[dagothur]

   
I think everything in that photo, except for the cable, is ugly as hell.  No industrial design awards will be handed out for any of that gear - but whoa!  The sound is most assuredly a stunning experience!  And for that, I like looking at the photo and pondering what it must be like.

It speaks of elegance to me.  Smooth, clean lines and no frills.  The HE1000 looks like a restored vintage can.

 

[bazelio]

Power conditioning is something I haven't dabbled in yet. Honestly I'm kinda skeptical but still have enough of an open mind to try something out. The price of a lot of power conditioning gear is prohibitively expensive though from what I can see. Any idea if there's a cheapskate way of getting some power conditioning benefits?

 
 
Maybe reread what I wrote.  
 
For those skeptical of audiophile megabuck power delivery products, I'm right there with you.  However, if you're skeptical that power delivery itself can affect sound, then I'm not with you at all.  And in fact, once you've got clean power, then I believe other audiophile tweaks like fuses and power cords are going to be much less effective.  Maybe even ineffective.
 
I purchased this Topaz Ultra Isolator at an electronics surplus store.  It's heavy, ugly, and industrial.  It's not an audio product.  It's a 120V/60Hz isolation transformer.  And it does exactly what it's supposed to do.  How would it affect the sound in my audio rig?  Well, that's what I had set out to determine.  A worthwhile experiment, because it was inexpensive and I bought it with a guarantee that I could return it.  So if it had made no audible difference then I'd absolutely have returned it.  But I will definitely not be returning it.  The difference was apparent on the very first song, and for me there's no looking back.  Nevertheless, as I said YMMV.  If power out of your wall is already clean, then there's nothing to be improved.
 
Another piece of anecdotal evidence.  I use simple 12 AWG low inductance power cords.  Nothing fancy, nothing "audiophile".  They do just fine.  Now, recently (before adding the isolation transformer), I needed a couple extra cords and ended up purchasing these "hospital grade" 14 AWG cords just out of curiosity.  Why not, they were only a couple extra bucks from Amazon.  For grins, I decided to try them out on my main audio rig, and guess what ... they absolutely muddied up the sound.  I'm certain that it wasn't just in my mind because the highs on familiar tracks suddenly started clipping whereas previously they had not.  In order to prevent the clipping I had to adjust the gain setting to -1 in Amarra - with no other changes in the system other than power cords.  So absolutely, yes, in my case power cords and power devices have made an undeniable difference - sometimes good, sometimes bad.  As far the hospital grade cords, well they've been relegated to non-audio usage only.

 

[zilch0md]

lol well I agree the HE1000 is pretty ugly, but I do sometimes stare at the Enigma and dribble a little .  I love the design...to me it looks powerful and precise...just how it sounds .

There's no accounting for my poor taste.

 

[zilch0md]

Power conditioning is something I haven't dabbled in yet. Honestly I'm kinda skeptical but still have enough of an open mind to try something out. The price of a lot of power conditioning gear is prohibitively expensive though from what I can see. Any idea if there's a cheapskate way of getting some power conditioning benefits?

Here's my solution for affordable power conditioning (the result of a lot of reading and testing):



Feel free to PM if you have questions (anyone).

Mike

Update August 2017:

 

[Bill G]

Here's my current (loudspeaker-less) system. My complete system list is as follows.
 
Rega Apollo CD Player
Clearaudio Concept Turntable
Sumiko Blue Point Special EVO III Cartridge
Musical Surroundings Phenomena Phono Preamp
Schiit Audio Asgard 2 Headphone Amp
Niles Audio Source Switch Box
Grado RS-2 Headphones
 
Interconnect Cables
Cardas Quadlink (CD)
Transparent Audio MusicLink + (Phono Preamp)
Discovery Cable Plus 4 (Switch Box)
 
AC Cables & Conditioner
PS Audio Power Center AV5000
Cardas Twinlink Powercord (CD)
Shunyata Venom AC (Headphone Amp)
Cardas Cross AC (Power Center)
 
Isolation
Boston Audio Design TuneBlocks
 

 

[Asr]

My system right now, which sounds pretty dang good to me. The Bifrost is the 4490 model.
 

 

[MattTCG]

^^ How come so guys with nice rigs have paneling? 

  That's it, I'm going to home depot for a truck load of sweet 70's paneling! Wait, I wonder if my wife will mind. 

 

[penmarker]

 
Looking at this picture, I never realised how dirty my wall look.

 

[Townyj]

My system right now, which sounds pretty dang good to me. The Bifrost is the 4490 model.

I have always wanted to hear a Gilmore Lite... should of bought one ages ago.

 

[theleboss]

Sadly this is all I have for now!

 

[MattTCG]

^^ Nothing wrong with that! I use the mo 2 when I'm out and about away from home. 

 

[SunTanScanMan]

 
 
Looking at this picture, I never realised how dirty my wall look.

I like the blue accents you have going on there Especially your blue Playstation - you put me on the nostalgia train.

 

[62ohm]

I have always wanted to hear a Gilmore Lite... should of bought one ages ago.

 
They should have named it 'Gilmour' and add some more market value. I'm sure there will be people who will buy it only because it says Gilmour 

 

[theleboss]

  ^^ Nothing wrong with that! I use the mo 2 when I'm out and about away from home. 

Yep, I use them all the time when I need to take the train!

 

[Otheronek]

 
 
Looking at this picture, I never realised how dirty my wall look.

Can you tell me what speakers are on your desk?  Peace OOK