In this chase for better sound I am reminded that all the equipment in the world means nothing if the music doesn’t move you. I could just as easily have posted this in the “everything else” category. We’re coming up on our 25th and the wife asked me what I wanted to celebrate. My P12 should be dropped off by Fedex tomorrow. Reading through the manual ahead of time I realized I could trigger my M1200s on when taking the P12 out of stand by. I ordered a set of 12 volt trigger cables from Amazon. If I had $17 more I got free shipping so I threw in a copy of Morse, Portnoy, & George Cover to Cover trilogy. What a fun set of Discs! 35 cover tunes of classic rock from the 60s & 70s. They must have had a lot of fun putting it together. I’m enjoying the hell out of listening to it.
I promise this will be followed up with my impressions of what regenerated power does (or doesn’t) for my system. From everything I’ve read it should be a big improvement. I have noticed that there are times when my system sounds much better than others and wrote it off to, “I’m just tired” or something. So not tomorrow, but about 100 hours after the P12 is added to my system, that’s what I was told burn in was for a P12, we will see.
I’m grateful to be reminded that the music is what matters by a set of three CDs while supporting a couple of my favorite artists. Still, I don’t mind a better sounding system so I will let you know after the P12 arrives, gets installed in my system, burns in and I get some listening time in.
I will say that adding the Stellar P3 was really illuminating. The music just seems to have more depth now. It’s something. I was a skeptic. I’m not anymore. And it isn’t even “burned in” yet.
It did arrive yesterday. We took a day trip to the flight 93 memorial so I wasn’t able to unpack it until late yesterday. Heavy little bugger. Interesting packaging concept. Normal double box but basically floating in an air bubble. My only worry for the box is that I store them in the attic. By the time I need the box again will the air suspension system work? Hopefully I won’t need to find out about that for a very long time.
Once in the rack I found configuring the outlets very intuitive. The 12 volt triggers work like a champ to power up the M1200s.
By the time everything was hooked up it was pushing 10:30 so I wasn’t able to do too much listening but I couldn’t just go to bed, could I? I was told these need about 100 hours of break in time to sound 90% like they would. I’ll be very pleased indeed. My initial impressions are, a much quieter background, better imaging and soundstage, deeper, more powerful bass, and an improved sense of ease. If I can believe the meter It’s really cleaning up the power. It’s also barely being taxed. The meter indicated the system was using about 125 watts, or 10% of capacity. It was late and the wife was already in bed so I didn’t crank it up but it’s hard to imagine every running the thing out of steam. The M1200s are supper efficient. Today is a vacation day for me so I’ll have plenty of time for listening. I’ll post more after the 100 hour break in period.
I wanted to post a question/observation as well. There was a catalog packed in with the P12. On page 6 the P12 is shown with the same 4 meter screen as it’s bigger brothers. Mine has the four meters but you need to toggle through the four screens. Is that a firmware update coming or does it fall into the category of “all specifications subject to change”? Just curious. Anyone know?
Thanks for the first impressions David. Sounds like it’s going to settle in nicely! Keen eye on the catalog photo. I think some of the original FWs had the meters oriented like this but it was determined meaningless because the display was too small to actually see anything notable. This layout is great on the P15 and 20’s larger display, but useless on the P12.
SR Orange fuses? What do you do? Replace the ones in the backs of the units with them? I think I found them on line. $160? Seriously? What the hell. I paid enough for the amps and P12.
Well, I’ll have to keep an eye out for them. I guess all the power has to flow through the fuse so improving them should do something. I lot of folks with Magnepans replace the fuse with solid bars. I’m just not that brave. That might be another place to put the Orange fuses.
agree totally regarding the fuse and they need some run in and don’t forget they are directional - they will give you overall system improvement (not earth changing but noticeable) probably not a good time to tell you i found the isoacoustic footers also gave noticeable improvement in my rack on my p20
enjoy
If this is a silly question, please be nice to the mechanical engineer asking it. The fuses are directional. I get that. I’m sure they mark them in a similar fashion to the way my interconnects are marked. How do you know which end goes into the cap that screws out of the back of a component? All of my components are in a closed back, custom cabinet. If I take everything out to install new fuses I want to be sure they’re in correctly. It takes me a couple hours to take everything out. The amps are on the bottom (of course). It then takes me a couple hours to put every thing back.
Hi david…on my P12 the orange fuse with the r of sr on the screw in fuse cap end…
Outch on having to move your P12 I feel for you pal…
If you are able …keep P12 as accesible as possible to allow easier access in case you wish to change the fuse orientation…
Another challenge is that this fuse will sound good to great out
of the box…but that changes goes into from very indifferent some
frequencies seem to be diminished…then back to wow…and back
again this goes on and on for about 3 to 400 hours…best to
leave gear running even repeat playing music or an equipment and
cable burn in track ( low volume good enough) as the equipment draws
power from your P12 thus “exercising” you new fuse and P12…
Seeing that removing the P12 is difficult it may be harder to burn it in
first before installing you orange fuse…doing so would allow you to a
grasp of how your P12 is increasing your system’s overall performsnce
and allow it to settle in first then install your orange fuse…
All that to avoid the false negative that perhaps your new P12 is
not performing as expected…when it is the fuse taking solong
to burn in…
I had a similar challenge as yourself…but probably no where near as
tough as your situation…and pulling that hefty unit out from my
cabinet was no fun…
The results though will put smiles on you face!!! You will like the results!!
- after 25 years I’m guessing she is a keeper - enjoy the P12
