I’ve just ordered a Power Base. I’ll try it under my DS Dac, under my P5, and maybe some other components. In any case, I will want to connect the component sitting on the PB to the PB outlet. There are only a few inches between my rack and the wall. PSA’s own cords, sonically excellent though they are, are way too stiff to work in my setup. In fact, using any one-meter cable seems like overkill in this situation.
What do folks use? Paul, did you ever think of making a short (12" or so), flexible, but high-quality cord for this application?
Some of the most flexible power cords I know of are from TG Audio: http://www.tgaudio.com/page_1.html They will make custom lengths and have right angle connectors. I honestly don’t know how active they are now but it might be worth checking with them.
magister said
I've just ordered a Power Base. I'll try it under my DS Dac, under my P5, and maybe some other components. In any case, I will want to connect the component sitting on the PB to the PB outlet. There are only a few inches between my rack and the wall. PSA's own cords, sonically excellent though they are, are way too stiff to work in my setup. In fact, using any one-meter cable seems like overkill in this situation.
What do folks use? Paul, did you ever think of making a short (12" or so), flexible, but high-quality cord for this application?
I have considered it and I have been working on a flexible version of our own power cords. I even have a few samples that sound excellent. But more than that I haven’t. Ted’s suggestion might be a great one to follow up on.
Thanks, Paul. A while ago I ordered some cables from Patrick at Cullen Cable; he can probably make me something, unless someone knows of an off the shelf solution.
I would encourage you to continue your cable development. I have read several very positive reviews of PSA power cables but I simply cannot use them in my space due to the stiffness and length. Surely I can’t be the only one in this situation. With the Power Base, it seems like a short but good quality cord would be an obvious accessory; maybe one even ought to come in the box.
I’ve found the .5 meter PS Audio AC-12 to work with most components on a power base if you sort of wrestle them into the right shape, and work especially well for the PWD, PWT, DMP, and DSD. (Gregg, I sent you a PM).
lonson said
I've found the .5 meter PS Audio AC-12 to work with most components on a power base if you sort of wrestle them into the right shape, and work especially well for the PWD, PWT, DMP, and DSD. (Gregg, I sent you a PM).
I like the notion of a .5m length, though I admit it's not like the 1m is going to kill me. And since everyone seems to agree that directly powering through the regenerator is better, it's not much of a problem. Right now, I plan to use a 1m AC-12 to connect my P5 to my PowerBase. Still a tossup between the Cerious HC and the AC-12 for the wall socket. [Haven't seen the PM yet though.]
Don’t know what the heck happened to that PM, sent another.
I find that there’s a difference (better is hard for me to decide) when powering either digital or analog from the PowerBase, and the other from the P10. In general I prefer powering the analog from the PowerBase (which is powered from the P10). Not a huge difference, but perhaps a bit of noise is reduced from the digital components (?)
Interesting. Do you have the DMP plugged into a PowerBase? I know it’s digital, but just curious if you tried it either way. I could see a reasonable hypothesis in the notion that, being all digital [plus the mechanical transport itself], it might benefit from further conditioning, but I could also accept as a reasonable starting point that it has less to gain, so to speak. I believe the power conditioning on the Base is a one-way gate, yes? Does that help to prevent digital pollution back into the other equipment on the same circuit?
I have tried it four ways. . . all the digital powered from the PowerBases (which were powered by the P5 before I had the P10, and are powered by the P10 now, all analog components powered by the P10 directly), and all analog powered by the Powerbases (digital components powered directly by the P10, PowerBases powered by the P10. I’ve also set up the whole system powered by Powerbases connected to the P10, and the whole system powered directly from the P10 and components just placed on the PowerBases for isolation and leveling. All power cords in the system are AC-12. It’s interesting and very musical any of the configurations. The most clarity comes from the entire system powered by the Powerbases connected to the P10, then next only digital powered by the PowerBases. And there’s a touch of romance (maybe more noise into the amp!) when all components are plugged directly into the P10, and next when only the analog components are powered by the PowerBases. With the PWT I preferred for much of my listening the analog powered by the PowerBases, the digital components plugged into the P10 directly. But with even less treble grit and glare than I ever thought possible, using the DMP I think I may prefer all digital components plugged into the PowerBases. And it will soon be time for me to try all components plugged directly into the P10 with the DMP. All four configurations are definitely worth trying imo.
My thinking here is that the “one-way gate isolation filter” should help keep noise from any digital devices getting back into the power for the analog devices. But I’m no engineer. Anyway, that’s where I plan to start. I don’t have the height capacity in the speaker system cabinet to put Pos under everything. So, I have to be selective there, with AmCan copper and Stillpoints under some equipment. In the headphone system, I will have more room for the PBs.