Opinions on Power Regenerators and Tube Amps


I have a Mesa Baron tube amp plugged into a dedicated 20A circuit. Turntable, CD player, Preamp, and periferal stuff plugged into a dedicated 15A circuit. At a very high listening level, there is a small buzz in the speakers. I only notice it when there is no music playing and I get close to the speaker. I would like to know your experiences in using a power regenerator with a tube amplifier, and whether this is even a good idea. I guess the expanded question is, in your experience, where in your system are you using regenerated power, and is there really a sonic improvement.
240zracer

Showing 3 responses by aball

I have never heard a tube amp that didn't buzz when your ear is at the tweeter. It is normal.

Having said that, you may get an overall improvement in sound with a regenerator but since the amp is downstream, it still won't help its noise floor. Just my guess.

Arthur
So the buzz was a hum? That is what I had assumed. Sounds like it's due to high gain needed for phono. I would like to know if the regenerator reduces it. Otherwise, lower gain amps and/or lower sensitivity tweeters can reduce the noise to the point of making it inaudible. That is the trick since you will always have a noise floor to deal with.

Arthur
I use an MIT passive filter in the form of the "Z-Strip" and I noticed a rather obvious improvement in noise floor reduction. I recommend it based on several experiments where I would add it and then remove it to see the difference. It works consistently with everything. But I haven't tried any others so.... My audio buddies use the PS Audio Ultimate Outlets and got similar results.

My reservation about power regenerators is that many times, more noise comes from the stereo components than the incoming power. I have seen this MANY times testing electronic equipment in my lab. You can even see the results that the rat's nest of cables can bring on - by jiggling the cables, you can see the noise level change on an oscilloscope. It is interesting and scary at the same time. A regenerator won't make a bit of difference here since the noise is injected downstream of it.

However, it is unclear as to whether your problem is the incoming power or your amps. At very high gain, everything is amplified and there is no way to know what is the cause without experimenting. If the regenerator lowers your noise floor, then the problem was your power. If not, it is your amps. I am inclined to believe it is the residual noise floor of your amps you are hearing.

Since the noise isn't really coming from your tweeter, I suspect you may be hearing spurious noise from your power supply in 60 and/or 120Hz form. Only that frequency range would be audible from your woofers and mids. The noise I was talking about before is much higher in frequency and so is only heard in the tweeter. I don't think any regenerator is going to solve this problem but passive filtering might. Let us know what you find out!

Arthur