Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Technical Questions A/C Line Conditioner

Thanks, Ajax. I felt that way too.

Thanks goodness we get to share the internet with you during your 'old sage' years, Jack.

Axiom Forum Rules
#1: Do not discuss speaker cable.
#2: Do not discuss interconnects.
#3. Do not discuss AC line conditioners.
<-- Note the smirk, it's a joke people!

I don't agree with the post about requiring supremely expensive cables as I'm quite happy with my belden & canare wiring from Blue Jeans. I'd say that so long as a cable/interconnect is solidly constructed, you're going to get 99% of the performance of I-could-have-bought-a-motorcycle priced cables. If you're an audio '1%er', then maybe that's important to you. It isn't to me. But this is off topic, so I'll leave my opinion at that.

I will stand up and say that, at least for me, the line conditioner does provide some benefits other than being an expensive surge protector & having a spiffy display. It's pretty simple to plug my DVR into the wall and hear an occasional moderately annoying tick-tick-tick noise in the dolby digital stream, and for that noise to almost completely vanish when plugged into the PF60. I'm not making it up, it's not subtle, and no other variables have changed in the audio-electric topology of my home theater system. I wouldn't disagree a bit that something could be wrong with the DVR that the PF60 is somehow covering up, but the fact remains that the PF60 IS doing something positive other than adding another 40 pounds to my already stressed out AV rack. Would I have paid $600 for it? Absolutely not. But at the (IMHO) good price that I found mine for, I'm happy.

I would never tell someone asking, 'what do I need for a good system,' that a power condition is absolutely required. It isn't. But I will describe my positive experience to someone asking if an AC line conditioner would help them, as the OP has done.

Regarding chesseroo's last post, I am not saying that the noise that is entering through my service entrance is affecting sound quality. However, there is so much noise that is radiating out from my receptacles and lights that I can't calibrate my channels unless I turn my lights off. For example, the autocalibration feature on my Denon sets all channels to +12dB. With the lights off (incandescent by the way), the Denon sets them all to within a few dB of zero. If I hold my SPL meter at waist level with all of my lights on, it reads 85dB. If I hover next to a receptacle, it reads 95 dB. If I turn my lights off, I go down to about 45 dB. If I shut off the circuit to the receptacle I just measured, the meter reads about 45 dB. The problem is so bad that I can trace my house-wiring in my wall with the SPL meter! I can't hear this noise because it is above my hearing threshold but I am sure it somewhere between 20KHz to 30 KHz (otherwise I am sure my meter wouldn't detect it). And by the way, my neighbor to the east has the same problem but my neighbor to the west does not. The utility does not doubt me. They believed the problem could be due to a cracked insulator however that turned out to not be the case. And they are ill-equipped and trained to tackle these kinds of problems as an engineer at the utility confided in me. So I am asking again. If anyone knows of a company that sells power line filters that I can install at the service entrance, I'd sure like to look into them. Thanks.

Wow Mojo, that sounds like a much more serious problem! I'm not an electical engineer, so I can't even understand how the receptacle and the power lines themselves would be generating a detectable sound on their own. That's crazy! I've heard transformers humming, but never lines and outlets!! If the noise changes when you turn your lights on and off, could it be a problem with the light switch?

I would have to say that your best course of action would be to call an electrician, as a cracked insulator or a switch that's going bad could cause much larger problems than your system not being able to calibrate itself!

Amen to that. That's simply not right.

Here you go link

Here is another one. link

Thanks jakewash. I will look into the products that these companies offer. Unfortunately it's not a surge suppressor that I need but rather a line filter or conditioner of some kind.

Quote:

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If I hover next to a receptacle, it reads 95 dB. If I turn my lights off, I go down to about 45 dB. If I shut off the circuit to the receptacle I just measured, the meter reads about 45 dB. The problem is so bad that I can trace my house-wiring in my wall with the SPL meter!

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Mojo that is certainly an odd problem (and somewhat scary). I'm not sure the sound is in that range though as the Radio Shack SPL meters do not register that high a frequency. With C weighting my owners' manual states 32hz to 10,000 for the RS meter.

Jack, leave your "how to be a holier than thou forum P.C. spokesman" comments for people that will actually listen. I've posted here too long to be interested.
There's a ton of posters over at AVS that could use your help though.

I own Belkin PureAV PF60 too. Very happy with the looks. It is also good in terms of peace of mind since i know that all my expensive stuff is properly (I hope) protected from surges.

I can tell you guys at least one accasion when my power conditioner helped me: I had a terrible hum at my old place coming from the cablebox, which disappeared once I run the cables through the PF60. Usefull, isn't it!! Yet, I did not notice any improvement video or audio wise.