>
> Does it suck ? Yes. Does it bother me ? A little. I know a couple of
> SERIOUS hi-fi nuts who have taken matters into their own hands and
> installed
> some serious power-conditioning units (basically, AC-DC-AC conversion) and
> run a separate ring-main just for their hi-fi components. Can I hear a
> difference ? Well, yes - but more to the point is that the cost of the
> hi-fi kit in question means it is worth a sizeable investment in power
> conditioning to stop it going boom when the power drops (or rises) out of
> spec.
>
I install Furman power conditioners and/or voltage regulators with every
sound system I sell. Here in North America, my favorite to use is the P-1800
AR. Yes, it makes a HUGE difference. For the amps, I just use power
conditioners due to cost-control measures, but when I can convince the
customer to spend more, the P-1800 AR is what I sell.
You really can hear the difference and it doesn't take much. When possible,
I have a centralized power conditioning system installed in the rooms with
the circuit-breakers and have all stage outlets conditioned. This way we
don't end up with nasties coming from guitar amps, keyboards, electronic
drums and other plug-in doodads that seem to multiply like cramps after
eating too many sliders.
One church we were on staff at at a three-phase power entrance. We were able
to map all the HVACs in such a way that it didn't interfere with the
sound-system. I had a 200A feed to a panel just for the sound system
itself. Sound system was completely star-grounded and we kept the amps in a
rack below the board itself so everything was within 3 meters distance. We
had individual breakers for almost everything. It was impressive in that
nothing could brown out that system. A few months after we moved on to
another church, this one got hit by lightning. The lightning hit the roof
and wiped out the lighting system, one speaker and two hanging choir mikes.
Oh, and a keyboard, piano mike, two amplifiers, two compressors and
self-powered sub-woofer. As the lightning essentially hit the hanging mikes
and speaker, it backfed into the mixer and blew out about 1/4 of the
channels (replaceable channel models) and the master section. As it was a
very nice 6-month old mixer, the insurance company wanted it fixed--not
replaced. I performed the repairs on everything. We determined that had the
grounding of the sound system wasn't so good that we would have probably had
some stuff damaged. :/
Our current church is pretty small, but I installed a decent digital mixer
in it and replaced the amps, speakers and mikes. Well, it sounded like mush
until I put the power-conditioner in place. We A-B compared and it was no
contest.
AG
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