I am pondering getting a power conditioner. However, I thought I would ask what the "objective" view on power conditioners is.
This is the story - the power supply in my house varies between 220V and 260V. I don't think I can hear the fluctuation in power supply, but over the years I have had various equipment failures which have been blamed on the power supply.
For example, my Cary CAD-211AE monoblocks are manufactured in the USA. These amplifiers sound wonderful, but they are unreliable and blow something every 12 months. My engineer believes that these may be due to power supply variations - he noted that the capacitors were under-rated for Australian conditions (particularly when the input voltage exceeds 250V) but would be perfectly safe for the US market. When I asked why, he said that manufacturers think differently to DIY'ers - the most important thing for a manufacturer is to ensure consistent delivery of parts, so they tend to settle on what is most available for a long period of time.
Another example is my JL Audio subwoofer, which has blown its amplifier board twice within five years. It was repaired by a different engineer, but he too blamed power supply variations.
My main motivation for wanting a power conditioner is not so much to improve the sound (although that would be welcomed) - but to avoid equipment failure from power spikes. However, I must confess my ignorance when it comes to electronics, so I have to ask the question to people who would know.
What is your take on this? What is the best type of power conditioner to get?
Objective(experienced) view: http://sound.whsites.net/articles/mains-quality.htm