sse@BREEZE.bellcore.com (Samuel S. Epstein) (09/19/90)
I bought a Tice power block for my modest system, naively expecting it to solve a problem with very brief blackouts, which I confused with brownouts. It doesn't address this problem at all. When my house loses power for a fraction of a second, the turntable and everything else still go through a power cycle. When a surge (presumably) follows the blackout, it can still trigger my power amp's own protection mechanism, although I'm told the Tice does have surge protection. However, the Tice makes a very dramatic improvement in the system's fidelity. Soundstage is wider, with instruments and voices placed more precisely. Bass is improved. When I was shopping for preamps I faced a tradeoff of liquidity versus what a salesman called "reach out and touch it," and chose liquidity. With the Tice, I retain liquidity and get "reach out and touch it" too. One sonic disadvantage is that the brightness of my listening room (and perhaps of my interconnects) has become more apparent. George Tice persuaded me that this brightness was not a contribution of the power block. I haven't yet experimented with switching plug polarity. I had previously experimented with the Tripplite LC-2400, with very unsuccessful results. I'm using a MFA Magus preamp, Audioquest Emerald interconnects, a PSE Studio 4 amp, and Vandersteen 2Ci speakers biwired with 3 runs of Tara Space and Time and 1 run (on bass) of Tara TFA Return.
tomp@vicom.com (Tom Pohorsky) (09/20/90)
I've heard/read that line level components benefit from a cleaner power supply, but a power amp may not be able to draw all the juice they need. Any thoughts on whether the amp should be on the conditioner ?? -- ames!vsi1!tomp tomp@vicom.com
chowkwan@aerospace.aero.org (09/22/90)
Tom Pohorsky wanted thoughts on whether power amps should be plugged into line conditioners. Here's a thought (and it's just my thought, not intended as gospel). It depends on the conditioner. With a combination like the Tice Power Block/Titan, it becomes feasible to plug the amp into the conditioner. There is a guy on this net who uses them to power VTL Ichibans which are 200 watt monoblock all-triode pure class A amps. There, I always wanted to say that. I'm calling this person a "guy on this net" in case he desires anonymity. BTW this guy uses a dedicated Power Block/Titan combo for each monoblock. Personally, I have a more modest Tripplite and a more modest VTL 90/90. I plug the VTL directly into the outlet. Not so much to preserve the flow of power to the amp but because I find the amp's power draw interferes with the power to the CD player when they are both plugged into the Tripplite. The Sony C7ESD starts sounding harsh and digity when the amp draws down. Plugging the VTL DeLuxe pre-amp into the conditioner does not seem to adversely affect the CD. Now I have a question. Has anyone experimented with generating their own power? i.e. Honda sells these portable power generators. Has anyone tried using something like this (dedicated stereo pair naturally to avoid intermodulation distortion) and perhaps Cardas Hexlink power cords all the way from generator to amp? Admittedly this is probably going over the top but I can imagine some high-end dealer trying something like this to achieve the perfect presentation. After all, many of them spend thousands of dollars building expensive demonstration rooms. Relative to that, the cost of dedicated power no longer seems so outlandish. -- ray