Comments on Profile Post by GoldfishX

I'd guess it's power-related. Those inverters/compressors in AC are pretty taxing on a circuit. You could try an isolation transformer or some kind of conditioning, or just make sure the system is not on the same circuit as the AC, see what happens. If it's voltage sag/inrush current-related, conditioning may not help.

I think it's an old building and the wiring is completely screwed. Luckily I'll be moving before I have to run central AC again (there was a minor heatwave that warranted it). But when the Yggdrasil note "grit" is replaced by shouty digital haze almost overnight, it's easy to identify the culprit.

While I won't necessarily say power conditioning for "audio quality" is mandatory, if you have lots of expensive gear then having those all tapped off a relatively beefy isolation transformer or power conditioner is never a bad thing to protect from the oopsie pop zap let-the-magic-smoke-out accidents.

Sadly the best solution you can go is to get another circuit panel straight from the meter with separate earthing from the other panel (not just another breaker from the same panel) and only your audio gears are connected to that circuit

This way you isolate as much power gremlins from your house so even if you turn on the AC, you don't lose any dynamics and black background of your system. In my case, I have a separate breaker from the same panel and it helped a lot with tolerating heavy noises but still have some variability depending on how many SMPS, heavy appliances are running in the house

Isolation transformer will do wonders in your situation.

Any recommendations on one? I fully expect my future apartment to have similar issues. I've been using a cheap Furman conditioner, then noticed an improvement when I put the amp directly into the wall. Then I noticed the massive dropoff when I ran the AC.

My future homeownership will definitely involve power isolation to the power outlets I plan to use for audio! I would love to see Audiophile-approved apartment complexes!

All earths lead back to the same god.

I have several Tripp-Lite isolation transformers. Compact yet stupid heavy boxes.