[Mr.Sneis]

Apologies; I have a little less experience in power!
 
I measured with a multimeter there output voltage of a outlet where I live, it seems to be 117v; is this going to be hurting my sonics?
 
I'm thinking about picking up a PS audio PPP possibly

 

[ClemBurmingham]

IMHO no.  Perhaps a much wiser individual can further elaborate on this topic and provide me as well with some incite.  For the most part sockets should read a range, not always be dead set 120v (unless you have a fantastically wired home and maybe come straight off the power plant), so I don't see why a reading of 117v would be damaging.  Given that I'm going to throw my 2 cents in and say no.

 

[FallenAngel]

The short answer is don't worry about it.  Depending on where you are in relation to your transformer station, you could be getting between 115V-125V, no big deal or any concern at all really.

 

[Mr.Sneis]

Alright, I'm starting to get talked out of it haha.

 

[Mr.Sneis]

This is interesting.  I measured the DC V on my outlets and I think I may have found some DC current in the line; if I did it correctly I set my multimeter to 20v DC v and found a reading of around 5, if I set the multimeter to 200v DC v then it reads about .50
 
Is this normal?  I seem to be reading that DC should not be found on AC lines; and I've also recalled somewhere that it's likely to come from random household appliances...
 
My room mate also mentions that the house tends to blow lightbulbs quite regularly and I observe when turning on my receiver the lights dim for a millisecond.

 

[FallenAngel]

Most meters aren't able to read accurate DC voltage when there's so much AC.
 
As for lights dimming when turning on a receiver, it means your circuit is highly loaded...

 

[bada bing]

 
Quote:

This is interesting.  I measured the DC V on my outlets and I think I may have found some DC current in the line; if I did it correctly I set my multimeter to 20v DC v and found a reading of around 5, if I set the multimeter to 200v DC v then it reads about .50
 
Is this normal?  I seem to be reading that DC should not be found on AC lines; and I've also recalled somewhere that it's likely to come from random household appliances...
 
My room mate also mentions that the house tends to blow lightbulbs quite regularly and I observe when turning on my receiver the lights dim for a millisecond.

 
 
If you actually have DC on the AC line it is not normal, but would not be that unusual. Your multimeter test doesn't have much validity though.
 
One big tell-tale for DC imposed on your incoming AC is a humming transformer. Humming/buzzing and excessive transformer heat are the detrimental effects of DC. Audio equipment runs on DC internally and given reasonably good PSU regulation, nothing will show up or be particularly audible in the amps performance. 
 You don't want to run your amps for long periods on a dirty AC line though, because of the heat and mechanical wear-n-tear. Flourescent lighting, lighting dimmers, and appliances with electric motors are the big power contaminators. It's best to move such devices off of the circuit you regularly use for your audio equipment.

 

 

[Mr.Sneis]

Thanks for the feedback guys, I'm a little worried about it all, but it's quite expensive to get into the power cleaning products, plus also hard to make sure I'm getting in the right stuff.  My receiver transformer definitely hums while its on, it's quite old too though.  Luckily I generally turn stuff off when not in use.

 

[Uncle Erik]

There shouldn't be DC on the line, but it does happen.

If you have an iron handy, you can always build something like DaBlok (http://diyparadise.com/web/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=62&Itemid=26) for a few bucks. An isolation transformer will also take the DC off the line.

I like to run an isolation transformer - a couple of diodes and caps will work, but the isolation transformer is a little more robust. You can find a variety of them over at Nebraska Surplus. They also kill ground loops, which is a nice benefit.