vlasor said:
My question is regarding power sources, and what most people are using in the studio environment for power, and why? Is it okay to just run off of a power conditioner, or is it recommended to get a voltage regulator?
Last I checked, a voltage regulator was a $0.50-$30 part (depending on voltage and current rating) used on the inside of some power supplies. I don't think it will help you, though most of your gear probably has at least one inside it.
As for a power conditioner, generally speaking, TheDewd is probably right, IMHO.
Even most of the cheapest of modern electronics have reasonable noise rejection in the power supply, so they aren't likely to make any difference there. Most modern power supplies also can take a fairly wide voltage range and produce the right output voltage, so voltage sags aren't likely to cause problems for hardware built in the last couple of decades.
However, I would caution that this isn't necessarily the case for tube electronics. If you have anything tube powered, the high voltage section probably won't have voltage regulation built into it. It isn't really practical to down-convert to a manageable DC level, voltage regulate it, modulate it back to AC, and step it back up to a high voltage, particularly at the current required. Thus, if you're using tubes, a power conditioner probably isn't a bad idea.
Beyond that, about the only reason reason I can think of to own a power conditioner is for the financial protection if your gear gets hit by a huge power surge and toasts itself.... And a cheap UPS will offer comparable surge protection (both electrically and financially) for generally a lot less money.
