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AC regenerator vs Power conditioner

I'm slowly trying to put my system together and have arrived at the power stage. Any thought on the use of a regenerator vs a PC would be very helpful. Benefits of one over the other would also be great. Thanks everyone in advance

ChrisVFR14.......Welcome to Audio Aficionado. :wave:

Power regeneration or power conditioning is a choice that is driven by a number of considerations, not the least of which is personal opinion. I prefer power regeneration and have had excellent results with much lower noise, stable power supply, and surge protection all in a single package. The current PS Audio P5 and P10 AC regenerators seem to be getting excellent reviews from owners.

I'm sure others will chime in with their preferences.

ChrisVFR14... Welcome to AA! :wave:

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChrisVFR14 (Post 697134)

For years I used power conditioners without problems. After reading and educating myself about power regenerator so, I purchased the PS Audio Perfectwave Power Plant 5. Biggest benefit I hear is significantly blacker background letting my music thru more clearly, particularly when listening at lower volume levels. More air around notes which is another way of saying less noise between notes, letting the instruments come alive. Music seems to have better attack. Everything in my system except Classe CA-5300 amp is running through the power regenerator.

When my wife was listening and asked me what I did to make the songs sound better, knew it was more than in my head. YMMV .

I have a PS Audio P10 and compared it head to head with a Shunyata Triton (with and without a Typhon) and had similar results to what wadeh911, posted.
I do look forward to auditioning a new Triton V.2 when they are available for audition, though.
I could have lived with either, but the PS Audio was more realistic, more energetic, and significantly less expensive than the Shunyata pair.

Thanks everyone for your thought so far. It makes sense to give equipment new clean power rather than just filtered power.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChrisVFR14 (Post 697581)

Thanks everyone for your thought so far. It makes sense to give equipment new clean power rather than just filtered power.

This is one of those "holy wars topics," so take all opinions with a grain of salt and rely upon your own experiences. Power regeneration assumes that the problem is what is coming out of the wall and that the components are not making their own noise contributions. Power conditioning really needs agreement on the definition before discussing it. Lesser methods give lesser results. Better methods may not give better results if there was no initial problem to fix.

I currently use both methods. I have not discerned large performance variations in either method, with the exception that the amp blows the fuses in the regeneration unit when it is turned on (in rush current exceeds fuse limit). So the amp is always stand alone.

My personal, subjective opinion is that components introduce more trouble than wall circuits, if the house wiring has correct ground, proper maintenance of phase, has sufficient amperage for the circuit's draw demands, and there is no obvious "offender" like a refrigerator with a bad motor on the same circuit. Consequently, I have focused on component control (passive conditioning), rather than line regeneration. YMMV! These devices are intensely circumstances specific in performance.

Randy.......That is a good post. You are correct that many components are often the worst enemies of other components in the same rack, introducing high frequency noise back into other components using the same circuit(s). One of the benefits of a well designed power conditioner is isolated receptacles that feed different components. This isn't the panacea of pure power but is an advantage over other types of power conditioning designs. One of the features that appeals to me with active AC regeneration is the ability of some to perform voltage regulation. If there is an under voltage or over voltage condition, an AC regenerator that regulates the output voltage can maintain a steady 120 volts even when there are voltage sags or peaks. In my particular case the power to my home comes from a dedicated utility transformer. It powers my home and is not shared with any other homes. That's a good thing for low noise but the transformer has a high 124 volt output measured at my wall outlets. My PS Audio Power Plant Premier's reduce this voltage to 120 volts for my components as measured at the PPP rear panel outlets. It would do the same thing if the voltage was low by up to 5% without difficulty. So for me, active AC regeneration provides a cleaner sine wave output plus a regulated voltage level. The latter is something a typical passive transformer based power conditioner cannot do.

Dan...great details and reason to consider a power regenerator.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jdandy (Post 697601)

Randy.......That is a good post. You are correct that many components are often the worst enemies of other components in the same rack, introducing high frequency noise back into other components using the same circuit(s). One of the benefits of a well designed power conditioner is isolated receptacles that feed different components. This isn't the panacea of pure power but is an advantage over other types of power conditioning designs. One of the features that appeals to me with active AC regeneration is the ability of some to perform voltage regulation. If there is an under voltage or over voltage condition, an AC regenerator that regulates the output voltage can maintain a steady 120 volts even when there are voltage sags or peaks. In my particular case the power to my home comes from a dedicated utility transformer. It powers my home and is not shared with any other homes. That's a good thing for low noise but the transformer has a high 124 volt output measured at my wall outlets. My PS Audio Power Plant Premier's reduce this voltage to 120 volts for my components as measured at the PPP rear panel outlets. It would do the same thing if the voltage was low by up to 5% without difficulty. So for me, active AC regeneration provides a cleaner sine wave output plus a regulated voltage level. The latter is something a typical passive transformer based power conditioner cannot do.

My power regenerator feeds a transformer for those same reasons. One open issue I have is that the second best gear is what is running on the regenerator/transformer pair - so I may not be hearing its full capability. My best gear is running through a Shunyata MPC-12, but while it sounds awesome, it is difficult to say it is because of the power conditioner.