I’ve been reading a lot about the virtues of balanced power and its ability to decrease noise. Many folks swear by it and gush about lowering the noise floor, blacker back grounds etc. It would appear that there is something to it and it makes sense. I have a PPP and am currently enjoying the benefits of regenerated power. What are the differences that each technology brings to the table in regard to sound quality? Also are there any of you perhaps using both technologies simultaneously to good effect? If Power cables feeding a Power plant help it by making it’s job easier would not balanced power do so as well? Or are the two technologies just not compatible?
Balanced power is better but not by much. What benefit it brings is to decrease any noise and hum picked up along the way between the power source and the equipment. Hopefully, you’re using power cables capable of not picking up too much noise in the first place.
As to whether it’s better sounding than what you have depends on how the balanced power is generated. If by a transformer, then no, it will be worse. Only a regenerator is going to give you the true benefits of lower impedance and repair of damaged waveforms.
I have never heard of any balanced power unit that does not use a transformer. I believe that the units I have been looking at (furman, core power) use large transformers. Am I missing something? What other forms of balanced power exist? Also, would any of these units benefit a power plant? BTW I have already decided to get a P 10 am just shopping around for a decent deal. With the P 20 on the horizon perhaps killer deals on a P 10 could be not far off?
The original Power Plants produced balanced power. The Power Plant Premier was, I believe, the first that did not, and it beat the earlier models for sound quality and was much more efficient.
That is correct. The original Power Plants produced balanced power without the need for a transformer. Balanced power helps the connection between the Power Plant and the receiving product and its transformer, but not much else.
Well I am excited! I finally made my decision thanks to all of you kind folks and should have my P 10 tomorrow! Stepping up from a PPP I am wondering about the different multiwave settings. I only have one on the PPP. What do these other settings do? What are other owners experiences with the multiwave settings. I can set the power output on the P 10. Is that correct? If so what are others setting theirs at? I have one dedicated circuit feeding my powerplant through a PSA Soloist if that would make any difference in what settings to try. For a power cord I have a Pangea AC9 mk II. This has been a large enough “hose” for the PPP and should probably be suitable for the P 10. Is there a “break in” period for the P 10? Anyone using anything upstream from the P 10 to good effect eg isolation? Sorry if this is a lot of questions but I want to welcome the P 10 to as good a home as possible. <Mcdonald’s Jingle> buh da da I’m loving it!
Will do Paul! I feel like a kid on Christmas morning today as my P10 is “out for delivery” on the UPS tracker. I am going to take the opportunity of incorporating the P10 in my system to do what you suggest in your post about “spring cleaning” I have my deoxit and deoxit gold ready and will take the whole system apart, vacuum and dust, and clean every connection as I hook everything back up. "All I want for Christmas is my Powerplant, my Powerplant oh my Powerplant… Fun stuff!
Well I got the spring cleaning done and the P10 is safe and sound in its new home. No burn in and my system already sounds better. Of course now I am wondering how much is the P10 and how much is the spring cleaning with the contacts all cleaned and conditioned. Haha no matter everything has definitely gone in the right direction. Will see next spring. I must confess the cleaning took a lot more time than I had budgeted for it. I started 3 hours before my wife was supposed to be home and was not finished by the time she got home. You can imagine her reaction when she walks in and sees my equipment all over the place. All I could do is say “Hi honey!” to which she just rolled her eyes. Ah the life of an audiophool
I think so at this point although my old back is a tad sore today! Anyway she’s stuck with me through this madness for years. Maybe that should start a support group… Wives of audiophile husbands W.O.A.H.
Just turned on a new P3! I got a little nervous - the sound was muted and constrained - even to the point where i was pushing the volume up a little bit to compensate. After about an hour, it opened up a little. For me, i suspect there will be a break-in period.
I’ll leave the unit in Stand-by mode. Will this facilitate break-in or should it be On? Other than with speakers, i have not noticed the impact of a new component quite so much!
Going forward do you recommend leaving the P3 in standby mode or On during the day. I guess this goes to the Paul’s Post on Keeping things warm. I have it set up so that in Standby, the plug feeding the DS Jr plug is always on but all other components are off (amp and subs). Shouldn’t leave the amps on all day…
On a side note, I would love to be able to turn on-off the P3 display. Any chance that can be worked into a firmware upgrade?
Hans, Congrats on your upgrade! I would also add a nice well shielded power cord to feed the P3. Audio Advisor sells a decent cable in their AC 9 power cords as an inexpensive first upgrade. I am still using one on my P10 and it does a good job of supplying power to the P10. For more money you can try a PSA AC12. Many folks like this cord as well but be careful of purchasing it in the 2m length. Many counterfeits at this length on ebay and elsewhere. Used to be a post on this forum that showed you how to tell legit cables from the fakes. Anyway I digress, enjoy your P3!
@jeffstarr - I would leave the amp on but being class A, I dread the heat and wasted energy… perhaps I need to reconsider
@euphonite - thanks for the advice on the power cord. I have been using stock codes but admit a seed has been planted for a move to one of higher quality. Frankly the number of cords out there is so many and who is to say which are safe upgrades? So…getting info from like minded enthusiasts on this forum helps. Thanks again.
First post on the forum, so I am unsure if it is ok to post on an old thread.
I had a question based on the set-up that Euphonite has stated above. Is it fine to put the P10 into a Soloist instead of straight into a normal outlet? Is there any reason not to? I have an old house and bought an Ethereal outlet to plug the P10 into, which is supposed to be like the Soloist, as it makes me a bit more comfortable having an extra layer of protection from the 1950s wiring.
I assume that it would be fine as the P10 is regenerating all the power needed for my equipment and would not hamper the dynamics of the system (I never have gone over 35% of load on the P10…yet…)
Stepping up from a PPP I am wondering about the different multiwave settings. I only have one on the PPP. What do these other settings do? What are other owners experiences with the multiwave settings. I can set the power output on the P 10. Is that correct? If so what are others setting theirs at? I have one dedicated circuit feeding my powerplant through a PSA Soloist if that would make any difference in what settings to try. For a power cord I have a Pangea AC9 mk II. This has been a large enough “hose” for the PPP and should probably be suitable for the P 10. Is there a “break in” period for the P 10? Anyone using anything upstream from the P 10 to good effect eg isolation? Sorry if this is a lot of questions but I want to welcome the P 10 to as good a home as possible. <Mcdonald’s Jingle> buh da da I’m loving it!
