Eaton 9PX VS. P20

I originally bought two. The P20 caused mechanical hum in my monoblock amplifiers’ transformer. Keep in mind no hum was present when the amplifiers were plugged directly into the wall- the P20 was doing something to cause this issue. PS Audio replaced those with two more that were supposed to absolutely fix the issue, they did not.

At this point I can’t remember how many I had in my home, it may have been 5 total because one of the first P20s I received was DOA. If only we as consumers could bill manufacturers for our time spent on their defective products, I probably could have made a few grand off this ordeal with PS Audio alone.

1 Like

Beste mensen van het PS Audio Form.
Ik schrijf het in het Nederlands maar ook een regenerator is geen perfecte machine en ik geef toe dat een dedicated line zonder een regenerator soms beter klinkt dan bijvoorbeeld een Torus Balanced Power transformer!
Ik heb twee Balanced Power Transformers van Kemp elektroniks Nederland my home land en voor mij klinkt het soms schoner dan de P5 met de outlets de gekoppelde B.I.S. van Kemp.
waarom weet ik niet?

Google Translate:

Dear people of the PS Audio Form.
I write it in Dutch but also a regenerator is not a perfect machine and I admit that a dedicated line without a regenerator sometimes sounds better than a Torus Balanced Power transformer for example!
I have two Balanced Power Transformers from Kemp electronics Netherlands my home land and to me it sometimes sounds cleaner than the P5 with the outlets the linked B.I.S. van Kemp.
I do not know why?

I have two P20’s on Monoblocks as well. mine hum loudly as well. I just had a catastrophic P20 Failure! It locked up at 193 volts! The P20 survived and luckily all the stereo components did. however a $7,900 TV display was killed. Luckily it is under warranty in home service. Otherwise is PS Audio going to pay for these mishaps? My second Ds Senior is dead. I have lost faith in PS Audio unfortunately as good folks as I think they are. The Eaton is if one thing, highly unlikely to fail. NASA and the DOJ,CIA use them! They are on life support in hospitals too. I would say they are held to a pretty high standard. Plus my upstairs system which is by no means any slouch actually sounds better on the 9PX than the P20 or Shunyata Hydra for that matter! Yes, get a P20 and be done with it. Be done with with all of your equipment perhaps! I simply cannot stand for this anymore. Being nice folks with good customer service only goes so far. I feel the products are like more in Beta stage when released to the public here. The Eaton is proven in the most critical applications the world over. Do you know how many 9PX are deployed in the world compared to P20’s? Proven, period. How it sounds is up to you but I feel it actually sounds better. Now there is a company that has put a P9x in a fanless housing for “Audiophile” use for $18,000! go figure. Considering what you can buy them for on Ebay…… I suggest get a new unit though. Since if the battery is dead it will probably cost as much as you paid for the unit if not more. You can buy batteries very cheap too if you are able to wire it together. It is very easy but absolutely do not mess it up! it can and will kill you if you miswire it! I say, what do you have to lose here? not much. A few hundred Vs. Ten Grand. Plus I as many others can attest that Ten Grand might very well be better spent elsewhere. Especially with these types of shenanigan’s.

1 Like

I just picked up that open box Eaton 9PX on ebay to test. I have been wanting to pull all of my non-audio equipment off my two P10’s (TV, ethernet switch, etc.) so this will at least allow me to do that. But… I can also do some A/B vs my P10.

Can you provide the part information for the 15dB fan you purchased to replace the noisy stock fan?

Also, do you have the name of the company that mods the 9PX’s for audio purposes? I am wondering if I can glean any info that could steer me toward what modifications are worthy of making.

Thanks!

2 Likes

Wow! That’s terrible.

Man that really sucks. Can’t say I have much better experience, you know what I have been through as you were commenting on my thread a few months back:

Good luck to anyone spending $20k+ on the new DAC when it releases. My advice to potential PS Audio customers: don’t

1 Like

I used these as replacements, they are the best fans money can buy. I use the same brand in my custom built PC as well (albeit the much larger sized ones)

I would advise against using the including attenuators to reduce fan speed and keep it at 2000RPM. Even at 2000RPM it is very quiet. Keep in mind these do not move as much air as the stock fans, you will be hard pressed to find an 80mm fan that does so quietly. I have not had any trouble with the replacement and have been running at 80% load.

Another note, the molex receptacle on the 9PX 2000RT does not appear to be standard. I cut the original wiring at the fan and spliced it with the replacement using wire nuts. The wiring convention to the fan does not appear to be standard either, when I wired black to black and red to red, there was a loud beep from the 9PX and ‘fan fault’ displayed. I had to re-wire 9PX black - replacement fan yellow, 9PX white to replacement fan black and 9PX red to replacement fan red (pictured).

If you have any questions please let me know, I look forward to hearing your impressions! Keep in mind whichever 80mm fan you decide on you will need two, one for the front and one for the back.

Good Luck!

1 Like

The Noctua fans are one of the go-to favorites of computer builders. Reliable, quiet, great performance.

This is quite troubling. It sounds like the Power Plant failure modes were not dealt with through the use of effective mitigation strategies. Would have made them more complex and expensive, but the thought of blowing out what’s connected to it is not comforting.

3 Likes

Yes, Noctua on Amazon is the best fan I recommend. I only use that brand. The amazing thing about the 9PX is it recognizes any fault you can think of. Unfortunately the P20 obviously not so. If the 9PX absolutely cannot protect the protected equipment it will shut off in less than 1 nanosecond! Not kidding about that either.

Here is the Audiophile 9PX but he has a new one out much nicer not on his website. $18,000 for a 2000VA 9PX? I will pass on that, Thank you. I do not suggest you contact the Guy. He is not very pleasant unless you are placing an order! https://www.purepoweraps.com/
He is using Lithium batteries. You can too in the 9PX but no way worth the money IMO. When your batteries burn out if you are absolutely sure you can wire it together(easy) batteries are as low as $15 each. Although any good batteries are in the $25 each price range. I think the 2000VA takes 8. I am using a 1000VA and it is at 12% load! So I did put the silencer on the fan. It is noisless from my sitting position with the system off.

I can no longer recommend PS Audio unfortunately. I assure you the 9PX sounds just as good(better in my case). Plus I also assure you it will not fail on you. If it is about to fail it will let you know no matter what! I highly recommend therefore you leave the “beep” on. No need to pull the plug, it is always on the batteries. I did put a better cord on it but noticed no difference. This is professional equipment, do not bother messing with a cord IMO. What goes in makes no difference whatsoever on this. It is what comes out is all that matters. That is also very interesting because different power cords sound different on the P20 and if it was properly designed they definitely should not. I would recommend this over any other power conditioner period. The price(even new) is the icing on the cake. Check CCW outlet for “new” returned ones at a drastic discount. I got mine that way, 1000VA for $200 and it was unused!

I agree on the $20,000 DAC. After two dead DS Seniors I am not doing it. I was looking forward to it but not after all these failures. Like I said it seems they are releasing “beta” products to the public. Half baked goods. Too much money for the failures. Luckily I have other much better DAC’s here. P20’s I am putting in the trash! I cannot rightfully sell them after that kind of failure. I am a good person and just will not take advantage. PS Audio obviously took advantage of us though.

If they ban me from this forum, not very nice I just told the truth. however I said my piece so it is okay with me if they do. I know they do not want people disparaging their products on their own forums! I am unfortunately done here. I mean ever buying one of their products again. I spent over $50,000 with them and what did I get? Nothing at best. At worst(which it was) I just lost an expensive TV. Luckily the stereo equipment survived AFAIK. The Tv is under warranty and they are coming Tuesday so I do not care about it. However I am just not risking this again. I will get two 4000VA 9PX for that system as well. Be aware that 2000Va and above have 20A or 30A plugs. Do not defeat them with a “cheater” plug! Then you are asking for your own trouble. It needs that just to keep the batteries charged. I would not use wire nuts anywhere in it but rather solder it and use heat shrink tubing. This stuff is the real deal. Not some “Audiophile” stuff. It is trusted the world over in the most mission critical situations so it is good enough for us IMO. Plain and simple, it will give you perfect electricity. What more do you need?

3 Likes

@2chan4ever, can you provide a link for these open box jobs?

I think he meant CDW Outlet.

Just Google “CDW Outlet”. They do not always have them but if you wait a few weeks they should. They are always on Ebay though and many other places. The price depends on how long it has been in inventory. If it is new to the site it can start around $600 for 2000VA but that is still a good deal. Wait on it 6 weeks and if not sold, which is usually the case it can hit $300-$200. That is a steal for an unused unit. Big companies order too many and return some. The real deal is BladeUPS but it is physically huge. Shipping would be thousands. 9PX is fine for our needs. BladeUPS is just much higher capacity like 50,000VA. We do not exactly need that. Plus you need 3 phase power which almost no residence has or can obtain. Absolutely do not get some other UPS! Even if it is “online”. This is the only one that suits our needs. Get the Noctura fan and I suggest that you solder it with heat shrink tubing so there is no chance of a fault and a shutdown. I would not use wirecaps. You absolutely do not need Lithium batteries just to drive up the price. SLA are safer and more reliable. Which is why it comes with them.

I am absolutely troubled by your reported effect of failure, but my P15 is dead quiet and performs as intended. If I run across a 9PX at a good price I may just spring for it, but I’m hoping my P15 will have no similar unfortunate behavior.

Any update? You get the 9PX running yet?

@JeffofArabica any impression on the 9PX? Curious to see if your experience is similar to mine and 2Chan’s

Sorry, I had to shelf that project as getting a 20amp circuit installed was not practical. Ill revisit after my move, but that is still a year or two away.

1 Like

2chan… where do you live? Are you in the states? If not- are you at 120v? I’m curious.

It really sucks about the issues you have had. I bought a demo P10 w no issues. Did you get any warning signs on your failures?

In states, 120V. 20A dedicated lines. No warning of failure.

I know this is a very old thread. I just wanted to point out some good news. These are very robust and under rated. A 1000VA would suit many people. They are quiet too. unlike the 2000VA. If you are under 65% load. Take 1" thick convoluted foam(Walmart has a huge bag in the crafts section for $5) and cut to size. Cover the front top and rear bezel. Stick it on with double sided “carpet” tape. It shall now run less than 45DBA and keep cool as well! This is good because 1000VA on these will suite all systems under 500W Monobloks.

2 Likes

The Eaton 9PX is literally made for power factor corrected data centers, definitely not for a stereo. Hence the loud fan. You didn’t give any sources about how you know exactly where the UPS is used in the world. IT equipment is not necessarily that sensitive to distortion on the AC mains line.

Certain non-linear loads like a power amplifier or vacuum cleaner should certainly never be plugged into a UPS, unless you can somehow verify with measurements (risky and dangerous) that the peak current is within the 3:1 crest ratio. That also implies AC mains has much lower impedance and is therefore better for hi-fi equipment.

Not to mention that the UPS is not at all made to handle high inrush current, it is indeed made for servers to keep them on all day and every day. Otherwise you should use the UPS in high efficiency bypass mode by default, to let high inrush current pass through the UPS without damaging the inverter. The overload condition for a shutdown is 150% of the maximum wattage rating of the UPS. Confirmed with Eaton on e-mail. @tedsmith and @Paul also concur in this older thread:

Eaton Protection Box is however a series of surge protectors that are made for hi-fi equipment. But if the distortion or impedance of your AC mains is really miserable, then you should certainly be much more concerned about living another place than you should be concerned about using a UPS for hi-fi equipment…

2 Likes