22-Aug-2020, 13:20
@Confused
The PS Audio Power Plants have an info screen which provides some information about the quality of the incoming and outgoing power, displayed as a percentage for THD at the line frequency. In my case it normally shows a figure for incoming THD between 1.4 and 1.8% and there is some correlation between that level and time of day since the incoming distortion is usually lower after8.00 pm at night and higher at times when there is peak demand on the grid. The outgoing distortion figure is stable at 0.1%.
I have no way of verifying those figures but I can say that the incoming distortion levels do seem to correlate with my perception of the time when the system would normally sound at its best, and the unvarying figure for outgoing distortion also correlates with the fact that I no longer notice the same variations in sound quality. My P12 power plant also regulates the voltage and the info display also shows incoming and outgoing line voltage. The figures for the incoming voltage, normally somewhere between 240 and 250 V, sometimes a bit higher than 250 V, agree with the display of another device which provides voltage regulation when used in my area so that's some degree of validation of the data it displays for incoming voltage which gives me some confidence that the distortion figure might also be in the ball park.
So, as a practical approach, you could "kill 2 birds with one stone" by borrowing a PS Audio power plant for a home trial and using it to check what your incoming power is like while also finding out whether it makes a difference to sound quality in your system. You'd probably also want to check out a conditioner such as a Shunyata or Audioquest which works by filtering the distortion as a comparison to the power plant which regenerates relatively distortion free AC power.
The PS Audio Power Plants have an info screen which provides some information about the quality of the incoming and outgoing power, displayed as a percentage for THD at the line frequency. In my case it normally shows a figure for incoming THD between 1.4 and 1.8% and there is some correlation between that level and time of day since the incoming distortion is usually lower after8.00 pm at night and higher at times when there is peak demand on the grid. The outgoing distortion figure is stable at 0.1%.
I have no way of verifying those figures but I can say that the incoming distortion levels do seem to correlate with my perception of the time when the system would normally sound at its best, and the unvarying figure for outgoing distortion also correlates with the fact that I no longer notice the same variations in sound quality. My P12 power plant also regulates the voltage and the info display also shows incoming and outgoing line voltage. The figures for the incoming voltage, normally somewhere between 240 and 250 V, sometimes a bit higher than 250 V, agree with the display of another device which provides voltage regulation when used in my area so that's some degree of validation of the data it displays for incoming voltage which gives me some confidence that the distortion figure might also be in the ball park.
So, as a practical approach, you could "kill 2 birds with one stone" by borrowing a PS Audio power plant for a home trial and using it to check what your incoming power is like while also finding out whether it makes a difference to sound quality in your system. You'd probably also want to check out a conditioner such as a Shunyata or Audioquest which works by filtering the distortion as a comparison to the power plant which regenerates relatively distortion free AC power.
Roon Nucleus+, Devilalet Expert 140 Pro CI, Focal Sopra 2, PS Audio P12, Keces P8 LPS, Uptone Audio EtherREGEN with optical fibre link to my router, Shunyata Alpha NR and Sigma NR power cables, Shunyata Sigma ethernet cables, Shunyata Alpha V2 speaker cables, Grand Prix Audio Monaco rack, RealTRAPS acoustic treatment.
Brisbane, Qld, Australia
