Is the power cord for the regenerator fully burned in (meaning at least 100 hours of use)?
If it’s fully burned in, have you moved it? If so, I suggest 72 hours of constant power without moving the cable.
If the above doesn’t help, try reversing the fuse, as David suggested. One direction is more detailed than the other, so you likely have it in the detailed direction.
If none of the above works, you just might not like the sound of the regenerator in your system. I know a few people (not many) who feel this way.
Bottom line, all that matters is that you like the sound of your system.
Yeah, items one and two were in play and the fuse direction made little difference so #4 seems the answer. As you and Owlsalum say, all that matters is that one likes the way things sound. I was just rather surprised that the Luxman front end seemed so incompatible with the P3 as the PS Audio BHK sounds MUCH better when powered by the P3 as did my DeHavilland UltraVerve III. I’ve also found the Luxman gear to be less affected by Stillpoints, IsoAcoustics Oreas, Nasotec VEMs, and other footers than any other gear I’ve used. Thanks for all the responses.
I tried the M700’s plugged into a ‘Dectet’ as well as plugged straight into the wall. Had a similar experience.
Upgraded to a P15 a little while back (with some encouragement from the forum). M700’s are still plugged straight into the wall.
Obviously everyone’s power situation is different, but I found plugging my BHK300s into my Niagara 7000 had benefits, and in my other system I use an old Furman Ref15 which is also designed by Garth Powell, and provides extra energy storage for transients, and powers a Hegel H190.
I had a Power Plant 20 for less than a week and returned it. It made my system sound weak and bright when using it for power amps. It sucked all the life out of it. Also the meters in the P20 are not accurate and was told they are for amusement only. Bummer. I am now using a pair of SurgeX SX-1120-RT. One for each monoblock amp powered from two separate 20-amp circuits. This made a large improvement in stage size and clarity. Instruments and vocals have better separation and space around them. It improved the sound by a large amount compared to just plugging the amps directly into the wall.
I use a modified Power Plant Premier for source gear.
Interesting. I would suggest your experience is certainly not that of most people. For example, I get exactly the opposite experience plugging amps into the wall vs. the Power Plant.
It’s always curious to me why the differences that a few people report.
Even more surprising is your findings with the Surgex unit. That certainly has a softening effect when I try it but I find it strips the life from the music (over time).
Sorry about the metering system. It’s about 1% accurate (hardly for “amusement”).
I am glad you found something that works for you though, and I hope your system sings with the best of them.
The P20 was showing 6.2% distortion when the actual distortion was 7.8.
The comment made about amusement meters was not the only comment about them not being accurate. Was told you stated that it would cost too much to make them accurate.
I wasn’t expecting lab instrument accuracy however over 1.5% error in the reading is more than 1% error as the meter max is 10%.
I had several friends over and they all agreed the Surgex units sounded the best and had the most punch. The direct connection to the wall power was 2nd best. This was tested with 2 different pairs of monoblock amps.
The other issue I had was the P20 made the transformers in the amps buzz.
Maybe I received a defective unit???
During last days I tried plugging my M1200s directly to the wall (2 different dedicated lines) because my brand new P15 has an annoyng mechanical hum, I sent an email to @jamesh too asking for some advice to solve the issue. During low level listening, in a quite ambience I can hear it due to my well treated room. Not so happy.
Meh! Immediately plugged them back to the P15, they sounded lifeless and dull, clearly something was missing. Call it lack of magic. So I prefer (awaiting a fix, though) the P15 subtle noise than dead silence, because it means also dead engagement without the regens.
Well, bear in mind that the distortion metering system in the Power Plant is bandwidth limited to 1kHz where I suspect your HP (or whatever you have) is likely full range. And within the bandwidth specified – 50Hz to 1kHz, our metering system is easily 1% accurate.
They are not their for “fun” as they are there to show the differences between in and out. I don’t consider them necessary tools in that they don’t offer any means to adjust the results, but I think they are wonderfully handy to show the unit’s amazing regulation and repair of waveforms.
I remember hearing a difference (for the positive) initially back when I first plugged the M1200’s into my P12, but about 2 months ago I checked again to see if the P12 was really making a positive difference, so I plugged the M1200’s directly into the wall, and listened. Well, that didn’t last long, and I ended up plugging the amps directly into the P12 again. To put things into perspective, music still sounded good, in fact still very good, but was missing a bit of that magic when connected to the P12. The soundstage was slightly compressed without the P12.
Your dedicated lines may have helped. When I plugged M1200 directly into the wall, the dynamic increased a bit but so was the noise. The sound was not as smooth, and the treble sounded brighter. As a result, I could not listen for too long.
Even though my power line has never exceeded 2.2%, I still like it better with them plugged into P15. I may need to upgrade to a P20 to increase the dynamic (but not sure if it would make any difference).
Over the years I’ve had several Power Plants, starting with a P5. They’ve always performed as advertised. And since I bought them for the sound quality and protection only, I keep my displays dimmed—unless the system sounds unusual.
I have always used 2 20-amp lines for the amps. One for Left and one for the right. When I added the two SurgeX SX-1120-RT over a year ago, it made the system less congested sounding without effecting the punch and dynamics. When I installed the P20 the dynamics and punch were gone and the whole system sounded very thin. Maybe two P20’s might have been better?
After my M1200s were fully burned in I had the same experience. The M1200s sounded notably more fulsome and spatially expansive running through the Stellar P3. My DecWare Zen Torii also sounds better through the P3. My Luxman gear is the only exception, that set of components sounds better through my Shunyata MPC-12a.
