I know power conditioning, surge protectors, and something called distribution boxes have been discussed before, but I didn’t see much conclusion.
I have a decent panel, no real issues, extreme storms occasionally, and one major power outage in the last three years.
Local dealers were looking to sell me a Power Conditioner of some shape or form. IsoTek was recommended by a long time Naim dealer. Most others sells and recommend AudioQuest.
I’ve heard Naim’s POV is no power conditioning. I’ve also read a lot of naysayers about surge protectors on previous threads.
Seems funny to have all this gear plugged into a $15 power strip. I thought it was a no-brainer to get a conditioner, but now I’m uncertain.
My questions:
Currently I have my kit plugged into a standard surge protector power strip. Bad?
Should I buy a conditioner?
Should I buy a fancy surge protector?
I’m in the US. If a distribution box is ideal, which is recommended?
Naim don’t approve of power conditioners. Just get your hands on a Grahams Hydra from Grahams HiFi in Canonbury Yard, London N1. (The similarity of names is purely coincidental, I stress.)
You can also plug it into a 5K power “strip” like the MusicLine PowerIgel Plus (all cables in the Plus are fat Naim PowerLines) like I do @JimDog has a PowerIgel as well, not sure if the Plus, and I think he likes it as well.
MusicLine is the German Naim distributor (now Focal Naim Germany - MusicLine) and they developed the PowerIgel specifically for Naim gear.
Naim have always approved of the Wiremold L10320 as practically the ONLY power strip to be used, of which the AV Options is just a gussied up version. You can pick up a L10320 for about $100 new in the US. I took mine, added an AV Options Plus cable to it, got rid of the wire clips inside that connect the cable to the outlets (solder and wire nuts instead) and screwed it down to a piece of ipe hardwood. Sounds perfectly great to me. No cryo like the AVO one (except the cable) but not sure how much that would matter. I use an iFi AC cleaner as well in it and that makes a small positive difference.
I don’t know about a US version but you can ask them via, www.music-line.biz. The products are under the “ML” menu; the website is German-only but you can copy the URL into translator.google.com. The non-Plus version of the PowerIgel is cheaper (but not cheap) and uses the same regular cables as Naim uses (not the Power-Line). They also have the “Netzleiste” distribution strip, either Plus (with one Power-Line from outlet to strip and a corresponding price) or non-Plus with the regular cable (only about 50 euros). In any case, can’t get much more Naim-approved than that.
I remember on the old forum that members recommended the original PS Audio Juice Bar. Long out of production, they do come up from time to time on the 2nd hand audio marketplace.
I use the AV Options one too. It’s a modified Wiremold which have been recommended for Naim boxes as long as I can remember. AV Options is Chris West’s company and he is a long time Naim-approved expert for Naim service and DR upgrades.
A simple high quality strip with good components & build, star wiring and nothing else is not easy to find. The Isol-8 looks like it but the IEC inlet sits in the wrong place for my setup.
Any experience with this one? The Puritan PS108 ‘Purist’. Ticks all the boxes but I found an inside picture and it has star wiring from a small PCB in the centre of the strip. Hmm…
