So just what is Clean Power? And just what is Dirty Power?

[Red Planet]

So we have seen both of these terms thrown around pretty darn loosely and not a lot of substance.
So as it affects your amp and or rig as a base what are the two?
And just what is a power conditioner and how is power conditioned?
Are the the electrons made to stand at attention by a good conditioner?

If you have some really dirty power from 2 miles away can it even be undirtied?
I have installed a 1:1 ration on incoming 120 voltage in front of PLC's before to isolate the unit from other sensitive equipment. So I can see where some thing s would work really well. I really cant see how a couple hundred bucks can help much in the electricity department, maybe one to five grand could make a difference? Just thinking out loud.

 

[stratpaulguy86]

I think "dirty power" can refer to any power source that fluctuates in voltage and/or causes audio interference with your audio equipment.

Many power conditioners can stabilize the incoming source of spikey power giving you a much more consistent voltage.

 

[Red Planet]

What power conditioners? Which ones? I don't think there is a unit out there that can protect against voltage drop unless it has a battery in it, and for audio equipment it would be a big circuit with an inverter in it.

 

[smolder]

I'm told... The best method is to convert AC to DC and then back to AC... Then you can get a nice clean sine wave. That's expensive, and while helpful for audiophile reproduction, not really needed for a distortion generator (guitar amp). Many inexpensive power strips (furman) include some minimal filtering. $50-100. Better filtering costs more. There are probably better places to obsess or spend money... YMMV.