P20, powered by a dedicated 20 amp circuit:
Question is, are there instances where continuous or instantaneous current available from the P20 can be less than the wall?
My dealer, who I don’t think has studied knowledge of the P20, strongly advises against plugging my 200 watt, class A monoblocks into it.
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Nothing empirical but it has to be less; otherwise, why does the P20 generate heat?
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I can only guess an answer to that. For ex, what portion of energy being generated is not be used–drawn out of the P20, is being lost as heat.?.? Hence, the heat sinks?
But don’t place any bets on what I said. I haven’t eaten yet today.
And also, I can’t work out how that explains the ability to satisfy the needs of power amps of the P20 vs The Wall.
I miss the “ask the experts” thread.
There’s simply no way for a regenerator to make more power than what’s coming out of the wall. If it were possible, the world’s energy problems would be over. And because nothing is perfect, they can’t provide as much as is coming from the wall - it will always be less. As mentioned above, the heat generated is wasted power.
What the regenerators mainly do is provide a clean 60Hz sinewave. I believe they also have DC protection and surge protection.
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BTW, keep in mind you have 1800 watts coming from the wall (120V * standard 15A circuit).
Oh, one more thing - regenerators can provide more than is coming out of the wall for a brief instant due to the energy stored in their capacitors. Whether or not this overcomes whatever power deficits you have depends on many things.
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If you use the 20 amp connection you can use a little more power (2000 Va). I think they will do 80% of that continuous and up to 3600 Va surge using internal caps.
The 200 watt Class A amps each use 400 watts at full load, correct? I don’t see any issues but I am dam sure no EE just another interested party.
20 amp circuit is 2400watts (VA). Volts * amps = power.
The 200watt class A amp…is that mono? Stereo? 200 watts peak or RMS?
Worst case scenario, 200 watts RMS * 2 channels is 400 watts output. 400 * 1.414 = 565 watts peak at clipping. Power-wise a P20 should be plenty.
The one thing I don’t know is how the P20 delivers current but given that Paul is an engineer I doubt this wasn’t one of the priorities during design.
Basically the math says all should be good. But you won’t know until you try 
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That’s what I get for doing math in my head. 
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The spec shows max continuous load at 2000 Va so roughly 80% of the 2400 Va from a 20 amp service and 20 amp cord. I imagine it would get pretty toasty at those loads though.
No toastier than 20 100 watt bulbs lol.
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My P20 handles my MC1000 monoblocks quite well I have never had a two channel system shut down peaking amps at over 1000 wpc they have 2.1 dB of headroom and 160 amps of stored current for peaks. Only when the HT is amp is also running a action explosion riddled soundtrack will it shut down with output of all amps exceeding 3000 combined Watts for extended cap draining explosions doesl the P20 hit protection mode. It has happened only three times. No music production is like that.
I think your dealer wants to sell you more hardware
I’m sure my dealer wants to sell everyone something.
But in this case, as stated in my original question, he just wants me to redirect my amp power cables into the wall.
I have to assume by the vacuum behind my question, that the answer must be that my dealer is correct. His opinion, which is very common, could be just sort of audio-legend.
I’ll plug the amps into the 20 amp wall outlet tomorrow and report back what, I hear. It will be the first time they’re direct into the wall.
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What is your incoming power distortion level measuring? It can’t hurt to try. I noticed each amp at power on causes and add of 0.2 percent incoming distortion. Interesting when i move one or both to separate 20 amp lines. They still affect the P20 on its separate circuit by 0.2 percent. I ran and wired the 200 Amp lines myself and their grounds. So I wouldn’t expect a miracle but it would be nice if it improves your experience.
Hi Ron,
I know many audiophiles who swear that you should always plug the amp directly into the wall. On the other hand, I know that Paul and a sound engineer friend of mine both recommend plugging the amp into the regenerator.
I tried it both ways and I much prefer the sound when I plug into the regenerator. I think nothing beats first hand experience on matters like this.
George
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Word.
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My initial impressions, after a couple hours of low volume listening last night and normal volume today, I would say that there isn’t much difference, wall or P20. Again, this involves only my amps. The improvement for all of my source equipment is indisputably better with the P20.
I did have flashes where I felt the wall was more lively, but that was difficult to define; could have been hearing what I expected to hear.
Says a lot about your Pass Labs amplifiers’ power supply capabilities in my opinion. 
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