Isolation Transormers vs Power Plants

[PHC1]

Paul McGowan's latest video had me thinking.

In my previous systems as well as my current, I have had passive and active power conditioners and power regenerators. PurePower, PowerPlantPremier, Keces, Richard Gray, Furman as well as having evaluated Torus, Transparent Audio, Audioquest and I'm probably forgetting a few already.

At no point in 3 different houses and areas, have I once discovered any "profound", "jaw dropping" or other effects of power conditioners on the immediate tonal qualities, noise floor, dynamic contrast, PRAT or anything else even remotely coming close to a difference in say a few good acoustic panels or a different LP pressing or a remaster of a CD and now say a difference between a Tidal and Qobuz version of the same album!

Have I been lucky with power being clean enough so as not to appreciate the various power conditioners over the years? Please don't tell me my system or my ears were not good enough as this was with systems ranging from a few thousand dollars to in excess of $100k. Surely one of them would have revealed the revolutionary and profound differences I often read and hear other audiophiles rave about.


So Paul McGowan still thinks the Power Regenerator like the Power Plant he sells reign supreme. What are your thoughts on this topic?


https://youtu.be/cM2gR_8rA5I

[Masterlu]

PS Audio; 100% failure rate, sooner or later. Nuff said

You forgot Shunyata, which is the “Only” game changer.

[PHC1]

Originally Posted by Masterlu

PS Audio; 100% failure rate, sooner or later. Nuff said

You forgot Shunyata, which is the “Only” game changer.

Which of them have been failing at 100%? The Power Plant?

I did forget Shunyata but I had a Hydra on loan quite a few years ago. No difference from the rest and I did not have any problems with power to begin with. Just wanted to see if there would be a difference as it always goes with this hobby.

[PHC1]

The PurePower regenerators with the battery backup were the last of my attempt at clean power where there was no problem to begin with and it was my pinnacle system with highly resolving components and speakers.

The battery backup of the PurePower regenerators was a nice feature but sonically it did nothing for my system.

My Richard Gray's are still with me. They don't do anything for the sound but the extra outlets are very handy and it is an isolation transformer FWIW.

[BuffaloBill]

John Siau of Benchmark Media Systems contends that if audio components are designed correctly they don't need power regenerators or line conditioners. He places such in the category of audio myth.

[Masterlu]

Originally Posted by PHC1

Which of them have been failing at 100%? The Power Plant?

I did forget Shunyata but I had a Hydra on loan quite a few years ago. No difference from the rest and I did not have any problems with power to begin with. Just wanted to see if there would be a difference as it always goes with this hobby.

Yes, Power Plant Premier. All the other models are unacceptably too high as well.

[W9TR]

I’ve spent the fall working on power for my main system. The idea was to keep the power line clean by filtering out garbage originating from all the digital gear by adding filters to each component or in some cases groups of components. It worked well. I kept the power amps plugged into the wall directly and filtered the line going to my preamp.

So I don’t believe that any form of regeneration or transformer isolation is required. These products limit instantaneous current delivery compared to the power line itself. They don’t keep noise generated by your gear itself from propagating to other components. As a matter of fact their higher source impedance makes self-generated noise worse.

[PHC1]

One concept that I could never understand about the "instantaneous current delivery" is the fact that neither the transformer in your gear, nor the capacitors are particularly speedy partners in this equation.

The AC coming in is still 60Hz, no matter what speed the amp requires to satisfy the transient demand.


The capacitors can not charge instantaneously. But how fast can they charge? Not that fast

http://learningaboutelectronics.com/...ar%209%20volts.


So it is really up to the power supply and the capacitive energy storage of the amps to begin with and much less so to do with power coming in. No wonder when you see coke can sized capacitor banks in some of the legendary amps, they sound FAST and DYNAMIC. Plugging those into the wall seems to generate the better result people say. I doubt one would be able to tell but the capacitive storage is still very important.

[tdelahanty]

At our old house I used the P10 because my line voltage would vary between 95v and 126v and the waveform was badly distorted (clipped). I had two dedicated 20a lines.

Our new house has much cleaner and more stable voltage. Currently I'm using a Nordost QB8 power strip on dedicated lines. I do not miss the P10.

[W9TR]

Depending on the type of transformer used, 100x steady state current will flow for very short periods of time as the transformer/rectifier combo charges the filter caps. In your example this R can be very small indeed, hundredths of an ohm, especially with toroidal power transformers popular in high end hifi gear.

So instantaneous power delivery is important for certain classes of gear like solid state power amplifiers.

For other gear like source components it is less of an issue and doesn’t matter much....

For a tube amp with a tube rectifier - well it doesn’t matter at all.

To the extent it is marketing BS depends on what gear the power cord, power conditioner, fancy plug, etc. is connected to.