't something I want to happen right now.

 

They are not magnets, but usually ferrite filters and they can do an excellent job of controlling RFI/EMI. We use them on data lines and even to prevent relay coils from throwing noise back into control systems. Always wondered why no one seems to use them in the audio world.

As to power conditioners, I’ve always had good success with Furman. Pretty reasonable and great quality. Another option I’ve had great success with in the commercial world is Oneac. They used to make a nice line of conditioners that were 1:1 isolation transformers. They can be very heavy, but decently priced and very effect for the kind of noise described by the OP.

 

Stay away from Pyle! I had one, and sent it back, it's noisier than running gear without it. Inexpensive Furman's are OK - have one, too, works fine. Can also recommend a US company called ART. They make fine inexpensive power conditioners. Have one running for 15 years - still going strong, and no issues.

ART Pro Audio

 

Most of those units only address power interruptions, but they don't filter squat. And when these are active, the output is usually an ultra noisy waveform which resembles a square wave.

The only purpose for a UPS on an audio system IMO is if you are having issues with brief power interruptions, or you are trying to protect your media-PC from going down hard in a power interruption.

 

@Stefan Keep an eye out on Canuckaudiomart.com they frequently have "affordable" power conditioners come up for sale. Not sure what your definition of affordable is though.

If you buy right, you can easily resell if it's not doing the job for you. I bought myself an APC unit in silver. Then found one in black so bought that one too. Flipped the silver and broke even and it sold fast.

They don't come up that often though so jump on one when you see it, if you are interested.

 

For peace of mind I use Tripp-Lite surge protectors in my main HT. Inexpensive but well-built / sturdy / rugged. As well as surge protection, the (bonus) claim is that they also deal with "disruptive line noise transferred through the electrical outlet." Since I don't hear any, I assume that I either did not have any to start with, or that they are doing their job.

 

My recommendation. Plug a Shunyata Defender in one socket of the duplex outlet and a well made simple power strip without an on off switch or any further circuit protection in the other outlet.

 

I have a brick wall that I plug my amplifiers into and it fixed a problem I was having with surges blowing a mains fuse in my tube amp. My house has very old wiring...

Does not appear to limit transients in any way: Surge Protectors for Audiophiles | Brick Wall

Surge Protectors, UPS Systems and Voltage Regulators | Brick Wall