The Great Mains Supply Mystery

I may be wrong but my quick estimate says that your potential power loss with a -6% power line drop would be around 12%. You friend is right that the theoretical power output of the 180 does lower with supply as it uses unregulated rails. He is talking absolute &*%$ if he is insinuating that this would cause a problem with the power amp. As you are probably aware, mains quality is not just related to voltage, noise, distortions, poor grounding can all have an effect.

Instead of paying out for renting your monitoring equipment, put that money towards a dedicated spur. If you believe that the voltage is dropping below normal limits, I would call your power company, they would more than likely check this out for free.

Regards

I agree with Martin on this one. I would definitely put my money on a dedicated spur. Have your power company check you mains is a good idea too.

I have played with all kinds of devices to enhance main supply. Filters, buffers, regulators you name it. Even up to the horrendously expensive components from Tice. In my experience putting ANY device between your components and the wall socket compromises sound quality. Some seem to improve things at a first listen but after a while you start to hear the negative effects too.

Richard

Regards
Laxton

Think of it as a plug-in Round-Earth Converter box. Bass does seem to go deeper with the PS300 and I was suddenly getting a wide 3-D soundstage out of my SBLs. But PR&T all went down the toilet. As Dave Dever at NANA (who’s tested the PS Audio products, all the way up to the PS1200) put it: “No music”.

I do remember one poster on the Forum saying he liked what the power plants did in his system, which is what got me interested in the first place. But I think the only real solution to crappy mains is to only play music very late at night and then again before dawn. This does tend to work counter to things like having a job or a wife / girlfriend, but it’s all about priorities.

Jon

quote:

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But I think the only real solution to crappy mains is to only play music very late at night and then again before dawn.

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I don't mean to start anything here, but with your level of system (DS2/52/Snaxo/2x250), that is a compromise I would find very hard to live with. Hope you get better mains soon.

- GregB
Freedom is not in finding the Holy Grail but in stopping the search for it

Re:

>I wouldn't bother with the PS Audio stuff. I
>tried the PS Audio PS300 in my system (CDS2/52
>Snaxo/2x250) recently but I'm sending it back
>before the 30-day free trial runs out.

It was me that previously posted regarding PS Au dio Power Plants. I have the PS600 and it was a no-brainer to decide to keep it. For reference, my system is Armageddon/ARO/Dynavector XV-1/LP12(Cirkus)/102/NAPSC/Hi-Cap/250/A5/Credos. Here are some points worth noting:

1. Jon, did you plug all your comp onents into the PP300 or just the XPS/Supercap? The PP300 is designed for sources only and attaching the power amps will certainly cause musical issues. In fact, to power your system correctly would need a PP1200 AND another PP too!

2. With respect to Da ve Dever, he most likely hasn't heard a production version of the PP1200 as it's only just been announced to be shipping in the next few weeks.

3. My PP600 resulted in a FUNDAMENTAL change in the musicality and tonal qualities of the system. So much s o that, at first I wasn't happy with the results as it sounded too 'treacly'. I persevered and ended up changing many aspects of the system supports and now it's sublime. Before you ask, I didn't purchase new supports or change speaker positioning, I simp ly adjusted the existing supports to better handle the large amount of extra detail and energy the system is producing.

3. The Power Plants react well to better supports, as with other equipment.

4. I have a dedicated ground for my system and this is ve ry important. Code in the U.S. says that manufacturers mustn't fiddle with the standard grounding schemes so a lousy ground with a Power Plant has the same effects as a normal poor ground. I tried the PP600 with the standard house wiring and the differences were obvious.

5. The PP600 took all of the 30 day trial period to break in.

>Think of it as a plug-in Round-Earth Converter
>box. Bass does seem to go deeper with the PS300
>and I was suddenly getting a wid e 3-D soundstage >out of my SBLs. But PR&T all went down the
>toilet. As Dave Dever at NANA (who's tested the
>PS Audio products, all the way up to the PS1200) >put it: 'No music'.

I have noticed a little better soundstage and depth but the main diff erences have been a monumental increase in speed, dynamics and PR&T. Also, a sort of subconcious feeling that the system isn't having to work as hard to produce great results, - in fact I haven't shut down the 250 since I added the PP600 and I regularly p lay at 2 O'clock on the dial.

As I've posted before, the Power Plants (IMHO) are great for getting the best out of small to mid-size systems but for a set-up like Jon's it gets pricey. I would recommend trying them giving that caveat and the necessity to twiddle with the system set-up.

Best Regards,
Mark Dunn

PS. Obviously, the biggest advantage is having consistent musical quality irrespective of the time of day or night.P

If your friend is receiving less than the legal minimum 216 volts then the supply company must fix it! That's the whole point of having a legal minimum.

cheers, Martin

Yeah that's where I initially read about this stuff. Can't understand why you seem to think he is my friend though?

I do not consider the word of Russ Andrews to be WHAT IT IS so to speak - he IS in the business of selling cables after all. I do think he has made a very interesting (and worrying) point here though.

I have already requested my PES to check my local supply sub station, they will not consider conducting the internal monitoring of individual supplies unless more than 3 seperate householders lodge a complaint though.

I think you've all failed to grasp what I'm asking in my post - Has anybody conducted their own mains monitoring? That's all really.

Incidentally - some of what RA says is really quite interesting but, I have absolutely no intention whatsoever of buying one of his mains super purifiers or any other type of conditioning gizmo from him or anyone else- well not just yet anyway!

Regards P.

PS - anyone else spot Dev Banerjis CDS2 for sale on loot at the moment

[This message was edited by Pierre on TUESDAY 31 October 2000 at 21:44.]

Naim says that their standard mains leads are not just any lead but carefully selected and auditioned items.

The thing I really don't understand is that Naim (or any other manufacturer as far as I know) don't supply shielded mains cables. I'm not talking about a costly ultra tricky silver plated thick-as-leg high-end cable but a simple shielded cable. Any power conducting wire acts like strong antenna for RFI and other airborne nastiness. A shielded cable prevents this and provides cleaner power. All components, even those from Naim ;-) like this.

Am I just crazy or what?

Richard.

quote:

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I don't mean to start anything here, but with your level of system (CDS2/52/Snaxo/2x250), that is a compromise I would find very hard to live with. Hope you get better mains soon.

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Thanks for the concern, Greg. I suppose I should confess to a little exaggeration and the comments about listening in the middle of the night weren’t I]entirely[/I] serious. I do get great music out of my system most of the time. Though it does seem as you move up the system hierarchy, the variance in system performance increases – whether due to mains or other factors. Air conditioners running in my building seem to pose the biggest threat, so at least things always improve after the summer…

Mark:

Yes, I tested the PS300 with just the XPS and the Supercap, as recommended by the company, although it did just about cope with the two 250s also connected. It’s possible or even probable that I would have got better results from one of the larger PS units, but as the PS300 altered things in such a fundamentally undesirable way (IMO), I’m not tempted to try. I second your comments about the initial “treacly” effect, but for me the main impression was just one of boredom after listening to a few discs via the PS300. My lack of a dedicated ground may also be an issue, but I’d be surprised if this was the overriding factor.

Naim’s view, as explained to me by Dave Dever, seems to be that putting anything between a Naim system and the wall outlet will introduce undesirable effects into the equation, even if it fixes other problems. This has definitely been my experience with all the non-Naim sanctioned tweaks I’ve attempted (and there’ve been quite a few). Still, the PS fix worked for you and may work for others; I was just posting my views…

Jon