# is it worth getting a " Power Conditioner "



## seanpatrick (Apr 16, 2013)

... Hey all! - just wondering what your thoughts are on the worthiness of buying a power conditioner. I've been having some problems with feedback, a popping hiss when my speakers are turned up loud on my new Marantz. I spent hours troubleshooting, and in the end am returning it tomorrow ( and upgrading to a Denon X 4000 ). BUT - someone I was talking to today told me it sounded like I had a dirty power problem, and that better receivers are more sensitive to it. He said he just dropped 200 on a power conditioner, and it eliminated that distortion when the volume was turned up. I'm a little hesitant to drop another 200 dollars on top of the money I just spent - in case it's just marketing huey. Any thoughts? In addition - I saw " power conditioners " on ebay for about 40 dollars, are they just crummy or what? 
For eg: 

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/12-Outlet-SLIM-Power-Surge-Protector-Power-Conditioner-/261251929068?pt=US_Surge_Protectors_Power_Strips&hash=item3cd3d413ec

Vs.

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/TRIBUTARIES-TX500-Power-Manager-Line-Conditioner-Surge-Protector-EUC-/321156664701?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4ac66dcd7d


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## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

Power conditioners have there place but they do not fix what you describe. Distortion is caused by either over driving the speakers or the amps. The "popping" sound you heard is called clipping and again is the result of pushing the amps to hard (not good for the speakers)

I do recommend something like this Ethereal power manager the ones you saw on ebay are not worth it.


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## seanpatrick (Apr 16, 2013)

tonyvdb said:


> Power conditioners have there place but they do not fix what you describe. Distortion is caused by either over driving the speakers or the amps. The "popping sound you heard is called clipping and again is the result of pushing the amps to hard (not good for the speakers)
> 
> I do recommend something like this Ethereal power manager the ones you saw on ebay are not worth it.


It's popping when there is no material playing. When the HDMI input is selected I can hear a hiss through the speakers - hiss with a bit of popping, like it's picking up the phono amp on my unit somehow. I would be kicked out of my apartment long before I turned the volume up enough to cause clipping on my PSB 7 speaker set up ... My original conclusion, and that of the " techs " at Marantz, is that there might be a problem with the analog amp of my Refurb unit somehow interfering with the DSP's of the unit. I'll find out definitively tomorrow when I get the Denon x 4000 up and running. I doubt I'll encounter the same problem somehow - I just thought as an afterthought, there might be some benefit to getting one of these power conditioning devices over the surge protectors I have installed.

That conditioner is pretty reasonably priced, by the by.


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## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

Oh ok I misunderstood you in your first post. Its possible that the apartment blocks power is dirty and certainly not unheard of in that situation. 

Yes, its a great deal for the Ethereal. I have two of them and I like the fact they have readouts for voltage and amps. They also have a built in trigger for some of the plugins.


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## seanpatrick (Apr 16, 2013)

tonyvdb said:


> Oh ok I misunderstood you in your first post. Its possible that the apartment blocks power is dirty and certainly not unheard of in that situation.
> 
> Yes, its a great deal for the Ethereal. I have two of them and I like the fact they have readouts for voltage and amps. They also have a built in trigger for some of the plugins.


Thanks for the tip - if I have the same problem with the new Denon then obviously it's an interference problem - and I'll order one of the above ... ( an extra 40 dollars shipping to Toronto unfortunately, but oh well ) .. I don't have a rack mount system - just a typical home theater setup.. do these have to be rack mounted or could I just throw it on top of one of my subwoofers or something?


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## cavchameleon (Jan 7, 2008)

+1 for the Ethereal - a great value. You don't need a rack mount, they have feet on the bottom. If you need more outlets, they have a larger version (which does not have the rack mount ears):

http://www.accessories4less.com/mak...wer-Manager-2000-12-Outlet-6480-Joules/1.html

Pretty much the same design as the Belkin PF60 (minus the switchable timed outlets).


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## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

Rack mounting is optional. They can be place in a normal AV rack or like you said on something else.
Do you have a friend that might also want one? that way you get two and share the shipping cost? Im over in Edmonton so I understand the shipping issues.


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## seanpatrick (Apr 16, 2013)

tonyvdb said:


> Rack mounting is optional. They can be place in a normal AV rack or like you said on something else.
> Do you have a friend that might also want one? that way you get two and share the shipping cost? Im over in Edmonton so I understand the shipping issues.


No, none of my friends have turned into AV junkie's like I have / besides my one buddy from the gym who just spent 200 dollars for one of the above ( the guy who suggested it might be dirty power in the first place ) .. But I will definitely keep this in my purview going forward - again if I run into the same problems I'll definitely order one. Might just take me a couple of weeks ( all in the new AVR will have run me 1220 dollars, so I'm a little hurin' ATM ).


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## seanpatrick (Apr 16, 2013)

cavchameleon said:


> +1 for the Ethereal - a great value. You don't need a rack mount, they have feet on the bottom. If you need more outlets, they have a larger version (which does not have the rack mount ears):
> 
> http://www.accessories4less.com/mak...wer-Manager-2000-12-Outlet-6480-Joules/1.html
> 
> Pretty much the same design as the Belkin PF60 (minus the switchable timed outlets).


Ok, thanks for the info. The above is a little rich for my blood right now - but will definitely consider the cheaper of the two!


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## tcarcio (Jun 27, 2007)

I recall that some Marantz recievers had a popping sound problem but I don't know which model. I think if you google" marantz makes a popping sound" you might find some info.


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## seanpatrick (Apr 16, 2013)

tcarcio said:


> I recall that some Marantz recievers had a popping sound problem but I don't know which model. I think if you google" marantz makes a popping sound" you might find some info.


Yes! I read about this as well - apparently with the 007 series. Mine just happens to be a refurb 6007 - and I actually pm'ed someone who I read was having problems similar to mine. This was his post: 

"I purchased this receiver last weekend and it sounds excellent! But I encountered a problem. The receiver keeps making noise through my speakers at every volume level and on every input. If I keep my ears to my speakers (all 5), I can hear a slight noise. This noise also occurs when the volume is down to zero. This noise doesn't get louder when I raise the volume.
I had it tested today at my dealer, and they had the same issue." ...

Soooo... This could be a Marantz problem as well. The reported problems actually made me decide to give my dealer an extra 300 dollars during my exchange tomorrow to bump up to a brand new Denon X 4000, just in case it was inherent with that model line of receivers. Maybe they're just so sensitive to interference a power conditioner might have fixed it? I guess I'll never know.


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## tcarcio (Jun 27, 2007)

I did a little more digging and the Marantz recievers that had the problem would make a loud pop and then go into protect mode. I don't think that is what your problem is. I googled "Marantz pop of death" and got the info.


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## seanpatrick (Apr 16, 2013)

tcarcio said:


> I did a little more digging and the Marantz recievers that had the problem would make a loud pop and then go into protect mode. I don't think that is what your problem is. I googled "Marantz pop of death" and got the info.


There are posts on AVS forums about the floor noise interference. In fact this is the reply I got from the PM I sent to one of the OP's:

Did you ever get this figured out? I'm having the same problem with my sr6007 frown.gif

CypherMK
Jul 21, 2013 at 4:08 am
Hi Sean.

Unfortunately not. I guess this is really a marantz issue. I also tested this with a marantz 6004,same issue. So I guess we have to live with it.

Grtz


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## chashint (Jan 12, 2011)

This is what all my gear is plugged into http://www.amazon.com/Belkin-BE1122...F8&qid=1374628117&sr=1-19&keywords=plug+strip 
Really don't see any reason to use a power conditioner.
Also the higher end electronics have better noise rejection than low end electronics, so whoever told you otherwise is not being truthful, or they are not knowledgable.


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## seanpatrick (Apr 16, 2013)

Just an update - I've returned the Marantz and got the new X 4000 set up. There's no discernible interference to be heard whatsoever. I guess I'll never know whether it was a Marantz issue, or just my unit being flaky.. though the latter is more believable. Guess I don't need the power conditioner after all! ( just as well as it cost me an extra 300 dollars to upgrade to the X 4000)


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## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

Ita always a good idea to have a good surge protector on your system in any situation, I would still look at getting something even one of these Triplite isobars is a great option.


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## seanpatrick (Apr 16, 2013)

tonyvdb said:


> Ita always a good idea to have a good surge protector on your system in any situation, I would still look at getting something even one of these Triplite isobars is a great option.


I've already got everything hooked up through surge protectors - just in case


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## tcarcio (Jun 27, 2007)

Glad to hear you got things straightened out. I have the Beldon PF-60 and I had no noise at all until yesterday and now I have what sounds like a 60 cycle hum.:dontknow: Now I have to go through my system to see why...:sad:


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