Opinions on Power Regenerators and Tube Amps

Yup, can of worms. It definately has something to do with the active shielded cables, which are new to my system, btw. Turning off the switch to all the shielded cables makes a big difference. I have a non-active Looking Glass from TT to phono stage, and an active from phono stage to preamp. I switched those and it made it worse. I need to experiment some more. Herman, thanks for the input......what I have is a small buzz/hum at a very high listening level, with no music playing. it's annoying, but I can not hear it from my chair.

Here's the thing. Can't use active cables anywhere in the phono area. I don't know if that is normal, but with that active cable from phono stage to preamp replaced, and the shielding on for everything else, the hum is very small....and I would never listen at that high volume level. I'm a little confused about active shielding now and in saying that I have probably highjacked my own thread for the third time. Thanks for the ideas though.....I was not even thinking about the cables, obviously......I was thinking about power regenerators.

Nsgarch.....those items on the floor are mouse traps. Actually there are less of them now than there was when I took those pictures :) Currently, my amp and cd player (with VH Audio Oyiade shielded cable) are in the 20A circuit. VPI, phono stage, and active Synergistic speaker cables and interconnects, are plugged into an Isobar which is plugged into the 15A circuit. I think my power is pretty good.....my house is served by it's own transformer since I'm off the road a bit. My main thing was whether or not the Mesa would benefit from any conditioning or regeneration......or if it is actually detrimental with a tube amp. So, Electroid, you can feed 115V and 120Hz to a cd player and it likes it?

A bit of news. The little buzz is only when the preamp is on phono, and the phono stage is turned on. Preamp on CD = dead quiet. Ground switches on the amp don't seem to have much effect. So the VPI is grounded with a wire to the ground on the phono stage.....is that good or bad.

My apologies, this thread is moving in two directions now. Nsgarch, the table is a VPI Scoutmaster with a thick, I believe, mdf chassis. Cartridge is a Clearaudio Virtuoso Wood. The head leads go to a junction box separate from the tonearm where the cables and ground are attached. interconnect is Synergistic Looking Glass. Amazingly, the VPI setup says nothing about grounding. It does say to try a shielded a/v interconnect, if there is hum. Don't wanna do that. I am going to read up on Exactpower, although they are sorta expensive.

I'm good. The little hum (only with preamp set to phono and the volume cranked) is a not a problem. I will not be buying a big power regenerator in order to service my amp. That was the reason I asked my initial question. I will most likely find a way to try out a PS 300. Can't justify the price of a big one for just front end. Looked at your systems.....very impressive, especially those horns and that phono preamp. Wish I could hear a bunch of the systems I see on here. Thanks for your help......

Arthur.....I just reread all of this. I wouldn't mind keeping this discussion going. What Nsgarch said at the beginning is probably what I now have. A low level hum/buzz with the volume cranked, and the preamp set to phono. I hear it in the mid and the woofer more so than in the tweeter. It's not much, but it is much if I plug in the active shielding on a Synergistic Looking Glass interconnect that runs from phono stage (Musical Fidelity LP3) to Levinson preamp. I wish I had known that active shields don't work in the analog area, since I purchased that IC recently. If things remain the same, I will eventually change those ICs. Always wanted Music Groove anyway :) And then back to regen power. I would invest in say, a P-300, if it did nothing more than improve the performance of my Wadia and my preamp 1 percent. If I could hear even a small improvement in vocals, or timbre, or soundstage, I would consider that a bargain. I would love to know if any or all of you use regulated power for your analog equipment.....turntable and phono stage. I have thought about the VPI SDS power supply also. I try to make good decisions mostly based on the input I get from right here on Agon. I don't have a local 2-channel high end store anywhere near, so I rarely try things out. Whoever in here said that your performance is only as good as the weakest link in your system, I think was right on. I recently took one of the mouse traps off my floor (I fine tune crossovers outside the box using some cheap hookup wire to run into the box), and installed it in my bass cabinet. Soldered it point to point with Kimber wire and Cardas copper binding posts. The improvement in bass response is quite something....deeper, tighter, and with snap....it's there and it's gone....quick. Probably an extreme example, but it was a lesson for me. No more testing with cheap hook up wire and what else in my system is weak. And so I talk too much?

Ok, one thing is for sure, all of you people can type better than I can! This has been an education for me. I had no idea most of the equipment discussed here even existed. Thanks for sharing your experience, and expertise, everyone. I'm now convinced that doing SOMETHING with power is much more than a tweek, and that is true even if my ac is not overly "dirty". I have a long way to go. Only two weeks ago, I ran the dedicated line to my tube amp. A month ago I was replacing all my cables with Synergistic Resolution Ref. I still have unshielded power cables in my system. I now have a very good idea what is next......I'm feeling a big lean in the direction of an SP15A, once my wallet recovers from the cables. Last winter I put V-Caps in the Mesa. It's what is so much fun about this hobby......listening to music that sounds somehow better than it did before.