power conditioning

[jasbirnandra]

I am thinking of adding the audience power conditioner the aR6TS or aR6TSS to my setup has anybody tried it and what was the difference it yielded.help to decide.

 

[Lee]

I am thinking of adding the audience power conditioner the aR6TS or aR6TSS to my setup has anybody tried it and what was the difference it yielded.help to decide.

I have not tried the Audience stuff but I hear good things. I have been auditioning some Shunyata Hydra gear and I use their Venom3 and Diamondback power cords. It really does help the sound. More open, dynamic, and more detail.

 

[LL21]

I have heard great things about both Audience and Shunyata. I use the Transparent Audio Reference...mainly because it was a trade, and it worked well. Has anyone heard about the Accuphase Power Conditioner? http://www.accuphase.com/model/ps-1220.html

 

[MylesBAstor]

One piece of advice is to audition the unit before plunking the money down. I have heard so many that do more harm than help.

 

[Grainger49]

I live in East Tennessee. There is a fair number of heavy manufacturing plants within the area, one that I used to work at as an EE. Such industry puts notches and spikes onto the line voltage. These, and harmonic distortions caused by uneven three phase loads cause all sorts of problems on the power grid.

Many "power conditioners" have elements that can suppress a spike, but not put it back in line with the sine wave. None of them, that I am aware of, can fill in a notch in the sine wave. As far as harmonics, conditioners are lost.

I use a power regenerator. It was the only thing that made sense to me. But, depending on what problems you have in your incoming power other conditioners might give you great results.

 

[LL21]

I live in East Tennessee. There is a fair number of heavy manufacturing plants within the area, one that I used to work at as an EE. Such industry puts notches and spikes onto the line voltage. These, and harmonic distortions caused by uneven three phase loads cause all sorts of problems on the power grid.

Many "power conditioners" have elements that can suppress a spike, but not put it back in line with the sine wave. None of them, that I am aware of, can fill in a notch in the sine wave. As far as harmonics, conditioners are lost.

I use a power regenerator. It was the only thing that made sense to me. But, depending on what problems you have in your incoming power other conditioners might give you great results.

Thanks Grainger...interesting observations. I think Accuphase is a regenerator...is it? http://www.accuphase.com/model/ps-1220.html

 

[Grainger49]

I can't tell. They say, "waveform shaping technology" but that doesn't say a separately generated sine wave. It isn't clear to me. I understand, and share, your confusion on that point. However there is another quote, "The reference signal generator" which makes me think that there is a reference input, like to a Mono amplifier putting out a sine wave.

All I can say is I'm confused as to what it is.

Hold on, I opened the PDF catalog and the text says it adds to or subtracts from the incoming waveform to make it perfect, a replica of the "reference." So it isn't a regenerator.

 

[LL21]

I can't tell. They say, "waveform shaping technology" but that doesn't say a separately generated sine wave. It isn't clear to me. I understand, and share, your confusion on that point. However there is another quote, "The reference signal generator" which makes me think that there is a reference input, like to a Mono amplifier putting out a sine wave.

All I can say is I'm confused as to what it is.

Hold on, I opened the PDF catalog and the text says it adds to or subtracts from the incoming waveform to make it perfect, a replica of the "reference." So it isn't a regenerator.

Thanks for taking the time! You're right...i was confused about what it was. i'm no techie, so when they say they create a replica...i was not sure if that was regeneration...or some other techno-marketing mumbo jumbo. Accuphase makes good stuff...so i am sure it is good...just not sure what it is.

 

[Grainger49]

Oh, yeah! Accuphase makes excellent products. It just takes a little digging to see that they are using an additive/subtractive circuit rather than generating a completely new sine wave.

 

[Bill Demars]

I use the Audience Adept Response aR6-TS power conditioner and I love it! We had a shootout at a friend's house that was reviewing the Nordost QRT Power products, and I brought my Audience and another distributor brought several others including the Bybee Power Purifier, Silver Circle Pure Power One 5.0se, PSAudio P5 Power Plant and Sunny Cable Power Conditioner. We spent the better part of two full days auditioning and comparing the conditioners. It was amazing how different each unit sounded. The Audience had by far the best bass dynamics and pace. The others sounded bogged down in comparison. Overall dynamics were also beyond reproach. The Silver Circle sounded at first very organic and easy to listen to, but the next day for some reason, it sounded forward. Can't explain that one, but it continued to sound forward and a bit bright from there forward. The top two in all three of our opinions was the Nordost and Audience. The Nordost was very inviting and smooth sounding, but in my opinion, lost some overall dynamics and bass resolution.
Keep in mind that the Audience needs big-time break-in! It wasn't until I had the unit on for two straight months that it started to show what it can do.
Caveat: I am a dealer for Audience products and would be happy to let you borrow my unit to try if you end up buying from me.

 

[MylesBAstor]

I use the Audience Adept Response aR6-TS power conditioner and I love it! We had a shootout at a friend's house that was reviewing the Nordost QRT Power products, and I brought my Audience and another distributor brought several others including the Bybee Power Purifier, Silver Circle Pure Power One 5.0se, PSAudio P5 Power Plant and Sunny Cable Power Conditioner. We spent the better part of two full days auditioning and comparing the conditioners. It was amazing how different each unit sounded. The Audience had by far the best bass dynamics and pace. The others sounded bogged down in comparison. Overall dynamics were also beyond reproach. The Silver Circle sounded at first very organic and easy to listen to, but the next day for some reason, it sounded forward. Can't explain that one, but it continued to sound forward and a bit bright from there forward. The top two in all three of our opinions was the Nordost and Audience. The Nordost was very inviting and smooth sounding, but in my opinion, lost some overall dynamics and bass resolution.
Keep in mind that the Audience needs big-time break-in! It wasn't until I had the unit on for two straight months that it started to show what it can do.
Caveat: I am a dealer for Audience products and would be happy to let you borrow my unit to try if you end up buying from me.

SC needs 70 or so hours after unplugging to sound its best Also, did they have the latest Vesuvius MK2 PC? That makes a sizable improvement in the sound of the PLC and I think would eliminate your objections. Don't ask me why!

You heard the SC here BTW in April and there is a new upgrade coming out within the next two months or so.

 

[Bill Demars]

I believe we had the Sunny Supreme Power Cord on the Sunny conditioner. Each unit was plugged in upon arrival at the shootout, but definitely not 70 hours. As I look at Steve's review, the Sunny only got about 15 minutes of warm-up, so that would explain it.

 

[jdandy2]

My experience with power conditioners has been with the PS Audio Power Plant Premier and the PurePower 2000. Both are AC regenerators, with the PurePower 2000 also providing battery backup. At one point I was using a total of four Power Plant Premier's, two in my living room system, one in my studio system, and one in my home theater system. I still have the two in my living room system, but now have the PurePower 2000 powering the studio two channel system. Having replaced the Power Plant Premier with the PurePower 2000 in the studio system I was able to make some direct A/B comparisons before I sold the PPP. What I discovered is the PurePower 2000 deliveres a deeper, more richly textured bass than did the Power Plant Premier. It was not a night and day difference, but when switching between them using the same music it was discernible. I also sensed that the PurePower 2000 provided a slight improvement in the systems dynamic performance, which I equate to its ability to deliver more current on demand than the Power Plant Premier. I am not unhappy with the Power Plant Premier's performance in the home theater or the living room systems because the clean regenerated AC delivers blacker backgrounds for both video and audio, and a clearer separation of instruments and voices than without them in the system. I would consider a Purepower 2000 for the living room system, but its physical dimensions are too large (22" deep) for the rack space I presently have available, so for now the two PS Audio Power Plant Premiers will stay. My impression of the PurePower 2000 is it exceeds the performance of the Power Plant Premier, plus the battery backup is a nice additional feature, especially for the music server which remains powered continuously, so momentary power glitches and interruptions don't force a reboot.

 

[rockitman]

I prefer regeneration over conditioning. Conditioning is only a band-aid for bad electricity. When you regenerate you get much lower distortion and a perfect 60 hz sine wave. Conditioners can't do that...

 

[Bill Demars]

In our extensive conditioner listening session with six of the high end conditioners, regenerators, the PSAudio P5 Power Plant was solidly in last place. It sounded like very bad solid-state or bad digital with a glassy glaze over the presentation. I was very surprised that it sounded so bad in comparison to the other conditioners. I don't think one can automatically say that one form of conditioning is worse or better than another. It surely will vary from system to system.

 

[rockitman]

I don't buy it Bill. The conditioner's are coloring the sound, pleasant as that may be for some systems. I just want perfect stable power:
stable 120 volts, 60Hz and THD < .4%. The Regenerators do that, conditioners don't. If I though My PS Audio was harming the sound, I would remove them. YMMV.

 

[garylkoh]

As Myles said earlier, make sure that you audition before plunking your money down.

I've heard the PS Audio Power Plants do quite amazing things, both amazingly good and amazingly bad. Try using a big Class D power amp with any of these Regenerators - they don't like sudden pulls of power. The result is no longer stable power. However, for small Class A amps, a phono stage, they can be very good - depending on the power supply that is already in the component. I still own several of these PP's.

Same with balanced power, etc. Right now, my power conditioner of choice is the Burmester 948 for the source components, and the Isotek Titan for the 911's. They do very different things, and with power conditioners, mileage varies A LOT.

 

[MylesBAstor]

OK if all these regenerators and PLCs are removing most of the garbage from the AC line, then why does the PC used with them make a difference? And sometimes, sizable!

Same holds true for turntable power supplies. If they're filtering the AC line and recreating the 60 Hz sine wave, then why does the choice of PC make a big difference?