Jerry's ongoing system blog

[29mile]

You are partially right in the sense that regenerators do improve some of the hi-fi' y things like separation stereo etc but also musically. It seems to make things a bit quieter like having the windows cleaned again ( not heard that one for a while :D ) ! Resolution and transparency improve and I feel it simply enhances what the TSS and LS6 do so well anyway. So for me it is both musically more coherent and revealing as well as hif'y better and it raised the 401 up a serious notch which is what I was originally looking for.

[Dr Bunsen Honeydew]

You are partially right in the sense that regenerators do improve some of the hi-fi' y things like separation stereo etc but also musically. It seems to make things a bit quieter like having the windows cleaned again ( not heard that one for a while :D ) ! Resolution and transparency improve and I feel it simply enhances what the TSS and LS6 do so well anyway. So for me it is both musically more coherent and revealing as well as hif'y better and it raised the 401 up a serious notch which is what I was originally looking for.

I am perfectly willing to accept your judgement. As I said I looked into this a long time ago and things have changed I am sure with new designs.

[29mile]

Have a chat with Audioemotion Jason. I spoke with them about the Purepower + which they ship in from Canada 30 at a time. They were very helpful. The unit itself is a big bugger probably because of the batteries.
Agree with you. I think they are not the same as conditioners as they create a nice clean new AC. It's a bit like running your system on 5 star petrol - ah those were the days !!

[jandl100]

The AG1500 is much smaller and lighter as you don't need the battery pack (which is housed in a separate chassis) for normal hifi system usage. This factoid also reduces the price quite handily.

If someone was reasonably local to me (Glos) I'd be happy to bring my AG1500 round for a listening session.

On a separate tack, it would be interesting to compare the AG1500 - which was not designed/priced for the hifi market - with other more expensive "audiophile" items. I know that the AG1500 happily dispatched my old PS Audio PPP in my system. :D

[stormfriend]

Hello everyone, my name's stormfriend and I have a problem...

A mains problem that is - it's fubar. I use headphones (HD800s) and they highlight everything that's wrong with my system. Since getting them I've tried replacing every component in the chain and finally concluded that the remaining brightness and aggressiveness must be caused by the mains supply. When my Earmax Pro swung from dull as ditchwater to bright and aggressive during one day I'd had enough.

I tried upgraded power cables and they made a small difference.
I tried a balanced transformer that also stepped down my 250v to 230v and that made a big difference, but it wasn't enough (the sound could still get aggressive and tiring occasionally). It did sound beautifully pure and relaxing at other times so I know mains treatment of some sort is the solution. I should probably add that I've built a warm and smooth system in my quest to tame the treble, so that wasn't added by the transformer, it was just revealed by removing the stridency.

So now I'm looking at regeneration. I've researched the PS Audio P series and was going to buy one of those before I saw the AG1500. The one thing stopping me from giving them a go (because they're dirt cheap) are the fans, as any noise is too much noise. For those that have the unit, are they audible in a dead silent room from three feet away? If they are then are the fans replaceable with something like PC-style Noctua fans? I have one of those on my cpu and it's completely inaudible despite being in an open case. I can build a PC, but if soldering is required then I'm not going to try.

For those with DC on the line, does the AG1500 itself hum at all? The balanced transformer could get quite distracting at times for that reason. The rest of my system is immune (or silent at least).

Thanks

[stormfriend]

Actually, something I should have checked earlier: I looked online and found what I believe is the fan for my PC (I built it about a year ago), and it's rated at 12.6db. Now, I'm only using one of the two cpu fans to get it even quiter than that, but I'm thinking 10db isn't that bad by comparison. I might just risk it.

[Dr Bunsen Honeydew]

Actually, something I should have checked earlier: I looked online and found what I believe is the fan for my PC (I built it about a year ago), and it's rated at 12.6db. Now, I'm only using one of the two cpu fans to get it even quiter than that, but I'm thinking 10db isn't that bad by comparison. I might just risk it.

What is it that is creating the heat so it needs the fan, and can you fix a heat pipe to it.

[Sovereign]

I tried a balanced transformer that also stepped down my 250v to 230v and that made a big difference,

I also had very positive results from balanced mains and I know of others who are also very happy

[stormfriend]

I also had very positive results from balanced mains and I know of others who are also very happy

Have you had a chance to compare balanced mains vs regenerated mains?

[jandl100]

Hi stormfriend!

So now I'm looking at regeneration. I've researched the PS Audio P series and was going to buy one of those before I saw the AG1500. The one thing stopping me from giving them a go (because they're dirt cheap) are the fans, as any noise is too much noise. For those that have the unit, are they audible in a dead silent room from three feet away?

The AG1500 has fans that can be turned down but not turned off. At the minimum setting, they are very quiet, but not silent. I'm sitting about 8 feet away from mine, and yes I can hear a very quiet wooshhhh sound, but any music at all covers that up. I'm pretty paranoid about extraneous noise (being a big fan (pardon the pun! ) of classical chamber music) and it doesn't bother me. I wouldn't have kept the unit otherwise.

Replacement fans? I have no idea.

For those with DC on the line, does the AG1500 itself hum at all?

I suffer from that, quite a few bits of normally silent kit have been known to hum in my system. I've not heard any hum coming from the AG1500 at all.

Personally, I'd recommend the unit very strongly - it was clearly and obviously superior to my previous PS Audio PPP - although that was dead silent, as the internal fan never came on except at power up for about 5 seconds.

Hope that helps!