Power conditioner help


Hi All,

 Posting this here since there is no section devoted to power products. I also posted it in the miscellaneous section. 

If you had a choice between PS Audio P10 power plant and a Transparent Powerisolator Reference, which would you choose and why? Both available at reasonable prices, though P10 is still quite a bit more. I have a pretty high end system with a Musical Fidelity NuVista 800 integrated amp, NuVista CD (the new one), Scoutmaster turntable, SDS/ADS, Herron VTPH2, Wilson Sashas, and all Transparent Ref MM2 cables. System sounds great, but my present Powerbank 8 is quite old now, so I want to upgrade it.

Thanks for your opinions.
arsh

Showing 4 responses by auxinput

The PS Audio P10 is not a standard power conditioner since it takes the A/C voltage coming in and uses DSP to generate it's own "perfect" A/C sine wave for output using a normal power amplifier.  Many people have had excellent results with the PS Audio regenerators and have reported significant improvement over conventional power conditioners.  Normally, I would just recommend that you go with the P10 for all source/preamp equipment and then run the amplifiers directly to the wall (since the P10 has generally made more of a difference with source/preamp pieces and less of a difference with power amplifiers).  The P10 does have 1500 watts of A/C output and I would say it's good for smaller type amplifiers.

However, you have an extremely hefty integrated there (330 watts/channel and about 103 lbs).  Also, your Wilson Sasha's have a demanding impedance curve and drops down to 2-3 ohms in the 70-300 hz area.  This will put more demand on the amplifier and you need a lot of current on demand from both the amp and the A/C input.

http://www.stereophile.com/content/wilson-audio-sasha-wp-loudspeaker-measurements#I1KGxHkW4v8MMPtS.97

I hate to say this, but I might suspect that the Transparent may do better here because it will not be as current limiting.  The PS Audio P10 may have a little delay when the amp demands more current from the A/C and you may lose bass/midbass punch and body.

@arsh - I just read a bit more.  I see now that you like to plug your integrated straight into the wall.  I don't think you need a P10 just for all the source equipment, a P5 would do just fine.

Also, I would get rid of that Hubbell outlet and replace it with something like a Furutech.  The Hubbell's are made from brass elements and this presents a shouty and sterile sonic signature.  I'd go for a Furutech FPX or GTX (either un-plated copper or rhodium plated).

Yes, I have. I actually used to run all Hubbell outlets and Hubbell 20A male plugs for all my home theater equipment. I was experimenting with power connectors on my separate computer audio system and put in a Wattgate male plug. All of a sudden, I said "hey, this sounds just like sound I’m getting out of my theater". It was not a good sound - it was very fast, but very shouty and sterile. Just a single Wattgate plug in the mix caused this problem (I had 4 devices - DAC, preamp, 2 studio monitors). The Wattgate connectors and the Hubbell connectors/outlets all have one thing in common - brass conductors. I have since swapped out all my Hubbell outlets/plugs with Furutech FPX unplated copper outlets and Furutech FI-11 unplated copper male plugs. I use all Rhodium plated Furutech FI-52 and FI-50 IEC connectors for my equipment. All this was a significant improvement.

I have put more comments in this thread:

https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/furutech-vs-neotech-gold-plated-schuko-sound-quality

Don’t get me wrong, at $20-24 per plug, the Wattgate are "decent" plugs, but they do not compare at all to the Furutech pure-copper stuff. Since your considering several thousand for a power conditioner, a $70 FPX(Cu) outlet is not any big expense and I would say it will significantly improve things.

Be aware, the rhodium plated stuff require 250 hours burn-in.  And they don't fully open up until somewhere between 300-400 hours.