Any idea about the life of a line power conditioner? I am talking about the PS Audio PowerPlant 300 Multiwawe I that came out to the market in 2000. Would it be wise to buy a unit this old? Do this kind of devises loose some of their capabilities? Any comments out there. Thanks in advance for your help!
Follow up to this old thread. I bought my Power Plant 300 twenty years ago (pre multi wave) and it’s still running strong. Only issue is the blue logo bulb burns out frequently - wish there was a fix for it. Otherwise, it has been a solid unit.
I had an older P300 that had no issues other than the blue logo light burning out. I did overload it a couple of times (accidentally) by plugging a TV into it (plasma was way too big a load for it) but I was able to reset the unit and it was not damaged. I eventually sold it to get one of the first Power Plant Premiers. That thing was broken out of the box--it clicked and would not operate--so PS Audio sent me a brand new replacement, which developed the same problem after about 2 months. Perhaps these were the made in China models, it was a few years ago. I have not tried a Power Plant again, but just this week bought a Perfect Wave DACII, Transport and Bridge so I hope the quality control is back at PS Audio.
The original P300 did not have a fan. Due to heat issues, later production P300 had a fan to aid with cooling. PS Audio sold a P300 fan upgrade kit to users with older units. Google PS Audio P300 fan upgrade.
Apparently there is more than one version of the P300? I bought mine in 1995, it has no fan. In fact there is no mention of a fan in the P300 manual on the PS Audio website, but it does talk about shutdown from overheating if there is inadequate ventilation.
I had a P300 and it had a fan. If the fan switched to high it became way too loud. According to PS Audio the unit could operate with the fan disconnected if you ran it under a light load. Eventually I sold the P300, but not because of any performance or reliability issues.
wow! how come your P300 was/is so different from the one I have? My P300 does not have a fan. The one that my friend has also does not have a fan. (Just as an aside: In fact, if it did, I would never have bought it!!) I've seen several 360-degree pix of P300 units & I've never seen a fan on any of them. The P300 I'm talking about are the 1999, 2000, 2001 i.e. older units. Are you talking about the same vintage P300 units?
Bombaywalla, you may be right about the P300. If so, thanks for correcting me. My experience has been with the P500, which sucks. And with the PPP, which is good.
I have two Premiers that have worked flawlessly from day one and they get a lot of work time. I also have a P300 with multiwave 1 that I bought new in 2000 that has not been used since I bought the Premiers a few years ago but also works without issues. I replaced the fan with a super quiet version and it is now barely audible. If anyone wants this let me know and I will make a great deal on it, formally through the 'gon of course.
Superb products that are unsurpassed in my opinion.
09-30-12: Vicks7 Interesting. You defend vigorously PS Audio Units but seem determined to cast dispersions on Purepower. You are either a dealer, work for the manufacturer or have a hidden agenda.
what a load of crap from you Vicks7. I'm not defending PS Audio products. I'm stating that Jburidan has his facts wrong w.r.t. the P300 & P600 products. I just wanted to make sure that the OP had to facts so that he could make his decision. Jburidan's wrongly stating that P300 products have a "cooling circuit" mis-informs the OP & this mis-information could/will result in a wrong decision from the OP. The OP is free to buy PS Audio or PurePower - it will make no difference to me at all. There is no hidden agenda on my part, not a dealer, don't work for any audio manuf. And, you are an extremely skittish, trigger happy troll.....
Interesting. You defend vigorously PS Audio Units but seem determined to cast dispersions on Purepower. You are either a dealer, work for the manufacturer or have a hidden agenda.
The PowerPlant to which Tiofelon refers will overheat. That's the main issue with it; and with the P500, as well.
This sounds like a bunch of rubbish Jburidan! The Power Plant 300 that OP is asking about has NO ' cooling circuit' that you refer to in your post. It is pasively cooled - the top plate is what The power transistors are bolted to & the sides have shallow fins for cooling. I'm not sure but I believe that the P600 is also passively cooled. If you owned one or more of these you know this already!
To the OP: I bought a used original P300 from the original owner & this is a 1999 unit that did. not have Multiwave. All the internals were original & the unit worked like a champ from the day I received it. The bulb highlighting the company logo was burned out, as expected. I bought this unit for TT platter speed control so I NEEDED Multiwave ASAP. Do I shipped this unit off to Rick Cullen of Cullen Circuits & he upgraded it for me for a decent cost. This unit continues to work like a champ today. I have all my frontend components plugged into it & like Elizabeth I'm careful to keep it loaded well below its max limit. IMHO it's a great unit. Time does NOT diminish its efficacy in providing regen power. Like Dan suggested, get it re-capped & you'll be off & running....
The caps on the P 300 will go bad after a number of years, which happened to me. Call PS Audio, and arrange to send it to them, and they will completly restore it for $250.
The PowerPlant to which Tiofelon refers will overheat. That's the main issue with it; and with the P500, as well.
They tend to overheat even when not loaded with more watts than recommended, and the cooling circuit tend to fail. That's been my experience with two P500 units that I have owned. I traded-up to the PPP, and have had zero issues with it. The PPP is very quiet, and doesn't overheat.
I believe that the Power Plants with the greatest number of problems have been the Power Plant Premiers, which were made in China. PS Audio has moved production back to the US for their current regenerators. I hear of less issues with the older models than for the PPPs.
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