I have been considering adding a Power Plant to my mostly vintage stereo system. I am wondering if tube components with skinny 16 gauge power cords will benefit. I am using two amps in mono, plus the preamp and tuner, all separates with ungrounded smallish cords. This may be a silly question, but was just wondering. Thanks.
Welcome to the community @jamesp
Power plants do benefit all hifi in general both sonically, and protection wise. With vintage grear and ungrounded cords, I would say a trial is a must before you commit!
You bet! Tube equipment typically has some pretty basic power supplies and those benefit greatly from a Power Plant’s regenerated and regulated output.
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Hi Paul, which one would you recommend? I am running two vintage McIntosh MC275s with a C22, two turntables, a tuner, and a DAC. Would I just add up their total wattage and go from there? Of course the sources are not being used all at once. Thanks.
My advice? Get the biggest one you can afford. I have had a P5, a P10 and a P15 in my main system, and each powered my system well, but as I went up in size the overall sound improved with the size. Now using a P15 my “load” is only about 18 to20 percent, but the sound is markedly better than using the P10 (which is now in a second system) or the P5.
Thanks, that is what I was thinking, and what I have read from reviews. Most of what I can afford now would be the minimum, I just need to figure what that is.
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Thanks. Yes, I was wondering about the small ungrounded cords and how much my system could benefit.
Running a pair of 1974 Luxman MB-3045 tube amps. They’ve been upgraded and now use Audioquest NRG-4 Power Cables, but they perform wonderfully with the Power Plant.
Congratulations!
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@jamesp I run two Cary audio monoblocks (tube), a PSA gain cell preamp, and a source component all connected to a Stellar P3 regenerator. Sounds great, and it’s never gone into protection mode.
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Thank you.
What size Power Plant are you using? Thanks.
I thought a P3 would be too small for my system. Maybe not?
The P3 can handle up to 900 watts for up to 30 seconds, according to the spec page. I’m not sure what your McIntosh amps are rated at, but in my system it’s been fine. If you play loud for long periods of time you might want the bigger one.
Power Plant 5
@jakedavis5 were you using the non regenerated HC ports for the amps? My two amps have a max of 400 watts each. I can see using the P3 for source components only.
I use the HC ports with the regeneration switch in the On position. My amps are rated 300W each. The good thing about the P3 is the ability to flip the HC switch to Off (filtering only) if you find it goes into protection mode.
I just received an email that the P12 PowerPlant is on sale the month of February
Yes. If in the market I’d go with the P12. In fact, I might upgrade!