I spoke to Paul McGowan about this exact question last year at AXPONA, and he said there was no benefit to keeping power "reserve" on the regenerators. That is, the performance is the same for a 900 watt laod as for a 200 watt load. I have about 700 watts running through mine and have no complaints about either sonic quality or heat buildup.
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The PS power regenerator is the biggest gimmick on the planet. It's totally totally unnecessary and actually uses a lot of electricity when it's just plugged their waiting to be used. Spend a lot of money just keeping this box plugged into the wall over the course of a month maybe 25 $30 a month because it's 100 W continuous before it even does its thing to power your equipment. You rarely hear comments about how it's improved and enhanced sound. I use a Power isolator from transparent to reduce interference along the powerline and it seems unrestrictive and I can put lots of stuff on this thing. I think this glorified power switch I use is helpful and it makes me feel better. |
I am guessing you are using the P3? or the next one up, the P12? For two years I used the P3 and plugged my Preamp, Transport, Phono preamp, DAC, streamer and PS Audio M700s driving Magnepans into it. Never once had a problem. Upgraded to M1200s plugged into the P3 thinking I might need to upgrade the P3. Ran with the P3 for a year, no problems. I wanted more outlets on my powerplant so I upgraded to the P12 which has a wattage meter on the front. Running louder than I'd care to listen to for very long, it has never peaked above 500 watts usage. 95% of the time those amps are using very little power, even at 80 db and the Maggies are running full range. This has been my experience and not only does the P12 improve overall performance, the level of protection provided is very comforting. |
When I first stumbled upon Audiogon, I was thinking about buying a PP 15 for my own system, having read about the vast improvement in the quality of the power and how much better my system would sound. Looking for reviews on the PP12, I came across this on a site I had never heard of. ASR. So I posted this link and asked members, who is ASR and how is it possible they seem to show the PP12 does nothing, according to all the tests they ran. Now this is just electricity we are talking about so the test results should be pretty obvious. The PP12 should show very clear and marked improvements. All I learned by posting my question on Audiogon is you can’t say anything that could be construed as positive when talking about ASR. So I will go out on a limb and pose the question again. How is the testing and review of the PP12 faulty? Because if it’s not, the PP12 is a giant waste of money. BTW, I also directed this review and question to Paul at PS Audio. He got back to me but not with any substantial explanation. So I’m still waiting for anyone to refute the ASR review with some science to back it up. Cheers. @amir_asr
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"Audio forum wisdom says plug your amp into the wall. ... Stereophile seemed to agree.
Now I’m confused. That article seems to say the exact opposite. The concluding paragraph states that most audiophiles (this was 15 years ago, remember) compromise the sound of their systems by plugging amps into the wall. And I'd take issue with the phrase "audio forum wisdom." Maybe "audio forum opinion" would be more accurate! Just sayin'. |
