I currently own a Power Plant Premier. It has done a fine job. I bought it from Audio Advisor in 2012, had it for about 3 months when it developed the “clicking of death” which required that I send it in for servicing. Excellent service from PSA. Since I got it back it has been working fine ever since. Several times it has begun clicking again but whatever was causing the clicking must have been resolved as the clicking stopped on its own with no intervention necessary. Once it was clicking for the better part of a day and i was alarmed thinking “here we go again” Fast forward to today. My system has changed quite a bit since I bought the PPP and I am looking at an upgrade over the PPP. I am looking at either a P10 or a balanced power unit from Core power technologies. The P 10 costs quite a bit more than the balanced power unit. In researching both units it would seem that the P10 is sonically better but I am concerned with future performance. The Corepower units are passive and I am told will last a long time. I am not sure about the regenerators hence this post. How long would say a P 10 be expected to last? I use my PPP constantly as my audio system, computer and hdtv are all being powered by it so the same would hold for the P 10. It would get a lot of daily use. Thanks for any insight.
Here’s my two cents: I had a Power Plant Premier, and was very happy. Still have it, powering a headphone system in my bedroom. I got the “clicking” on occasion and it would stop. … and reappear. . . and stop. . . . Never developed into a big problem.
I knew that better sound quality would be possible via a P3, P5 or P10 (I began to feel that the PPP added a certain ‘signature’ to the sound, not a bad one, but there). So I saw a used P5 and bought it. Wow. Quite an improvement, more open, effortless sound, blacker background, better dynamics. And of course I began to wonder what a P10 would be like so two years later there was a big sale on P10s. . . and I bought one. (Sold the P5, someone got a great deal). Again, a marked improvement in all those areas, I LOVE the P10.
I get no “clicking” from the P10, nothing at all but excellent sound. I find it much more solidly and “better” built than the PPP and I think the P10 will last for years and years. I have only had it less than a year, but it inspires confidence in that regard, more than the PPP did. (And it’s assembled in Boulder, I believe my PPP was assembled in China). I would of course welcome others with more longevity to the P10 to weigh in, and PS Audio itself, but I believe in the durability of the P10. And wouldn’t want to be without one.
Power Plants are designed for long life and constant dedicated service. You should expect an easy 20 years of faithful uninterrupted service without a hitch.
The intermittent clicking I have experienced is unnerving. Although it goes away, it leaves me feeling unsettled and wondering if it is perhaps signalling an imminent return to PSA. I have read that the newer generation of Power Plants are more reliable and I am glad to here that lonson has not heard any clicking at all from his P10. If Paul says he expects a P10 to last 20 years I trust him. I notice that there are different zones on the P10. Are these zones all isolated from one another? It would appear that they are. Does the P10 have the ability to isolate different kit which it is supplying power to from each other? I assume it has some ability as the manual suggests plugging in digital equipment in one zone, analog in a different zone etc. I have two class D amps. I assume they would both be plugged into the “high current” zone. Are class D amps considered digital or analog? Always wondered. I currently have a dedicated line to a PS Audio soloist. I think the soloist has a transformer inside. What are you guys thoughts on using a balanced power conditioner in conjunction with a Power Plant?
I bought a used P300 in the early 2000s, I sent it back in Oct 2006 when they offered full factory modifications, adding Multiwave II+ and I believe all upgraded capacitors.
It has been running nonstop, exceot for a for a few days when I moved. It runs hot, but it always has.
I am not familiar with the PPP, so I don’t have any ides what cause the clicking, was it some relays? Maybe someone can answer that.
If finances permitted I would buy a P10, with complete confidence.
In this moment i am doing the break in to my P10, in a 24/7 operation i only hear one or two “clicks” like a relay sound in the last 3 days (maybe 20 seconds after i turn on my two big Pass Labs X600’s mono amps, they are plugged to the wall outlet directly, not in the P10), no problem at all.I think it’s normal.
Before i decided to buy a P10 i read a lot of forums for take my decision and everything thinks that is a highly reliable product, in fact Mr. McGowan recommends me left on 24/7.
Hi. I’m from Brazil and own a PPP since 2012. Few months ago I started to have the same problem reported by Brent… The PPP is “clicking for the better part of a day”… Observing, it shows 127v (output). Then, after minutes, it clicks for around 15 or 20 seconds, turning 127/125V of output; after this, it stops clicking and the output voltage goes to 117v; Minutes later, the voltage turns to 127V again, and the process starts again.
I asked the energy company to come and they’ve measured my home input voltage… It is around 127/128V without great variation… that means the problem is not in my input voltage…
Is there anyone that can help me to find a solution or to identify the reason of that clicking…?
I can’t help with the clicking, but I can suggest that you buy a multimeter for testing your own power, and you will have the benefit of having a continuity tester, for checking fuses.
With that high of an input voltage, why don’t you set your outputting voltage to 120v?
As to any of the Powerplants, I would leave them on all the time. I think the newer ones allow some programming to shut off just specific outlets. With the exception of tube gear, that if designed in the recent past allows standby, where only the tubes are shut down, I would leave all gear on or in standby, unless you are going to be gone for more than a day or two.
That way you don’t have to wait for your gear to warm up to sound at it’s best. All I ever do, is put my tube preamp in standby. I have always been told that it is harder on electronics to turn it on and off, rather than leaving it on.
Maybe someone with more knowledge can explain why, or correct me, if I am wrong.
The clicking can mean there’s a problem with the regenerator, but not always. The relay click when it bypasses the regenerator and switches to line voltage. If there’s a problem with the regenerator, it will show because the THD out will be the same as the THD in.
Paul McGowan said
The clicking can mean there's a problem with the regenerator, but not always. The relay click when it bypasses the regenerator and switches to line voltage. If there's a problem with the regenerator, it will show because the THD out will be the same as the THD in.
Good to know that Mr.McGowan, thank you for your fast reply.I appreciate your active participation in the forum.
Thank you Jeff, and specially thanks to Mr. McGowan. It’s good to know that you are present here in direct contact with PS Audio customers…
About PPP I changed the ac power outlet and since then I no longer hear the click …
About the % THD it shows pretty much the same input and output reading … 1.7 / 1.6 for the output and 1.6 for the input… As I understand, this short diference means that I probably have a problem with the regenerator?
Hi Mr. McGowan… After a hours of peace and quiet, the click came back … I really have a problem with my PPP. As I am very far from the distributor in Brazil, you can make me a recommendation for the repair of my PPP.
Gosh, that’s hard. If you want to bear the cost of two-way shipping we can do it but that’s expensive, then the repair cost. I wish I had a better answer. Remember though, clicking may be normal and not necessarily a sign of a problem. If the power gets out of a certain range it’ll click - or if there’s a spike. The thing to check is the distortion. If output distortion is lower than input distortion it does not require repair.
…In this case the P10 “eats” the 1500 watts of the electric line of my house or only consumes the right amount of current to feed the front end only?
If the P10 was eating 1500 watts from the wall, and connected devices were only eating 80 watts from the P10, those unaccounted for 1420 watts would probably result in the heat sinks glowing red hot. The P10 (thankfully) is about 90% efficient, so if your front end is consuming 80 watts, the P10 is probably drawing less than 100 watts from the wall.
I agree, there definitely is a break-in period with the P10, it went through changes but I’ve had months and months of great sound. Can’t imagine my system without it.
lonson said
I agree, there definitely is a break-in period with the P10, it went through changes but I've had months and months of great sound. Can't imagine my system without it.
Can't imagine mine too, glad for you and for the results in your amazing set up lonson
Hi i’m new to PS community but i appreciate Paul and his spirit through the “ask Paul” videos, i consider to put in my system a PPP, but here in Greece there is no free trial home, searching periodicaly the used market for more affordable budget, but my problem is which power plant is appropriate for my power amp- a Jeff Rowland model 302- first because is a big current power amp and second the technology is use (big transformer for filtering the power) benefit at all from a PPP, if so maybe i can use a “smaller” PPP for the other components of the system (preamp, sources, etc…). Nikos from Piraeus Greece
