Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Systems (No) wow on power amps on clean power

There were two versions of the ultimate outlet - 15 amp and 20 amp - so perhaps that could account for the restriction. Certainly I have not experienced any current limitations with the soloist.

Power conditioners require large capacitors, and the box will be huge by the time it can deliver a large amp's peak power. But what for? Amp circuits are rugged and have internal noise cancellation. TVs, sources, and preamps use CMOS ICs (electronic chips) that are sensitive to noise so a power conditioner may be good for them.

Long story short, plug your amp into the wall with a dedicated 20A (breaker, house wiring and power cord) circuit.

All you need from a power cord is for it to not heat up/limit current (20A capacity should be fine) and provide a path to shunt noise (shielding) away from the amp. But that's about it and these two items don't cost much, so neither should your power cord. All other "features" of power cords are just snake oil. People swear that they hear a difference when they plug in their amp using their fancy new power cord. All they are doing is possibly introducing a different ground path and/or different capacitance to the power transformer. This in turn may result in shifting the bias of some of the amp's audio circuits (primary -> secondary -> voltage regulator -> audio circuit power). But you could get the exact same difference from changing the AC line voltage! What you have is not a superior power cord, but an inferior amp.

I don't believe an ExactPower is a regenerator. It is more like a power corrector. It probably is not limiting current to your 8000's.

Exactpower is different than a surge protector. http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/volume_9_3/exact-power-ep15-7-2002.html

When I tried plugging amps into it they drew more than 40amps on startup and the Exactpower went into a temporary bypass mode. I use it for front end equipment, not amps. It may restrict the M8000.

Why would it restrict if it's bypassed when overwhelmed ?

Think of it like an adjustable transformer, filter, and energy storage device all in one. I don't have the schematics, but that is the way it is described.

Adjustable Transformer: The nominal case is a 1:1 turn ratio transformer. The output voltage follows the input voltage. But if the turn ratio is adjusted up when the line voltage decreases and it is adjusted down when the line voltage increases, then the output can be held constant.

Filter: Eliminates noise by providing attenuation >> 60HZ

Energy Storage: Because a filter limits current, a large enough capacitive output is required to restore the peak current values.

A good test for connecting your amp into such a device is dynamic range (large crescendos in classical music?). If you give it a shot with your amp, please report back.

I agree if it's not going into bypass on initial surge or for that matter anytime he's probably fine.

Why would it restrict if it's bypassed when overwhelmed ?

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This feature only seems to be applicable for a steady state overpower condition rather than a transient one. Because by the time it detects an amps burst of transient power, the transient is probably gone. But if its in bypass mode steady state, then its not providing protection. What I am reading this feature to be is a means of protecting itself, not the devices it powers.

Use it for all other boxes in front of the amp because they don't require bursts of transient power. Their power requirements are more or less constant. In which case, if it goes into bypass mode, then that's an indicator that you need to unplug something or get a bigger power conditioner.


Again, my understanding is that power conditioners are for boxes other than your amp.

Most amps have their own storage in large capacitors for transients.

The power on surge is often to charge them up.

i have an EP15 with 8Ks plugged in. it's the only device i've tried that doesn't suck the life out of an amp. other than the power on transient from power suckers like amps, plasma tv i've never noticed it go into bypass. but these are the same devices that briefly cause the lights to flicker when turned on so i'm not sure what power device would be stout enough to handle that. as far as the 8Ks the EP reports surprisingly low power draw. my plasma tv draws multitudes more. the krell amp i previously used drew multitudes more. i should test the 8Ks but hate to reopen this can of worms. my system used to sound very different during the day versus late at night. now using the EP and a PPP it's not an issue for me.

V,

There is a good way of testing if your EP15 impacts your 8000's : just listen ....

;-)

In my main system I run 5 mark levinson 436 amps through PS PPPs. Never had a problem. Never had an issue. The PPPs do a fantastic job on audio and a fabulous job on video. I have used other products (mostly of the filtering variety rather than the regeneration variety) over the last 20 years and have found that in most cases they have been value added to the listening experience and more recently to the viewing experience. You do have to be very careful, however, to make sure that you pair the components correctly over your filters/regenerators in such a manner as to ensure that you don`t run in into “bottlenecks”.