Power regenerator vs conditioner

Ralph, what have you heard or have you tried the Puritan products? I put a lot of stock in your views, so I'm asking!

@hilde45  No, I haven't. I took a look at their website. IMO a passive product like this might have some audible effect, but without active circuitry won't regulate the AC line voltage, filter low frequency harmonics (the 5th in particular) and otherwise remove distortion of the AC line waveform. It does look like it would remove spikes and high frequency noise though.

@atmasphere  Thanks. Paul at P.S. Audio has made the case multiple times against passive conditioners for that kind of reason, and because he sells the very expensive regenerator I wasn't sure if his criticism against passive products went against them as a whole kind of product or just the ones out there now. But Puritan is relatively new, I think, so was kind of hoping Paul was wrong about this. It seems that he's not, at least if I am understanding the implications of what you're saying.

Yes- although its possible to use ferro-resonant transformers to regulate line voltage, they also introduce harmonics and they can be pricey too  if one of the lower distortion models. I've really not seen a decent conditioner that didn't have a lot of active circuitry inside.


BTW this is something that has been going on a long time. They were making power conditioners back in the 1950s that were all-tube, using a device called a saturable reactor. You have to imagine that if there was a perceived need 65 years ago that if it could be solved by a glorified power strip that that would have been done and everyone moved on to bigger fish. But here we are in the 21st century and quality power conditioning is still a thing.

For under a $1000 the Audioquest Niagara 1200 made a huge difference in my system. Highly recommended. 

I wasn't expecting much but it had as much or more impact as changing preamps or amps to bring the sound to life.

When you strip away the marketing hype from Paul at PS Audio and live with their regenerators, I have owned the P20 for 2 years, and before that the P5, and before that the PPP, you realize they:

- produce line noise - the regeneration is not silent, or “free” - it does add some noise

- they are also susceptible to incoming AC noise. That’s why the power cord feeding the P20 maters. At times, there is more background noise in my system, which shouldn’t be the case if the output is “pure, clean” AC. The truth is that it is still starting with (dirty) AC, and some of that does come into the output 

- a pure sine wave is not a requirement for equipment. It seems to make sense that a nice sine wave is important. But it’s not. Your equipment runs on DC and could care less about the incoming sine wave, as it’s flattening it anyway.

- they do nothing to filter noise being generated by your equipment, that gets put back into the line, and therefore affects other equipment 

Don’t get me wrong, the PS Audio Regenerators do work, but they are not perfect. As was said a few times above, you have to listen and trust your ears. A PS Audio may be best for you, or a Shunyata Denali/Everest. These are the two leading contenders today. Audioquest has been surpassed by the latest advancements from Shunyata.