The PS Audio Regenerator Thread

[MartinT]

Darn, I wish I could remember the name of the dealer who imported the PSA gear at first - guy from Senegal? One of those west African countries, I think ...

I think it was Senanu?

[jandl100]

Senanu. Yes! That's it. What a nice guy.

[MartinT]

According to the two waveforms in the op it shows that there is some distortion on the waveform.
Once this is rectified and smoothed how much difference will it make

That's just it Mark - noise causes issues further down the line as power supplies never have infinite rejection ratio. It can manifest as vibrations in the transformer or noise on the DC lines of the components - it can never be completely smoothed away. Power supplies are the starting point for your precious waveform - GIGO applies.

In my house, the incoming waveform distortion is about 1.2% at 252V and the outgoing waveform from my PPP is 0.3% at 242V. Apparently the P5/P10 comfortably beat those outgoing distortion figures.

[Reid Malenfant]

You forgot about a couple of other regenerators Martin

Here's a P500 & it's for sale...

There was also a P2000 which looked similar to the P600/1200 but was obviously a little bit bigger

Yes, as you say, I would hate to be without my P600 even if it does get kind of warm in here during the summer months


Looks like Monarchy audio are getting in on the bandwagon, info here.

Lite Audio Regenerator here.. Only 100W mind

[MartinT]

Thanks for that info, Mark. I've never come across the P500, any idea what generation it's from, or does it fit betwen the ones I've described? Was it sold in the UK?

The P2000 must be a beast

[MartinT]

In my opinion, spending the £1k-£2k or so needed for a PPP elsewhere in the system on a better amp or source component, say, is a better way of spending a constrained budget where that is a typical max amount spent per component.

Well yes, indeed. I was careful to say 'at a certain level', although I do believe that once that level has been reached spending on mains regeneration makes more sense than another upgrade.

The reason I'm buying a P10 is that I cannot think of a better way to upgrade my entire system in any other area. It's pretty balanced in terms of performance capability throughout the chain.

[Reid Malenfant]

I think it came out just after the P300 did & prior to the big bad 600, 1200 & 2000.

Yes the 500 was sold in the UK, if you take a look at the pics on the enbay link you'll see UK sockets on the rear

I believe the P2000 weighed in somewhere around the 200lbs mark & that would be the US version without the extra step up transformer

I'd upload the Manual for P series but it looks like the PDF file size is a bit bigger than 19.5Kb

[Reid Malenfant]

Well yes, indeed. I was careful to say 'at a certain level', although I do believe that once that level has been reached spending on mains regeneration makes more sense than another upgrade.

I'd suggest that if someone is willing to spend upwards of say £500 on any one piece of kit then they'll certainly appreciate the difference that a regenerator would bring to the equation.

Ok, so they might need to look at a secondhand one, but I just don't want to even contemplate going back to not having one

[The Grand Wazoo]

Do you know what year that was introduced as it doesn't seem to appear on the brochure?

It was introduced in 1996 Martin - I did note this in my post but I guess you could've missed it as it was beside the model number.
There was a bigger one too - the PS-1200 which was introduced the following year. These were superseded in 2000 by the 'V' versions PS-500V & PS-1200V & then came the PS-1210 in 2005


Accuphase PS-1210

I'll modify my text if necessary but I'll stand by my statement that PS Audio really got the ball rolling with mass sales of regenerators.

I first heard about them when they first appeared but, as with a lot of Accuphase gear, they aren't exactly commonplace in the UK (patchy distribution & very high prices). You're correct in that PS Audio brought the technology to the attention of the US & UK market in a way that Accuphase never could.

[Welder]

I was wondering if there is an audible improvement with a mains regenerator over a properly implemented dedicated mains and balanced transformer.

If my memory servers me Mark and Martin, you've had both at some point.

Unfortunately my dedicated mains still returns to the supply earth so part of the benefit is lost.
It might work out a cheaper option than a dedicated mains in some circumstances.
My next question is do these things have a life expectancy and if so how long?