PS Audio Regenerator versus Balanced Power/Isolation Transformer for Phono Stage?

[Rumpole]

Rumpole, I see you’re in Colorado. If this readout is correct, then it seems for part of the day your AC voltage is riding above the 126 VAC limit which is defined as maximum (+5%), and apart from that you seem to be otherwise running at 125 VAC, which is certainly at the upper limit of the acceptable range. Not sure if using a regenerator to provide a stable 120 VAC will help, but it’d be interesting to hear your results if you tried it. You might want to call your provider to see if they can check your incoming voltage and confirm that they see it exceeding 126V.

Hi Tony - Thanks, and the Whisker/Ting report also says that the "Acceptable Range: 108 to 132 Volts", although maybe this is not ideal for audio? I have solar panels and suspect that they might be causing the high voltage in the daytime.

 

[vert]

@Rumpole That Quiescent is quite dear.

If you're looking for a perfect sine wave for digital, Isotek Genesis is the way to go for digital.

It's quiet and works wonders for digital.

You can't use it for amps though, like PS audio.

I only use it for a streamer or DAC.

 

[tony22]

Hi Tony - Thanks, and the Whisker/Ting report also says that the "Acceptable Range: 108 to 132 Volts", although maybe this is not ideal for audio? I have solar panels and suspect that they might be causing the high voltage in the daytime.

The U.S. national standards specify an acceptable range of 120 VAC +/- 5%.

 

[Amir]

The Torus I used was the one with 45amp, not wall type and came with many outlets, I dont recall the model.
Back then I had similar system to GTT audio namely double monos Audionet, Kronos, Audionet and Soulution electronics, big YG Sonja. I hooked everything to the Torus. The power was much more than adequate and therefore excellent dynamic. The sound is on the warm side. This thing guaranteed me super stability in power and gave me excellent protection in surge and drop in current.

The drawbacks were the lack of "Life." You wont realize it until you have something better that all the sudden make sound a lot more open, no veil, more transparent and better highs. So, not that it was not good but I found just better alternatives.

If I may second your thought of using a power conditioner, some of the most respected systems here in WBF dont even use the power con at all. I do believe that clean power is the very essence to ultimate sound but all power cons that I had in my system had their way of adding or substracting too much to my liking.

Kind regards,
Tang

+1

 

[mtemur]

+1

Unfortunately I haven’t come across any transformer power conditioner that doesn’t kill dynamics and life. A transformer based power conditioner is totally different in design to a stromtank but equally bad in sucking the life out. I never want a transformer or a battery powered one channel transistor based amplifier feeding AC to my setup.

 

[Amir]

Unfortunately I haven’t come across any transformer power conditioner that doesn’t kill dynamics and life. A transformer based power conditioner is totally different in design to a stromtank but equally bad in sucking the life out. I never want a transformer or a battery powered one channel transistor based amplifier feeding AC to my setup.

I agree you , with my TAD Reference System I use no ac filter I use no isolation transformer I use no high capacitance AC cable I use no dc blocker I use no emi filter I use no parallel filter I use no AC regenerator .

I had all of them but never liked them. I also had swiss made 20KVA UPS from ABB company but it was not good. Power and dynamics were ok but the harmonics were off.

I asked TAD Labs to design a transformerless class D 30KVA AC regenerator.

For low power systems like 10w tube amplification I use Purepower 3000+

 

[Amir]

 

[Amir]

 

[wil]

Hi Tony - Thanks, and the Whisker/Ting report also says that the "Acceptable Range: 108 to 132 Volts", although maybe this is not ideal for audio? I have solar panels and suspect that they might be causing the high voltage in the daytime.

Question for any Ting users:

Does anyone else see the kind of V drops my data shows?

I installed a Ting monitor a couple of weeks ago. My Voltage measures an average of 123, however the readouts show multiple short-lived 10V downward spikes. See Below.

Ting tells me the drops are likely due to to HVAC or large appliances turning on. I do not see this on my Voltmeter however...

Tuesday | February 4, 2025

Wednesday | February 5, 2025

Thursday | February 6, 2025

Friday | February 7, 2025

 

[Rumpole]

Question for any Ting users:

Does anyone else see the kind of V drops my data shows?

I installed a Ting monitor a couple of weeks ago. My Voltage measures an average of 123, however the readouts show multiple short-lived 10V downward spikes. See Below.

Ting tells me the drops are likely due to to HVAC or large appliances turning on. I do not see this on my Voltmeter however...

​

I see about a 0.5 V drop when I turn on a baseboard electric heater that draws around 1 kW. Seems like it would have to be a huge power draw to reduce the voltage that much. I don't know what large appliance would turn on ever 30 minutes for just a few seconds. It might be interesting to move your Ting to a neighbors house to see if this is something in the grid.

Can you try comparing your voltmeter to the Ting real time monitor (mine shows the most recent 30 s) and have someone turn on and off an appliance?

 

[microstrip]

Voltmeters will only show RMS values, not transients.

Recorders can have peak elongators to show very short transients due to fast switch on of devices using switched power supplies. Considering their frequency , all these sharp peaks can do is disturb your listening by negative bias expectation. However we sometimes see some noisy activity in the graphs when they are in activity - not every time but enough to be considered.

 

[wil]

Voltmeters will only show RMS values, not transients.

Recorders can have peak elongators to show very short transients due to fast switch on of devices using switched power supplies. Considering their frequency , all these sharp peaks can do is disturb your listening by negative bias expectation. However we sometimes see some noisy activity in the graphs when they are in activity - not every time but enough to be considered.

So the Ting meter is designed to show transients, unlike my voltmeter.

I would still like to know from Ting if this is what they see in most of their residential voltage recordings.

I have doubts about this because Ting is telling me it would be due to large appliances like HVAC, not switching power. …

 

[Rumpole]

Here is an example from my Ting monitor.

 

[wil]

Here is an example from my Ting monitor.
View attachment 145460

Very different from mine and what I would guess to be more typical.