Amplifier is now off the Power Conditioner
Well I'm running my 200WPC 833C SET monoblocks off PS Audio P5 power regenerators, and they sound better WITH the regenerators. Because of the power draw of the amps, I need to use one P5 per channel, but the dynamics seem to be better with the regerators. Perhaps that's because of the low output impedance and 50 Amp peak power capability that PS Audio claims for these units. The Midlife Crisis |
Any amp of decent power that sounds better plugged into a power conditioner should be sold ASAP. That may be a slight bit of hyperbole, but ask any reputable amplifier designer if you should plug their product into a conditioner. The answer will be universally - NO! (In fact, one reputable designer already responded to this thread, so you don't have to take my word for it.) Virtually everyone I've come across in this hobby who has tried it themselves comes to the same conclusion as the original poster in this thread. There are some that do less harm than others, and there are some parallel devices like RPGC you could get away with using, but you're going to waste money gaining almost nothing. Funny story...I had an argument on this topic with the designer of a power conditioner. We lived in the same town and I invited him to bring his $3.6k conditioner over, and we would test it. He was in the local audiophile group and they made a whole meeting around it. Others brought different power conditioners to try and guess what... My system never sounded worse...In fact, one of them was choking my amps so bad that it was nearly unlistenable. Funniest thing is that they never stayed around long enough to hear my system with the amps plugged straight into the wall. They just packed up their 30-50lb conditioners and left. I'm sure some of them didn't want to admit being wrong, so they blamed my system for the poor audio instead of it being due to every single power conditioner. Nevertheless, I knew what my system sounded like without conditioners on the amps, and the A/B testing on numerous conditioners gave me great confirmation of what every amp manufacturer says. |
My experience is tube power amp benefits with active power regenerator like PS Audio powerplants. Tube amp tends to draw roughly the same current during use, so quick draw of high current is not needed as AB mode solid state amp in dynamic blast. I have used two P10's for my 200w Sonic Frontier mono blocks for two years with good result. The sound is much better with the powerplants. Once, there was some problems with one powerplant and it had to be sent back for repair. I didn't want to turn on the amps without powerplant, the sound was flat and mean. |
We need to distinguish between conditioners and regenerators here. The first simply filters the AC. The second regenerates it in a cleaner state and provides a store of energy for quick bursts of power so it shouldn't strangle the sound. My amps have huge power supplies (I know, I built them). The output stage of each mono has >340 joules of energy storage! In a Class A amp! I find the sound to be cleaner and more consistent with the regenerators in place. |
