AudioAficionado.org - PS Audio Power Plant Premier Review

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The new PS Audio Power Plant Premier is not your typical filtering, choking, transforming, clamping, or conditioning type power altering device. It is an alternating current regenerator. What it does is rebuild the AC by first converting it to DC and then back again to perfect, clean AC, providing closely regulated voltage, and a low distortion 60 cycle sine wave at the five AC duplex receptacles on the rear of the unit. I won't go into a long explanation of how the PS Audio Power Plant Premier is engineered to perform its tasks.

I received my Power Plant Premier Tuesday, and immediately set it up to begin a burn-in period on its internal amplifier. It has remained energized 24/7 for four days. Speaking of being energized, the PPP never really turns off, even though you press the on/off button, or use the remote control, or trigger it with one of your systems power port triggers. The display goes out, and any receptacles you have set up to de-energize will drop out, but the internal circuitry and AC regeneration amplifier remains energized. I chose to leave all the PPP receptacles hot, not switched or delayed turn on because all of the McIntosh components are triggered from the C1000P preamplifier. Since the PPP remains energized, with only the display turning off, I control its on/off function (display) using the power port output from my MR85 tuner. That way, when I press the power off button on the McIntosh remote, everything turns off simultaneously.

The first test I performed was to see how much current the PPP draws since its amplifier is always on, even when it is theoretically turned off (display turned off). Using my Kill-A-Watt P3 meter plugged into the dedicated wall outlet with the PPP plugged into it, it showed 125 volts AC at the wall outlet, and the PPP drawing 1.46 amps, or a total of 182.5 watts with no loads connected to it. That's almost like having two 100 watt light bulbs on in your home 24/7, so expect a minor increase in your power bill with the Power Plant Premier plugged in.

As you can see from the included photos, the PPP reduced my house voltage input from 125 volts AC to a steady 120 volts AC. The photos also show that the total harmonic distortion (THD) on my house power at the moment of the photo was 1.7%, which the PPP cleaned up to a low .4% at the receptacle outputs on the back.

My sound system is cabled as follows. I use the Wireworld Silver Electra 2 meter power cords to power the Power Plant Premier, the C1000C/P, the MCD500 and the MS750. The black power cord you see plugged into the rear of the PPP is the power cord for the APC 750 UPS where the MS750, MR85, and Sonos ZP90 are plugged in. My two MC501 amplifiers are not plugged into the PPP, but remain plugged into a separate dedicated circuit wall outlet using Wireworld Silver Electra power cords. The McIntosh XLS112, a 400 watt powered sub, is energized using a separate circuit with a Wireworld Silver Electra power cord. For interconnects, I am using Wireworld Silver Eclipse 6.0 balanced interconnects between the preamp and amps, and between the MCD500 and the preamp. I am using the Wireworld Silver Starlight coaxial cable from the MS750 to the MCD500, and Wireworld SuperNova glass fiber optic cable from the Sonos ZP90 to the MCD500. Both PMC EB1i speakers are wired with Kimber 8TC speaker cable. That is how the system is assembled.

OK, lets get down to the business of sound. I am very familiar with the sound of my system, but even still I listened to the system without the Power Plant Premier for two hours this morning. The CD's I selected for the audition included; A Windham Hill Collection - Sounds Of Wood & Steel 2, Erin Boheme - What Is Love, Gerry Mulligan Quartet - Dragonfly, Liz Story with Joel Di Bartolo, and The Ray Brown Trio - Soular Energy. After enjoying the music with my morning coffee, I plugged the various components into the receptacles on the rear of the Power Plant Premier as seen in the included photo. I decided it was pointless to just play the C1000P, or the MCD500 using the PPP since that isn't how I plan to use it, so it was everything into the PPP for the big show.

For those familiar with my previous reviews of audio equipment, you know I like to listen to piano. This instrument alone is so revealing of a system's ability to sound natural across the audio spectrum, and will quickly let you hear shortcomings in timbre, sustain, attacks, decays, and dynamics, as well as noise floors. Liz Story with Joel Di Bartolo is a wonderful CD, and perfect for this audition. From the first notes played on the piano keys, and the first strokes on acoustic bass strings I knew something good was going on with my system. The piano notes lingered so delicately in the air, coupled with the thick woody richness of Joel's acoustic stand up bass. It was hypnotic. I cannot say that everything was so much better that I could clearly identify each difference. It was more like I was touched in a deeper emotional way by the music. The sounds were closer to real than I ever heard from my system before. Every single vibration had life.

I moved to the Ray Brown Trio - Soular Energy. On this CD Gene Harris plays piano, Gerryck King is on drums, and of course Ray is on acoustic bass. My favorite track is "Cry Me A River". The occasional slap strokes that Ray uses create quick dynamic attacks that just as quickly diminish into mellow, warm bass tones. These notes were so real it seemed as though Ray was in front of me with his instrument. Gene Harris piano playing goes from soft and gentle to fast ivory key stroke attacks that swing dynamics quickly. I have listened to this CD at least 20 times, and have occasionally found certain hammered piano notes to approach the edge of sharpness. I heard none of that today. The keys still got hammered at the appropriate times, but no sense of a bite coming from the speakers. Just amazing. I wound up listening to this entire CD. I just couldn't press the stop button.

On Gerry Mulligan Quartet - Dragonfly CD I experienced what seemed like the biggest difference I could put my finger on. The second track, "Brother's Blues" is one of my favorites from all of his CD's in my collection. Gerry's baritone saxophone, Dave Grusin's piano, John Scofield's guitar, Warren Vache's cornet, Ryan Kisor's vibraphone, and the late Grover Washington's soprano saxophone work is nothing short of epic. This recording was done live, recorded in 20-bit digital by Telarc. It truly shows off a sound system, and just begs for more volume. This entire performance wasn't in my speakers, the preamp or the amps, it was in my room. What I noticed different with the PPP in place was a level of sheen on each instrument that allowed it to step through the curtain of recorded sound to the realm of a live music performance. This recording has always thrilled me, but listening to it with the Power Plant Premier providing ultra clean power pushed the performance to a new height. I could almost smell the smoke in the jazz club, and feel the body heat. The PPP allows music to reach a deeper place in your brain where the barrier between reality and recording gets melted.

Erin Boheme is a new artist to me. I only have one of her CDs, but I like her voice. Her ability to interpret, and make lyrics believable is extraordinary. On her CD, What Love Is, she sings a song, "One Night With Frank". I noticed that her voice seemed to have a lighter sense of air as she sang, and the instruments each held a clear and solid space without any sense of crowding. This feeling came more from an emotional level, in that the music just seemed to be more involving to me. I found myself listening deeply into all the sounds, sometimes individually to each instrument, sometimes focusing on the whole event, but always thoroughly absorbed in the performance. I was listening to music, not a sound system. This is what I have always wanted to achieve.

Finally, I moved to the very well recorded Windham Hill Collection - Sounds Of Wood & Steel 2, where all the guitars played on the CD are Taylor guitars. My favorite track on this CD is "Opportunity" where T.J. Baden plays a beautiful Taylor Grand Auditorium guitar in open D tuning. Since I own and play two very fine Taylor guitars, I am completely familiar with the live sound of these instruments. This song sounded so real in the room it was absolutely thrilling. The PPP seemed to allow the guitar more air to resonate and breathe in.

The Power Plant Premier never made a sound while doing its job. It never got hot. It was essentially invisible with the exception of what it did for the music. I believe the Power Plant Premier, with its stable 120 volt AC and accurate sine wave output, coupled with the reduction of line voltage harmonic distortion, assists each audio component to perform its very best. Everything I listened to this afternoon struck me deeper emotionally than listening just this morning to the same music without the Power Plant Premier in the system. My ears and brain knew something was better, and my soul felt it, too. Music was more real, more involving, more satisfying to hear and experience. The differences with the PPP are delicate, and refined. Its presence in my system allowed the music to penetrate deeply into my mind in a way that made each song more memorable, more thoroughly enjoyed. The PS Audio Power Plant Premier is now a permanent part of my sound system, and is here to stay.

Correction To Review: I was in error with respect to the idle amperage/watts of the PS Audio Power Plant Premier. I had mistakenly assumed that because everything plugged into the PPP was turned off that I had no connected load. This was an error. My measurement of 1.46 amps/182.5 watts at idle was with the following loads connected : C1000C/P, MCD500, MS750, MR85, ZP90. The Sonos ZP90 was energized, but the remaining components were not turned on. Of course, they all draw some power for there remote control functions, and the MS750 motherboard and hard drive remain energized even when turned off. Those original measurement numbers are accurate, as remeasured today with the components connected as stated above.

When measuring the Power Plant Premier current draw with nothing plugged into it, and all IsoZone switches set to Off the current draw was .73 amps/91.25 watts. The wattage calculation was figured using 125 volts, which is what is at the wall receptacle. The PPP AC regeneration amplifier remained energized. Without anything plugged into the PPP, I switched the three IsoZone switches from Off to the Always On position and discovered the current draw went from .73 amps/91.25 watts to .94 amps/117.5 watts. This is no doubt due to the current consumed by the relay coils that control the functions of the three IsoZones. This means that the maximum current consumed by the PS Audio Power Plant Premier at idle will be .94 amps. This is considerably better than my original numbers, and will be even less if one or more of the IsoZone recepticle group switches are set to Off.

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