Where to put powerlines first

just wondering about people’s experience with powerlines. Like many here I can only justify getting one every now and again as they are not exactly cheap. Where are they more effective, on source components or on poweramps? I need 8 in total and that wont be happening any time soon. I have one on my 552 and another on my 555ps. I have a third and have not installed it yet and am tempted to put it on the bass 250 of an active dbl system. My other option is to put it on the armageddon. I dont really want to pull things appart a dozen times so was hoping some of you could share your experience.
thanks
Mario.

I would always use on source first to be honest

ok Antz, thank you, I’ve just heard lots of reports that they work very well on power amplifiers, and since they draw lots of current, there is some logic to this thinking. Wish I could just get 5 more but the expense it too high.

I have powerlines on all mine, but choice first would be source and then AMP & PSU’s the most difference IMO is from source

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Interesting question and probably best concluded with getting one and trying it on the kit you have moving it around. I’ve been inclined towards putting them on the source in preference when I had a mix of cords.
Perhaps an obvious point but sorting out your mains supply first helps everything of course in having a dedicated mains radial from your supply.

Why not start out with the one that may well bring benefit to all the kit - the inlet lead for the mains block.

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And if that has a fixed cable is there a phonostage ps or does it run off the 552? It’s a toss up between that and the geddon, than the snaxo ps and power amps last. Non Naim boxes don’t always benefit, if you have any that is, Rega ones don’t for a start.

My mains is all sorted and Im building a power block from un-switched MK wall sockets. Thing is that if they are on a power amp, their benefit will always be heard where if you put it on one of your source components, it will only be utilised when that source is used. My naimed LP12 and CDS3 555PS are used equally.

Tried mine repeatedly on every box and have always come back to the power amp.

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Then build the strip with an IEC input socket.
I built mine with a fixed cable before powerlines were available and haven’t redone it as I mount the single MKs directly onto the wood of one board, rather than using backing boxes, an MK socket demands quite a complex cutout. A second board, of a different wood, was grooved by chisel to cover the wire runs. The sockets aren’t star earthed or star anything else so plug order comes into play but it has seen off a Musicworks Ultra, albeit the one before the one everyone was raving about recently with the speckled bottom.

i was not planning to wire the MK sockets in series, I was planing to run each wire to a junction then from that junction one live, one neutral and one earth to each mk socket. This way plugging order wont matter and I thought this was like a hydra, am I wrong to do this?

My Aria benefits, I’m sure…:thinking:

…maybe I should look at that again as it has no earth?..

…even my office UQ2/NSats benefit via. the upstairs ring main (not on the dedicated CU/separate mains) over the Powerlites, which is frustrating as I was hoping I could use one of the 2 spares from the Nova & 250DR and sell on the Powerlines left over from my deboxing. The difference is so good that I would probably be tempted not to listen if it weren’t for the Powerline on the UQ2…there is indeed black magic at play :flushed:

I tried one on a Rega DAC, absolutely horrible, thin and abrasive.

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That was plan A using 3 doubles but the biggest junction box I found couldn’t take 4 of the 2.5mmsq cables I was using, maybe if I’d used a punch to compact them all before trying to secure them but the receptacles split when trying to do it with the screws. I could have used thinner cable I suppose.

It makes a sizeable difference on the Aria, just tried it again (much smoother, relaxed and bigger sound)…baffles me??? :thinking:

I found that when I got my first one the power amp was the best place for it. That was a 250.

I think that discrete power supplies probably ameliorate the worst aspects of ordinary cables so I’d be tempted to use Powerlines preferentially on components without discrete power supplies.

That makes sense to me.

Agree

I did that last, but it made a very big difference, so starting there may well make sense.