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Power Sensitive Components
My new system has sounded wonderful until this recent heat wave. Then I noticed at times a certain loss of clarity and some slight glare. Mostly likely due to power issues. I started to consider a regenerator or conditioner. But first I thought I would try upgrading the stock power cords. As I described in another thread I purchased a Cable from Ice Age Audio. Their Frankencable. After a 50 hour burn in I tried it in my Accuphase amp. Didn’t do much. Accuphase strongly recommends that you use the supplied cable. Then I tried the DAC. My MSB Discrete has two power supplies. One for the digital conversion and one for the analog output. With the cable on the digital supply the sound improved noticeably. I then moved it to the analog supply. A slight improvement. Probably because the digital supply was now back to the stock cable. Then I moved it to the Aurender N20 streamer. Again a noticeable improvement especially to the soundstage which was wide with impressive depth and instrument separation. . Really impressive. So I left it there. The next day I noticed that while the wonderful soundstage was still there that loss of clarity was still there also. It was hot and ACs were running hard. So the power issue was back. So I decided to move the cable back to the digital power supply. That cleaned up the sound a lot removing the clarity issues. However the soundstage was not as impressive as it was with the cable on the streamer. Luckily I have two more of these cables arriving on Friday so all of the source components power supplies will be addressed. What I found and suspected was that the DAC supply is the most critical and probably power hungry of the three. It runs the warmest of them. Even warmer than the amp. Now after getting the cables in place I still sense power issues I’ll probably get a PS Audio Powerplant 3. This summer is going to be really hot. Trying to avoid that expense but after spending a lot on my components I’m not going to starve them of the power they need to perform the best.
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I prefer the Furman units. Best in class surge protection, and voltage regulation doesn't introduce AC noise. The cost is that they "only" regulate within about 5 Volts. That is, you'll get around 118-122V. The combination of voltage regulation and noise filtering is very effective. Make sure your unit has both AR (voltage regulation) and SMP/LiFT. |
I should have pointed out that it’s always good to test your outlets. Watch the AC on the hot as well as the neutral which should remain low (< 2V). A high neutral is not only going to reduce voltage to your gear but may indicate a bad upstream connection. I like to use this unit, but I know it's not the most accurate and some buyers have reported quality control issues. Unfortunately it's the only unit I know of you can plug in and watch both hot to neutral and neutral to ground voltages at the same time. Plus it's cheap. |
Hi OP:
Quite the opposite, in several apartment moves the Furman always made my system sound more relaxed and open. Until 2021 I lived in rather dense housing and even in a high rise with a nearby elevator motor. The system then always sounded better with the Furman in place. In one apartment PG&E had a load balancing issue and I was getting 130V at my outlet. Still technically within spec but it made me nervous so I added a separate Furman AR unit in front of the Furman Elite 15i. Now I live in a detached home in a lightning prone environment so I am neurotic about surge protection. I still see the AR unit functioning during the day, but the output voltage is constant, until there’s a real brown out. To be clear, a direct connection to the wall is not nearly as good as having a solid voltage, and the Furman AR unit gives me that. An amp suffering from voltage sags is a sad amp indeed. As I mentioned, I have 2 units, first the voltage regulator, second the Furman Elite 15i, but you can get the benefits of both with the P-1800AR. You lose outlets and filter banks and power factor correction but if you have a simple system it's the best price/performance option if you truly have sagging voltages. |
Try putting some high quality power cords on it like $1k and up the Puritan line conditioner may help your problem The regenerator May or maynot work ,there was a topic on this not too long ago email Paul at pS audio , do youhave a good dedicated circuit ? I use a 4 wire awg 10:with dual ground ,a common and insulated isolated ground on its own buz Barr and ground , go to VH Audio check out his surge protection and power correction ,under $1k , never use crappy stock power cord . my brother has a 4000 Accuphase on Audition ,the AQ Tornado HQ,and sourse made a dramatic difference on amplifier and digital . Also change yourAC wall outlet to a gold copper , the $99 Pangea Copper gold is very good and night and day better then junk that’s built with the house 5x better conductivity which lowers noise,Remove all bottle necks , also on dedicated 20 amp breakers Change every 4-5 years Why becaus3 Copper oxides and corrodes. I bought silver plated Siemens from Germany, before covid and by far the best and Donot corrode, at $45 each ,but now I cannot get them. If you are serious every -4-5 years put in a new Copper 20 amp breaker .wire should be at minimum awg12. |
This is an interesting discussion. Near Boston where I live and during the heat wave last week , I noticed two things; a duller less articulate sound and the voltage/bias meters on my 300B mono locks had gone from the constant a reliable reading of +/- 92 volts to the high 80’s. My electrician who is a bit of an audiophile himself said not to worry. He explained that when the whole Northeast is experiencing 100 degree weather the demand it puts on the grid can easily affect the voltage at the receptacle. Sure enough once outdoor temperatures were 15 degrees cooler my amps were back to showing 91+ voltage at each tube and the sound was once again back to normal. |
The reason is my system started sounding strange once the current heat wave of above 90 temperatures hit. When temperatures dropped below 90 to mid 80s the system sounded normal again. Also on the hotter days the system sounded better later after 7pm and worse in the afternoon. I notice the sound issues more with Classical music in the upper frequencies such as strings in particular. They sound harsh and lack clarity. So I’m thinking this is about voltage fluctuations do to power demands. |