needing mains power solutions and advice.

my listening time is usually after 9pm. Family is asleep and i can enjoy my audio in peace for hours till midnight. However, my habbits changed now and my listening time goes from 7pm till late. Sometimes in the late evening even.

I noticed a noticable degradation in sound quality during this time. And i mean a lot. Especially in the mid bass, subBass and soundstage. i live in a housing neighbourhood and not near any industries and factories.

The sound quality drops noticably..however there is no HUMS and HISSES like i heard many people with dirty mains power usually experience. Sometimes....very rarely if someone opens the fridge or switched on the air conditioning, there is a slight POP. just very slight, not enough to bother me. However, the loss in bass and soundstage bothers me to no end. i even switch off the water fountain and it helps the sound slightly.

So what is my solution to this situation? Im pretty sure is the mains power that is inconsistent..since after 9, the sound quality is perfect again after most of the other appliances is switched off

My systems are nad m51 -> gustard u12 -> densen b200 ->densen b330 -> neat mf5 and genesis g928s. I/C and speaker cables are tchernov reference. Power cords and power conditioners are standard.

So what are my solutions to prevent this scenario? i Have close to 0 knowledge on electronics so please not too technical lolz. And hopefully the solution is not too expensive

1) install a power conditioner such as RGPC? or is there other conditioner?
2)install a power regenerator? such as ps audio p3 (too expensive though)
3) dedicated lines? Seriously i have no idea how to do this and would avoid this case if possible. How hard is it to do if i asked the help of an electrician?
4) balanced isolation transformer?
5) any other solutions?
6) stick to listening at 9pm
7) upgrade power cords (pretty sure this is not the solution)

any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks all

 

Little water pump motors (for things like indoor fountains) are notoriously noisy. They throw RF interference all over the place. Not much you can do about it except to turn it off as you're already doing.

An electrician (or you) can use a polarity checker to make sure all of your electrical outlets (230V?) and light/wall switches are correctly wired. Any reversed wiring can be corrected easily.

The clicking and popping you hear when the fridge door opens or the air conditioner is switched on results from noise injected into the electrical circuit by unshielded switches and/or improperly polarized outlets into which the fridge and A/C are plugged.

An electrician can also ensure that you have a proper ground in the system so that the wiring in the house is safe. improper house wiring grounding is a pervasive problem. The electrician can check and tighten all wall switches and outlets to ensure that there are no intermittent connecdtions.

After that's all done, having the electrician install and wire a dedicated circuit to a single outlet for all your stereo/audio/video gear is a good idea. After that's done, you may not need a power filter/conditioner. Have the electrician check all ceiling light fixtures for correct and tight wiring connections. Any electric ceiling fans or floor/desk fans are also a source of RF noise and circuit noise.

Everything detailed above is no more than a morning's work for a qualified electrician.

 

Thank you for the advice. Ill have to an electriciam come over to help me. Much appreciated

 

A dedicated line will always help, but your main issue is voltage drop caused by the demand of the neighborhood. The only practical fix for that is a power regenerator.

 

I too experience a power sag & will most likely be looking toward a power regenerator down the road but will be avoiding any that are fan cooled in favor of 100% passive cooling.

 

Besides the ps audios. Is there any other power regenerator that is cheaper. I have scheduled an appointment with the electrician.

 

I would take voltage readings at peak usage and then another after nine when you said things got back to normal to see if it's drop or just noise getting into the mains. If it's just noise possibly just a power conditioner would work for you.