Hey Wolf
I don't recall what your turntable and cart that you are using along with you 640P and the Pangea P100. Would you mind sharing?
The reason I ask is that I put the DacMagic's 1500 mA Power Supplly on my 640P and didn't hear a drastic improvement if any at all. With the larger PS on the 640P the records I was playing the sound was still warm and inviting but I didn't hear a drastic change. I'm thinking I may have to do more comparisons with the different power supplies or my TT isn't high-end enough to hear the improvements from the larger PS being on the 640P. The TT I'm using with the 640P is a Technics SL-10.
Did you ever use an aftermarket power cord on either Pangea P100 Power supply? Also good one about the holistic skin treatment. When I searched Pangea on other shopping sites I often find that as a result too. |
Nothing special...a carefully set up Linn Basik/Akito/Sumiko Pearl (upgrade coming as soon as I decide what to replace it with...not in any hurry as it sounds fine). I don't use any esoteric power cables as I have never noticed them improving anything beyond what my trusty ACE515 does...and I've tried! I did put a PS Audio AC plug in the wall though. Note that I thought the 640P sounded great already, just cleaner with the P100. Maybe I'm merely hypnotized by the blue LEDs! |
I considered the Pangea P100 power supply for my Cambridge 640P and am holding off. Looking at the wall wart that comes with the 640P, it is a 120vac to 12vac supply. Then, looking at the Pangea information, there are two outputs. A 12vdc out and a 12vac out. I assume you would use the 12vac out to power the 640P. I wonder if the 12vac output is merely a direct tap off of the secondary of the transformer in the Pangea. If that's the case, the only advantage is the 12vac is coming from a larger transformer vs the wall wart. All of the regulation and filtering in the Pangea would be for the 12vdc output which would be totally unused with the Cambridge phono stage. Bottom line, you would not be using most of what the Pangea has to offer. Now, if one is using the 12vdc out of the Pangea to power a different device like a DAC, that would be a different situation. Without a schematic of the Pangea unit I don't know for a fact that the above is true but that would be my guess. So I personally have put the Pangea for my 640P on hold. For 99 bucks, it's probably a great value when powering a 12vdc device like the Cambridge and MF DACs. |
Hey Woodrow...You're making my addled brain fog up...I'm not sure what you mean about the 640P as from what I see the inputs are marked as 12 volts on both the 640P and the DACMagic, and both original wall wart power supplies (that I just looked at in their new homes in my cold basement) are marked as "12 volt AC". There is one output on the P100. Right square in the middle of its face...and having lived with 2 of these little gems for a while I can say wholeheartedly they ROCK. Interestingly (to me anyway), Sam Tellig raves about them in his latest Stereophile screed which will no doubt sell a few thousand of 'em. The P100 makes my 640P better...both in sound (truly) and the sense of self worth instilled in the 640P itself, as I think my gear has feelings. I'm hopping Pangea comes up with more of these things for my other gear (Squeezebox Touch, Bravo II, all the non AC Cord stomp boxes in my guitar setup, etc.) as I'd like to see wall warts disappear from the world as I know it. |
Woodrow...you're correct in that the P100 has both ac and dc output based on what cable is used. See? I learned something! |
In the interview with the Pangea P100's designer, he said the P100 was first designed for use with the Cambridge Audio DacMagic, and Musical Fidelity was an addition after he saw how the P100 improved the DacMagic's performance. So I'd guess both DC and AC outputs are filtered and regulated. |
Does anyone know whether the P100 is compatible with the newer DacMagic Plus? Or is there an upgraded power supply in this unit anyway?
Second, for those that have experience with the P100, I have a very basic line conditioner that all of my gear is plugged into. Ok to plug the P100 into this or better to just go straight to the wall, or no difference! Thanks, and sorry for hijacking this thread! |
I talked to Audio Advisor a while back (couple of months ago maybe) and asked that exact question...they told me that the P100 would work with the "plus" once they designed a cable to fit it. I suggest calling Audio Advisor for an update on that. |
Oh...and I bet plugging it into a conditioner (which I do) makes little difference as it is actually a conditioner itself, and doesn't use much juice. |
Just in case anyone is still interested in this little gem and possible upgrades here's my 2 cents worth.
I built may own power supply for both the dacmagic and phono stage.
I used a 2amp toroid transformer for the phono stage and a 5 amp toroid for the DACmagic - lot of headroom:-)
I used Kimber speaker cable for the 12 v power supply cable with xlr connectors and a furutech 14 gauge mains power cable. I also use solid silver interconnects on both
Used with a really good power supply these units perform way above their class - outperforming units many times their modest price
Since they are a 12 v AC supply they only require a good transformer - no rectification is require, making it simple to create a good diy supply
A DIY supply like mine can be made for around $200, but replacing the two units for better sounding sources would cost considerably more |
The Pangea P100s are now selling at Audio Advisor for around 70 bucks each. |
Given an asking price of $70 for aftermarket warts, Wonka's diy power supply looks like a no-brainer. If I understood correctly, all that project entails is to purchase the tranies and then plug the secondary to the equipment... |
Quality power cords are paramount and one thing that I found improved the sound a lot was replacing the fuses I originally used with small push button breakers - and a nice case :-)
The first attempt was a 12v lighting transformer - it improved the sound a lot over the supplied units.
Once I had proved the improvements we're possible I then proceeded to use quality components across the board
If you are into DIY then it's fairly simple, otherwise go for the Pangea - it's a pretty good unit and will improve the sound over the supplied units from what I have read. They also provide a DC supply for the new dacmagic +. |
Wolf - did you find that using the Pangea caused the 640p and the Dacmagic to run cooler?
My 640p is now at room temp (cool to the touch) and the dacmagic runs at about half the temp it used to.
Both units are powered on 24/7 |
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Hey Hey Willie...It may be that they run cooler, although they didn't run very hot with the stock "warts"...they certainly run better though. My only compaint regards the super bright blue LEDs on the Pangeas, but I put a little tube headphone amp in front of them and it blocks the light from my eyeballs at my listening sweet spot. |
W-wonka Greg - the final upgrade was to replace all internal wiring I notice you use Kimber, a tried & trusted choice if there ever was one! BTW, why not hard-wire the power supply cable at the PS end? |
Flexibilty - If I were to hard wire, then trying different power cables down the road becomes more of a chore. When I find a reasonable silver conductor I would like to try it with minimal fuss.
AND - a/b comparisons are much faster :-)
The xlr connectors I use for the 12v side are high quality gold on copper that perform extremely well. After all, If they are good enough for interconnects then they are good enough for power :-)
The IEC chassis mount socket is gold on copper, as are the connectors on 120v power cables.
Re: Kimber cable - the reason for using this is twofold - great quality copper and insulation and the braiding rejects ref interference.
I looked at a real heavy duty Furutech interconnect for the 12v side, but it would have cost a small fortune. The Kimber is great :-) |
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I'm using a Jelco Mogami Neglex pair (friggin' hot pink...looks sort of cool actually) that came with a gold plated DIN plug and seemingly nice RCAs from my Linn/Akito table, and a pair of AQ King Cobras out...all sounds great. |
Wolf - do you use a particular brand of power cable on the rest of your gear?
I have tried DH Labs Encore and Power Plus power cables, but I recently went back to Furutech, which I found gave me much higher resolution. A little pricey, but well worth it - as long as you can DIY - ready made are damn expensive.
PS Audio power cables look very interesting with the different conductor cross sections - have you ever tried them?
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I have a garden hose sized PS Audio Plasma ac cable on my REL sub directly into a PS Audio wall plug, but no exotic AC cables anywhere else (yet)...although my Jolida power amp does have something somebody gave me that is a fairly huge cable...no name I can see on it. I still use an old Adcom ACE515 conditioner which has a beefy hard wired cable that was appropriate for its day, and it will remain in my system until it dies. Two power amps (Jolida main and an occasionally used Adcom MOSFET for secondary deck speakers) are plugged into a PS Audio Humbuster III. |
Wolf - Have you tried the PS audio cable on the amp or on a source?
I found my sources responded exceptionally well to good power cables, more noticeable than the one I tried on my sub.
How did the humbuster work out?
I tried one - it was no help in my case - I had to ground the case of a noisy source, but a nicely made unit all the same.
Cheers |
The cable on the Adcom is fixed and I'm too lazy put an IEC thing on it, and the "mystery" cable on the Jolida seems OK also (I did hook up the PS Audio cable to it just for the heck of it and it sounded the same so its cable seems OK). The Humbuster did what it is supposed to...the Adcom is dead quiet and the Jolida trans hum is really low...barely audible if you put your ear right next to it and that's great for a tube amp. I might put some premium AC cables on the rig someday, but since I'd have to re-wire the 515 (and spend some bucks) it seems silly, and the whole thing sounds great as is. Go figure. |
I am using a 12VAC 10A transformer (from my junk box) in lieu of the 640P wall wart. It sounds better. I am also generating a nice clean 240VAC signal to power the transformer and my preamp by using a pure sine wave inverter running off a 12V 100AH car battery. Now I have a clean mains sine wave instead of the distorted wave from my houshold mains supply. It too is adding to my listening pleasure. Just remember to keep the battery charged. I have a theory that using this setup as much as anything, I am eliminating the mains earth connection especially in the preamp which feeds my monoblocks. Maybe not sharing the mains ground with the outers on my interconnects is making things generally cleaner, but that's just a theory of mine FWIW. |
Daviddsailor - did you upgrade the power cords to and from the transformer?
I used kimber 4TC for the 12 volt side and furutech for the mains side - the difference was very noticeable - although I now have a braided romex power cable for the mains and it's almost as good as the furutech
The dc plugs can be purchased from ebay - very cheap |
