I know the topic is a ropey one but im going to put some light on this as an engineer from a purely electronic background.
Amplification is a badly missunderstood technology. And its mainly these misconceptions that create these views of mains products being a needless cost. Not to say all systems need it or that you will notice the difference in all systems but electronicly it does make a difference. And here is why!
Most people think an amplifier takes a signal from an input and makes it loud enough to drive your speakers. This is not true!
An amplifier is much more complicated im afraid. What an amplifier does is takes an incoming signal and creates a NEW ONE identical but with a bigger voltage and current. This is where it gets tricky for amplifier builders.
The signal that comes into an amplifier is tiny. thousands of a volt at times and its constantly changing. What your amplifier does is take the input and feed it into an arrangement that comares the signal to itself and then can reduce the voltage however much you want. Essencially a volume control. Then the new signal is fed into a pair of drive transistors. One PUSH transistor and one PULL. As the signal voltage passes into a possitive voltage the push transistor turns on and pulls current straight from the transformer. The higher the transformer voltage the harder it pushes. When the signal drops below 0 and starts becoming a negative voltage the pull transistor does the same. This causes an Alternating current (AC) which in turn drives the Speaker. This AC is the same as the reference current (CD player signal) but is bigger in Voltage. The new signal that is driving the speakers however consists entirely of the amps transformer power. Its this reason that the amp has a sound of its own as wiring components and even the amount of coils on the transformer differ from amp to amp.
Because all electrical components effect the way electrical signals eventually sound, amp builders dont like to build in too much in the way of protection form the mains. The purer the voltage to the transistors the more like the input signal the output signal should be.
Of course all makers are different and all models differ. But remember the mains is messy as hell. Its a circuit with alot of other suff on it and not just yours but the entire country.
Try This:
Turn on your amp and no sources. Now turn it up loud and listen to the speakers. You will almost deffinatley hear a low hissing. You will sometimes even make out voices and even music! This is coming from the mains and even being picked up by the amps chassis. Mains condidtioners help iron this out. creating a more pure voltage does come at a cost though. All that stuff between you an the mains means a loss of current on tap when you need it.
Think of the mains water supply. When you turn your tap on how fast can the water get up to full speed? The more you put on the end of the tap the less pressure you may have to do work. Your amp is the same. When a drum hit comes through, the amp has to instantly pull enough current fast enough to create that signal. If it cant pull it from the transformer quick enough the leading edge of the drum hit may sound softer that it should. This is why mains condidtioners can affects the sond of a hi fi so dramatically. And because different frequencys pull power in a different way cables also have to be very versatile in their design.
Some metals conduct better than others and some have different benefits. ALL CABLES AFFECT THE SOUND! Just like any electrical component a piece of wire can affect the sound of the amp. So cable manufacturers produce the perfect path to ensure maximum flow of power regadless of frequency.
HOWEVER
All this is entirely dependant on the condition of your mains supply and how good your system isolates that supply, and if the system is even good enough to produce the difference. I live in cornwall and thus my mains is nice and clean because theres little down here to mess it up. But in a city it can get really bad. This again is why some people swear that the difference is astounding and others swear it make no difference. Even some areas in big citys get away with little or no mains interferance. Its got to be judged case to case. And even hi-fi component to component. Your amp may need one but not your CD player, or even vice versa.
The point is however undisputable that electrically speaking they do what theyre supposed to.
Amplification is a badly missunderstood technology. And its mainly these misconceptions that create these views of mains products being a needless cost. Not to say all systems need it or that you will notice the difference in all systems but electronicly it does make a difference. And here is why!
Most people think an amplifier takes a signal from an input and makes it loud enough to drive your speakers. This is not true!
An amplifier is much more complicated im afraid. What an amplifier does is takes an incoming signal and creates a NEW ONE identical but with a bigger voltage and current. This is where it gets tricky for amplifier builders.
The signal that comes into an amplifier is tiny. thousands of a volt at times and its constantly changing. What your amplifier does is take the input and feed it into an arrangement that comares the signal to itself and then can reduce the voltage however much you want. Essencially a volume control. Then the new signal is fed into a pair of drive transistors. One PUSH transistor and one PULL. As the signal voltage passes into a possitive voltage the push transistor turns on and pulls current straight from the transformer. The higher the transformer voltage the harder it pushes. When the signal drops below 0 and starts becoming a negative voltage the pull transistor does the same. This causes an Alternating current (AC) which in turn drives the Speaker. This AC is the same as the reference current (CD player signal) but is bigger in Voltage. The new signal that is driving the speakers however consists entirely of the amps transformer power. Its this reason that the amp has a sound of its own as wiring components and even the amount of coils on the transformer differ from amp to amp.
Because all electrical components effect the way electrical signals eventually sound, amp builders dont like to build in too much in the way of protection form the mains. The purer the voltage to the transistors the more like the input signal the output signal should be.
Of course all makers are different and all models differ. But remember the mains is messy as hell. Its a circuit with alot of other suff on it and not just yours but the entire country.
Try This:
Turn on your amp and no sources. Now turn it up loud and listen to the speakers. You will almost deffinatley hear a low hissing. You will sometimes even make out voices and even music! This is coming from the mains and even being picked up by the amps chassis. Mains condidtioners help iron this out. creating a more pure voltage does come at a cost though. All that stuff between you an the mains means a loss of current on tap when you need it.
Think of the mains water supply. When you turn your tap on how fast can the water get up to full speed? The more you put on the end of the tap the less pressure you may have to do work. Your amp is the same. When a drum hit comes through, the amp has to instantly pull enough current fast enough to create that signal. If it cant pull it from the transformer quick enough the leading edge of the drum hit may sound softer that it should. This is why mains condidtioners can affects the sond of a hi fi so dramatically. And because different frequencys pull power in a different way cables also have to be very versatile in their design.
Some metals conduct better than others and some have different benefits. ALL CABLES AFFECT THE SOUND! Just like any electrical component a piece of wire can affect the sound of the amp. So cable manufacturers produce the perfect path to ensure maximum flow of power regadless of frequency.
HOWEVER
All this is entirely dependant on the condition of your mains supply and how good your system isolates that supply, and if the system is even good enough to produce the difference. I live in cornwall and thus my mains is nice and clean because theres little down here to mess it up. But in a city it can get really bad. This again is why some people swear that the difference is astounding and others swear it make no difference. Even some areas in big citys get away with little or no mains interferance. Its got to be judged case to case. And even hi-fi component to component. Your amp may need one but not your CD player, or even vice versa.
The point is however undisputable that electrically speaking they do what theyre supposed to.
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