Several months ago, I got my first power regenerator, Power Plant 12 (P12), and wanted to share my impressions. Thank you James @jamesh for the help and advice throughout this journey!
For those who don’t want to read the details, the summary is… Loving it! Significant improvements in my system in all aspects of the sound and across the entire frequency range.
First, a little history so you know where I’m coming from in terms of power products. I started my audiophile journey with headphones, but didn’t get my first proper stereo system with speakers until 2008. I experimented with various power conditioners, starting with the simple Tripp Lite IsoBar 8 Ultra (in 2008), and then Furman Elite 15 Pfi (2011), APC S15 (2011), Torus Power RM 15 (2013), Running Springs Audio Elgar (2015), and now the PS Audio P12 (2022). Prior to the Elgar, I found that while many of the power conditioners I tried gave me a quieter background and increased soundstage size, they also decreased dynamics and made the treble too smooth (losing some of the sparkles and details). The Elgar did the least “damage” in terms of dynamics and sparkles. That is…until I got the P12 earlier this year.
The P12 created the quietest background I’ve ever heard, which I think led me to notice little details I’ve never heard before; the soundstage size increased in width, depth, and height; imaging became more precise with a more focused center image; the bass became deeper, more detailed, with more refined textures; the midrange was extra smooth without losing details, but actually increased details where I can better hear more subtleties in artists’ voices; the treble was smoother and sparkly without sounding edgy or grainy.
When I first listened (less than 5 hours plugged in), the first thing that jumped out to me was the center image (e.g., vocals) and soundstage size. Prior to installing the P12, I had to use a higher volume to get a large soundstage, but then the size of the vocals became too big. With the P12, I can listen at a lower volume and the vocals snap into focus at the proper size and the soundstage is big. With more listening, I started to notice the quieter background and increased details. As the burn-in continues, everything became more refined. I started to notice the deeper, more textured bass and the other things I mentioned above across the rest of the frequency range. Overall, the P12 increased dynamics, details, transparency, without any negative effects such as grainy midrange or edgy and fatiguing treble.
I’m absolutely in love with the P12 in my system, and I find that I enjoy listening to music more. I think that’s the most important thing in this hobby, to find the right combination of components that lets you enjoy the music more.
A bit about my environment and system. I live in a large apartment complex with 300 units, and my building has 12 units. According to the meters on the P12, my input voltage is between 119V to 122V and THD between 1.3% to 1.6% throughout the day. My system includes:
- Dynaudio Contour S3.4 speakers
- Octave V70SE tube integrated amp with Black Box upgrade
- Aurender N100C
- Matrix Audio X-SPDIF 2 USB converter
- PS Audio Directstream Junior DAC
- PS Audio Power Plant 12
- Speaker cables, interconnects, and power cords are all Nordost Heimdall 2 and Frey 2
- Stillpoints Ultra and Mini under all components
Here’s a photo of my system. The P12 looks so nice in the rack! The stealthy look is beautiful.
For the Stillpoints under the P12, after some experimentation, I put one under the transformer, middle of the back edge, and front left corner.
I initially had a bamboo board under the Stillpoints (like the other components on the rack), but found it the sound became a bit too bright for my preferences.
