Taken delivery of a new Powerplant 3 (P3). I connected my 15W valve integrated amplifier, valve phono stage and Rega TT power supply. Played music for less than an hour when something went wrong with the P3 and it caused the a shuddering distortion noise to come through the amplifier. The output LED on the P3 was RED - I did not see if it was flashing or glowing solid - I was literally freaking out. In my ‘flight or fight’ (ie. freaking out) mode I turned off the amplifier and phono stage to stop the noise, then turned off the P3.
Subsequently my Rega TT power supply no longer powers up. Haven’t been able to check if phono stage has been affected.
I’m currently using the P3 to listen via digital sources without any obvious issues however with only the amplifier connected to P3. Can anyone shed light on what may have happened to cause the P3 to have a tantrum?
FYI. 15W valve integrated amplifier power consumption is 87W, valve phono stage power consumption is 17W and Rega TT power supply power consumption is 17W - so load shouldn’t be an issue.
I have had mine for nearly 8 months and it never has done anything remotely close to that. Probably best to call PS Audio in the morning to discuss the issue. I’d probably unplug everything for the night and let them walk you through a restart to try to isolate the issue. If they have to replace the unit they will. Keep us posted on the issue.
That load doesn’t strike me as being too much either. Keep in mind though that it also doesn’t like excessive hear. It has protection against too high internal heat, so if wasn’t getting enough circulation, something funky can happen.
I also have a PP3 and initially had my Hybrid (tube/solid state) integrated amp plugged into it with no problems. In fact, I’ve never even seen the green lights switch to red. I later decided to use it only with my source components though after experimenting with plugging the integrated directly into the wall outlet and finding that this configuration increased the dynamics.
P3s are usually very robust (well all PowerPlants for that matter) and we very rarely have issues with them. Not saying it’s impossible for one to fail so new, but I wouldn’t immediately jump to that conclusion. Is it possible that the grid was sending a higher voltage than normal?
Hi James. Not jumping to any conclusions just yet. This is my first foray into a power regenerator. Previously used an Isotek EVO3 Polaris. Just worried having had two faults in as many days. I’ve never had any issues with power supply in the past as far as I am aware.
Left channel of my integrated amplifier is no longer working properly. Hearing a crackly static noise intermittently. I don’t think it’s a coincidence but thinking the Powerplant 3 has killed my amplifier as well as my Rega TT power supply. I’m a grown man nearly in tears.
The P3 can be sensitive to power surges. Mine will flash red/green after thunderstorms and other power weirdness — my P15 is unaffected.
Only concern is what is being output when flashing. I noted this morning after an apparent power surge that my BAT was also flashing, suggesting that something is being output from the P3 during the fault condition.
I’ve a stellar P3 and virtually every time it’s a bank holiday here in the uk the output light flashes (it’s difficult working out what the colours are , probably red and yellowish green).
Turntable power supply required a new fuse. Tube integrated amplifier require a new tube. Everything seems to be working fine now without the Powerplant 3 as it has gone back to my dealer. Fingers crossed everything works well when I get a P3 back.