P15 without amp

The special trade-in pricing this month on the P15 is very attractive (although I am not looking forward to wrestling it into my audio rack). I have read remarks from some forum members to the effect that going from the P12 (which I now own) to the P15 made a noticeable sonic difference, even when the P12 was not being taxed.

My BHK 250 is no longer plugged into the P12. Someone whose ears I trust told me that in his experience amps sound better not plugged into a regenerator, and this definitely turned out to be the case for me. So I’m wondering if I move up to the P15, would I get much benefit? Without the amp, the P12 is dealing with a very light load (BHK preamp, DS DAC MK2, and PST).

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Is there anything else in your system that could use an upgrade? A better place to allocate the funds?

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What are your speakers?

Good question – but I don’t think so at this time. But see reply to @adifferentpaul below.

Von Schweikert IV-Jr. These are now 20 years old but still sound very good. I’ve toyed with the idea of upgrading them; so far I haven’t seen any likely candidates that are in my price range and look as nice as the VSAs.

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Interesting. . .because I have always found my amps to benefit from regenerators. First a P300, then a PPP, then a P5, a P10 and now a P15. Ironically the bigger the regenerator, the more improvement, and no contest compared to plugged into the wall.

I have always used tube amps that really seem to benefit from the High Regulation mode and Multi-Wave. . . in 2 watt, 4 watt, 25 watt, 3 watt and then 7 watt size amps, in that order.

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I always assumed that things would sound better with the BHK 250 plugged into the P12 (or, earlier, the P5). I ran it that way for years. Then this guy encouraged me to experiment, and the difference, as they say, was not subtle – more solid sound, more meat on the bones (so to speak), but still delicate when needed. I wonder if there’s something different about low-powered tube amps vs a powerful hybrid like the 250 in terms of how they interact with a Power Plant.

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I run my BHK250 off my P15 and definitely prefer it to direct to the outlet. A P12 may not be enough for it.

Perhaps so, but before buying the P12 I calculated how much power I needed (including the BHK 250) as carefully as I could; the P12 seemed more than adequate.

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