PSA Wish list

Amusingly, I did not think of a three-head tape reel-to-reel deck but rather was puzzling as you had mentioned video. I know little of video.

Paul McGowan said

happy new year to you all too! I like these suggestions. Let me address them individually.

    • 2 pair of XLR/RCA outputs off the BHK preamp for subs or bi amp or even room correction eq for the subs.
This would require losing one of BHK's inputs to make enough rear panel space to accommodate. How does everyone feel about that?

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I’m late in this thread I just found, but although I have no BHK pre, I’d like to point out how I’d like to buy one with my wish list:

  • 2 or even 3 outputs...a sub or two is quite a standard nowadays and an adapter is not a good solution within high quality cabling at least to power amp or main speakers.
  • Introduction of a higher chassis that could be used for an integrated or (that’s my interest) a pre with outboard power supply and inboard phonostage. I wonder that a two chassis solution with two inboard power supplies is a better solution instead, as stacking would immediately be an issue anyway (although they’d look nice in those PSA standard chassis), but I’m just a clueless creature.
  • dedicated tube soft start for longer tube life
  • optionally besides half active a fully active PSA speaker

The lcd is useless from across the room. How about providing a corresponding video out that we could route to a display.

Unfortunately, adding video is a bad idea. Video circuits are very noisy and do not belong within a high end product dedicated to audio.

I’d bet that the LCD display could be tapped for an output. There certainly is something generating its output.

Probably a little late, but all my P10 zones are set to “always on”; however, I do use the the trigger output of the P10 to remotely control my monoblocks (not powered through the P10). It would be cool to put my monoblocks on a schedule (off overnight).

So, the suggestion is to make the trigger behave as if it is a zone.

How about an output trigger per zone.

    • PSA hi level input to XLR converter for sub use ( for those of us without a REL sub )
A good idea and one I already built using two high quality audio step down transformers. Not sure it's a good commercial product. REL's got a wireless version that's said to be transparent. I believe that might be the best answer.
Paul, being a DIY'er, I'm curious which step-down transformers you used. I've been looking at options for adding subs to my setup and philosophically, I like using the high-level as the source for the sub input.

Then on suggestions, I have a few…

  1. Not sure on whether this will work, but is worth a question. Nelson Pass’s SIT-based amps have gotten some VERY impressive reviews, largely due to the unique characteristics of those devices. For most designers, using these devices would be problematic due to them only coming in N-channel equivalents. Not so PS Audio and BHK, with the unique use of only N-channel MOSFETS in the output stages. Not sure if any of the available SITs are appropriate for use in a BHK-250/300-styled circuit as far as current and voltage are concerned, but if so, it might be a VERY interesting area for some experimentation.

  2. An upgrade path for existing P10s/P5s to the new P20/P10 circuit. I suspect the case and power transformer make up more than 1/2 of the parts cost for these units, so it MIGHT be economical (though shipping would add quite a bit, as very few of the P10/P5 owners should even be opening that case, much less trying to replace boards in them). BUT as an owner of 2 P10s and having spent most of my audio budget for the year on a couple of BHK-250s (1 for each of my systems), I won’t be replacing my P10s soon. BUT I could probably squeeze in an upgrade to each.

  3. Almost forgot this… consider adding a reset-able tube-on timer on the amps. Nothing too fancy… maybe a recessed switch for resetting and a tri-color LED… yellow for some period for warm-up time, green for an AVERAGE tube life time, and red for time over that. I read about that feature of the preamp and love it… yet adding a full microprocessor and display to the amps seems a bit much.

BTW, I love PS Audio and your out-of-the-box thinking. I’ve had PS gear in my systems for much of the time since I got my 1st high-end-ish system back in 1981 that included a PS-III/LCC & the PS Audio Step Up.

Greg in Mississippi

I got one. Wish PSA made a transport cd player with a stellar dac built in. No SACD. Just red book, built in dac and bridge for steaming. Under 4K