When my power amp is plugged directly into the wall outlet, the same as the Quintet, I have a very low level ground loop buzz. You only hear it with your ear right next to the tweeter of the speaker but you do hear other effects such as low level ticks and crackles in quiet parts of music that does not otherwise have these issues.
When I plug the amp into the Quintet the buzz goes away as well as the other artifacts but I feel some of the low end is lost when the amp is plugged into the Quintet. Previously, I had an integrated plugged directly into the Quintet and hence just discovering this after years of use. So, I appear to have something odd between the two outlets on the same receptacle.
If I purchase a new P12 or P15 do you feel the issue I am having with loss of of low end (deep low end), will return? The manufacture recommends plugging directly into the outlet. Honestly I only discovered this with the introduction of new DAC that has outstanding low level detail as it revealed the issue. Just to be sure I removed the new DAC and the problems remained. It just let me discover them.
The bass should be back in spades with a new regenerator. While the Quintet is one of the best passive conditioners made, as is there Dectet, they are still passives and passive conditioners tend to soften the low end where a regenerator does the opposite by lowering impedance and improving dynamics and punch.
Thanks Paul. As a further experiment I moved the power amp back to a direct wall connection where the Quintet had been plugged in. Then moved the main Quintet to the outlet where the buzz had been on the power amp.
No buzz, low end returned, all seems well on the Quintet. So it would seem the P12 could do the trick. I have been doing a bunch of research and have looked closely at one of the P12s similarly priced primary competitors that takes the passive approach. They do have some compelling arguments for their approach.
It seems regeneration is a good choice as long as one does not ask more of what it can deliver to the components, especially the power amp. My calculations show I would never be using more than 22% based on equipment but there may be times where that will spike due to transients. When I look at the power output meters they never hit even 15W or so of power on peeks and it is quite loud in the small space with the 2-way speakers that are reasonably efficient at 88db.
I am leaning toward the P12 for a birthday present.