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  3. 1340762383

A poor man's Synergistic Research Enigma PS?

For those that use SR cables that employ their Active Shielding know how big of an impact the MPC PS has on the cables performance. I started with the standard MPC's powering my cables active shielding and then stepped up to the Galilleo MPC for a substantial improvement in performance but that improved performance came at quite a cost and that being $400 for each Galilleo MPC and if you have more than one SR cable, that adds up quick!!!

Having heard several demos of the Enigma Active Shielding PS at RMAF, I came away that this is the ultimate expression of what Active Shielding can provide to a cables performance and that is exceptionally substantial! With that in mind, I started by running my MPC's with balanced power which did improve the performance of the cables but with only marginal improvements. I then stepped up to the Galilleo MPC's which did substantially improve the cables performance but still seemed to be a dark cloud over what I had heard with the Enigma.

On a whim one day, I ran an extension cord from the PS Audio PP-600 AC Regenerator that powers the HT system over to the power strip that provides power to all my MPC's and sat down for a listen... everything and I mean everything improved in a most substantial way!! Treble was vastly more pure, bass agility/expression was firmly rooted and soundstage exploded in all directions! Music instrument harmonics were also vastly improved much in the same way with the Enigma PS.

This was sooo good that I had to find a way to keep the performance attributes I was experiencing the PP-600 but having an extention cord from the HT room over to the listening room would be unacceptable. It was then that I found a 100 watt AC regenerator for sale here on AA Trader and decided to give it a shot. Running the regenerator from balanced power and it providing juice for the MPC power strip, the musical/system performance improvements provided by the PP-600 were again more firmly anchored and a system improvement much more economical than the Enigma and one that has prompted me to vocalize my enthusiasm and suggest to all those that use SR cables to power their MPC's with regenerated power.

While a small wattage AC regenerator may seem to be overkill for some, in this application it is MUCH cheaper than the Enigma's price tag and that is even if one can find an Enigma for sale as I think SR has discontinued it's production but I may be mistaken on that.

~
nmmusicman
mechans
3,048 posts
 
Good on ya then.
Actually I wondered about power regenerators but ultimately decided on a dedicated line which also makes all of my PCs sound better. I needed electrical work done on the house so this was a natural decision. I can still make out slight differences between cables but they are minor at best. If I hadn't done that then I would have considered a big power regenerator.
ulysse21
13 posts
 
Thank you for your very interesting feed back Nmmusicman!
ulysse21
13 posts
 
About 100 watt AC regenerator, please can you give brand and model?
nmmusicman OP
276 posts
 
Sure Ulysse21,

It's a Monarchy Audio unit which can be found here:
http://www.monarchyaudio.com/AC_Regen_frm_Main.htm

Cheers

~
sabai
2,027 posts
 
I have a Monarchy AC regenerator plugged into a Bybee Stealth power conditioner that is plugged into an SR PowerCell 10SE power conditioner that is plugged into a medical grade isolation transformer that is plugged into an SR TESLA Plex SE receptacle.

I have lots of SR Galileo MPCs in my system. Dollar for dollar, the isolation transformer is the best value of anything I have ever put in my system -- a quantum leap over the SR MPC or SR PowerCell. In my system, at $350 for the isolation transformer (other brands are much less), the sonic improvements of the MPC ($400) or PowerCell ($5000) do not compare to the sonic improvements of the isolation transformer -- or to the sonic improvements of the Monarchy AC regenerator at $750.
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