Power Plants PS300?

The 300 watt limit (and I think they actually recommend 250)is based on the amount of watts that the components actually draw from the power source. The amount will vary, depending on the output power and design of the unit. For example...a Pass Aleph 3 amp's output is only 30 watts at 8ohms, but it constantly draws 250 watts from the power source (which would be the recommended max on a PS300). You need to look at each component's specs at see how much power they use (not put out).

If you give PS Audio a list of the components that you wish to hook up, they will recommend which unit to buy. I have a modest system and the recommendation I received was a PS1200 (out this summer). This convinced me that I can not afford to go the PS route. I am now using one Richard Gray Power Company unit. It works! It works Very Well! When I am done addressing other priorities in my system, I intend on acquiring another one! ...Paul

I sent a email to PS Audio with a list of my equipments, and they recommended two PS600. Then, I sent another email with question like I asked above, and this time they recommeded one PS600 without any explanations. This really confuse me.

If you have space in a closet or other room, see my posting about Hospital grade power plants in other section. Equal or better quality power at a fraction of the cost.

I have been wrestling with these issues myself. I tried my Pass X-150 with my P300 along with my CD player and preamp. The X-150 is spec’d to draw 200 watts at idle and up to 600 peak. The two front-end components draw no more than 30 watts apiece. PS Audio said that the Pass probably would not work with the P300, but that I could go ahead and try it—no harm would come, the P300 would just shut down. (Nelson Pass also said "no harm.") As you know, the Power Plants give a reading of how much power they are being asked to deliver. So with these three components connected, the P300 reads that it is delivering 190 watts (how can that be?). Now, it runs very, very hot with the Pass plugged in (I would need to purchase the add-on fan), but it works and it sounds mighty impressive. The top end cleans up and opens up like nobody’s business. However, my feeling is that there is some dynamic compression, which makes sense: the amp can’t get all it needs. The P600 might be much better. So I think PS Audio is overly conservative in their advice about what you need and their warnings that the P300 is not for anything but the most modest power amps. I also think there is a lot of bad information floating around about the Power Plants (not from PS Audio). For example, some of the reviews have said that the unit draws 300 watts from the wall all the time, which is not true. I’m not sure how much it does draw, but it depends on what’s plugged into it. This is a big concern to me. I like to leave my CD and preamp on all the time, but not if they are drawing a lot of power. By the way, I am currently not running the P300 with the Pass amp. I’m not sure I want to add a fan to deal with the heat (I hate mechanical noise near the system) and the heat was making me nervous, though the 190 watt reading suggests that everything is okay. Dan Rubin.

I had my NAD T770 receiver (5 x 70 watts) and a Sony SCD-777ES SACD plugged into the p300. Speakers were 6/8 ohms. When listening to 2 channel sources there was no problem. I drew up to 190 watts. It was volume dependent and would be speaker dependent (4 ohm speakers require more watts). I used this set-up until my Bel Canto EVo 200.2 digital amp (120 watts/ch) was shipped. With the SACD and the digital amp plugged in using 6/4 ohm speakers, the p300 idles at 90 watts but draws up to 150 watts when there is alot of low output bass in the music. BTW - Digital T amps tend to be 90% efficient as compared to linear amps which are more like 40 - 50% efficient (class A vs class A/B).

We sell a lot of P-300/600s. They are terrific. But for someone like yourself, an excellent alternative would be an Equi=Tech 1.5 Q (Balanced power conditionr with 1500 watt capacity). My partner uses the PS, I use the Equi=tech. It is not inefficient and should meet all your needs. Review on www.audiotweakers.com