Power Cables and Power Conditioning

Audio systems are electrical and draw their power from the outlets in your home.  Even in Boston, MA homes with dedicated direct service lines and hospital-grade outlets, noise contamination from motorized appliances and computer equipment is unavoidable.  Removing this contamination while maintaining the current drawing capacity of your power conditioning system is the purpose of specialty audiophile power products.  One may well wonder how, when the power wiring in your home almost certainly uses commodity 14/3 "Romex" wiring, can the last 6 feet make a difference?  Turn the question around instead and ask, "How can you make your system access power that is as noise-free and unimpeded as possible?"

Investing in a fine music or home theater system is no small outlay, and no one wants to see cherished components go up in smoke as a result of a power surge.  This concern has stimulated the growth of a whole product category of "surge suppressors".  Unfortunately, many of these products have the unintended effect of choking the ability of your components to re-create the dynamics of live music found in your recordings. 

AudioQuest and Transparent Audio engineers researched the available techniques for protecting electronics from voltage spikes and surges, and filtering noise from the power line, and chose less commonly used "parallel" filtration methods, compared to most that use "series" components that clamp down on voltage...and potentially on musical dynamics. 

Nordost takes a modular approach, eschewing active noise filtration and surge suppression in their QB power distributors in favor of a "star grounding" system that shunts AC noise to ground without any effect on the music signal.  Their QX4 power purifier adds the active noise filtration and is positioned before the QB when used.  It too functions effectively without loss of peak current capacity.  Their QRT modules can be added for further cumulative improvements, and the new QKore ground enhancement unit represents the final step in AC optimization.  These items are designed to be used with Nordost Micro Mono-Filament power cords.

Natural Sound also handles two brands that do use series filtration...SurgeX and WattBox.  SurgeX is a premium supplier of extremely effective power management products.  Their Advanced Series Mode technology utilized inductive/capacitive circuitry to totally eliminate--rather than suppress--the surge energy. They do not use Metal Oxide Varistors, which can degrade over time.  WattBox is our most affordable power product line, with reliable fireproof MOV surge protection and series noise filters.  For systems without the ambitions of true High-End reproduction, these products offer security and peace-of-mind.

Want to learn more about power conditioning systems and what our team at Natural Sound can do to protect and maintain yours? Feel free to give us a call or fill out our online contact form here for a no-obligation consultation. We’d love to hear from you!