Paul,
I am super excited to be getting a P20 in the near future! It really looks like a beast and I like everything I have read about it.
One question I have is regarding noise generated by other components plugged into the power plant. When I was researching regenerators and power conditioners, one other well-respected brand emphasizes how they use technology to block noise not only from the wall but from other components plugged into the conditioner. As a layperson, I do not know if I have noise coming from other components, but I am wondering if I did, would the P20 block that noise from coming back on the line and interfering with another component plugged into the P20. For example, let’s say my DAC and preamp were plugged into the P20. Let’s say my DAC generated a lot of noise (hypothetically, since I don’t know that to be the case), would the P20 prevent that noise from infiltrating the preamp? If so, how does it do that? Also, if so, does that component to component noise prevention work as well as the cleaning of the power from the wall? Or is the premise that component to component noise is a bigger degrader of sound quality than noise from the wall a faulty one in your opinion? I know it’s a lot of questions but it was a key selling point to the other company’s conditioner and it piqued my interest. I am not looking for you to criticize their premise, I just want to hear your thoughts on the topic.
Indeed and this is actually a big deal. After all, we can’t afford a P20 for each piece of kit that needs powering! Injected noise from connected equipment is real. Fortunately we have solved this problem, or at least mitigated it to satisfaction, by several means. The way we built the P20 internal power delivery system and the low output impedance of the P20. Internal to the P20 is a series of gold plated thick copper buss bars connecting the AC receptacles together. This means there’s nearly nothing standing between the regenerator’s output and the receptacles delivering the power. The next thing, and this is the most important, is the output impedance. Because we design around a Class AB amplifier, while other regenerators tend to be Class D, we have the advantage of huge peak current delivery and extraordinarily low output impedance. This means that connected equipment cannot generate a noise voltage across the receptacle, thus isolating products connected to the P20.
Paul, I remember some of PSA’s older products used to have “isozones”, where different zones were separated from each other by little torroidals [under correction, if memory serves me right = and maybe this was only in the filter products?]. Are these not used and/or required any more? [in the regenerators?].
The outgoing P10 has different zones - and I see on the P20 it also has separate zones. Can you expand on how this separation is addressed (wired; or kept “separate”) internally?
I’m also very excitedly awaiting my P20
I have a home theater / two channel audio system. I use McIntosh MC452 to power my two front channels which are Golden Ear Triton One, and then I have a seven channel amp McIntosh MC207 and a McIntosh MX160 Processor/Preamp. My questions is I am very interested in purchasing the P20. I wanted to know if I could plug in everything I use to P20 or is it too much drawing power. I would also be connecting components such as Oppo UDP-205, Sony HAP-Z1ES, Sony PS4 Pro, Sony 85 inch TV, cable box, and the Triton Ones have a built in subwoofer with built in amps that also require power.
Then my second question is how does the P20 compare to the AudioQuest Niagra 7000, Torus AV, Shunyata Hydra?
Yes, you’re right, we had Isozones back then because we hadn’t yet figured out how to isolate one receptacle from another. In a modern P20 that’s all changed. Because of the wiring, now consisting on 1/4” thick gold plated copper bars, and the magnitude lower output impedance of the regenerator, it is no longer possible for attached equipment to place noise onto the Power Plant’s output. So noise from one receptacle is isolated from any other.
These are very different products. Both the Audioquest and the Shunyata are passive devices. They add no energy back onto the AC signal. Thus, neither can repair the basic problems of AC power. A Power Plant actually repairs and enhances the AC power by filling in missing energy (especially at the peak of the AC sine wave where it is typically missing), regulating the power dynamically, and lowering output impedance by several orders of magnitude.
The two devices you mentioned are power conditioners—their title says it all. They don’t/can’t rebuild and repair AC power, but rather, they condition it. Conditioning helps a little. Regenerating it helps a LOT.
