It just makes my system sound better.

Need to be aware of heat dissipation when installing.

It's useless to add praise that others have ably done, but there is one aspect not mentioned that just astonished me, and I believe important to illustrate how good the PS300 is. I had the unit sent to my work address because it's safer. I work 2nd shift, so I took it home and hooked it up at 3am. Therefore, I could not crank it up! (I live in a multiunit house.) So, I put on the earphones.... I have a 7 year old upper midrange Sony receiver, some kind of GX model I think. In most receivers and preamps, the headphone amplifier gets short shrift. Imagine my surprise when I turned it all on, the sound was immediately and obviously better! This is even when the Sony was idling as far as the power supply goes. (I assume that the same PS feeds the headphone amp and the main amp.) There is a disturbing revelation here, at least for me. I've had for 15 years what I thought was a pretty decent system and figured I'd have to spend LOTS more to improve it. My friends concurred, except for the tube guy, who has far too much money to spend. :-) The PS300 shows I still have a ways to go! The Multiwave mod is too new to have reviews, but I'm going to buy it anyway.
My equipment(note that I put "enthusiast' rather than "audiophile' because I have lots of stuff in the signal chain.):

Sony receiver@120W/ch.
Behringer 1/3rd octave digital equalizer/real time analyzer w/ measurement mic.
Audiosource Subharmonic Synthesizer
FMR Audio RNC1773(4 to 1 ratio at -5dB, for the wide dynamic range pipe organ recordings.)
Technics SL-pd8(?) 5 disk carousel CD player
Denon DP-41f turntable
Sunfire Mk. 2 Subwoofer
Paradigm Monitor 3 loudspeakers
RadioShack interconnects
Monster Cable 10ga. speaker cables.

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A zillion ferrite cores, a cheap surge protector.

see previous review

the same

This is more a warning than a review. After installing the fan mod, and now the multiwave upgrade, don't use the multiwave with synchronous motor turntables. Both PS Audio & VPI have told me this, why I have no idea! Fortunately, you can disable the multiwave setting.This upgrade has only been "cooking" for 3 days now, too early to analyze. I hear a difference, preferring the PS2 setting over the SS1. But I have 7 other settings to go through, plus you can vary the output voltage too. One other thing, these various settings vary the output wattage too. Here, at 85 hz, I draw 260 watts for my front end. In SS1, it's 200 watts, in PS2, it's 230. Again, don't ask me why. I think this multiwave thing is worth it, increasing the sound by 25 to 50%. This may change later, more to come.

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see previous review

Improves just about every nuance(sp) of sound. More air around instruments. Greater detail and bloom without waiting.

Puts out heat equal to load. Odd damn shape and size. Does not fit anywhere.

After reading John Atkinson of STEREOPHILE article on the PS300 in conjunction with a Mark Levinson 380S preamp and comparisons of same to the Levinson 32(S) Reference preamp and me being a 380S owner, I had to have one at least for audition. 30 day trial from PS Audio. Well it won't be going back. Plugged in the 380S to the PS300 and set the power plant at the recommended 90HZ. Effects were immediate. I found myself looking and hearing my system in a whole new light. The air around instruments and their definition and detail in space is stunning. Well recorded piano is nothing short of amazing. I find that ceratin passages if not whole cuts on great discs (MOFI, SRV, Sky is Crying, Bill Bruford Earth Works, A Part and yet apart) stand up an d whack you in the face. The performance is taking place in my listening room. This does not happen on every cut nor with every instrument but the effect is stunning. It gets your attention. I used to think my system would bloom noticably after about an hour of listening but would say that the bloom is instantaneous with the PS300. Highly recommended with high end solid state preamps. Have not tried on any other equipment in my system. If I am half way to a ML 32 with this set up, I am as close as I will get.

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MIT Z Center. Synergistic power cords.

Smooth,Clear,Spacious sound

Long shape can make placement tough

Well, I saw the rave review about this product in Stereophile and the rave reviews of my comrades here and had to try it. $1,200 is very pricey in my opinion for a power conditioner but PS Audio offered a free 30 day trial.

I plugged it in an got a noticeable but not overwhelming gain in clarity and smoothness. Any harshness my system had was gone. Kept it for about a month and I starting taking it for granted. I kept fuming about the price and said to myself, yeah it's worth maybe $500-700, but not $1,200. I unplugged it and was actually ready to send it back. Then in one fell swoop, I realized how much it really had added to my system. Everything sounded harsh to me even though it really never bothered me before I got the power plant. As soon as I plugged it back in, life was wonderful again.

Moral of the story of course is that we never know what we've got until it's gone. I now can't imagine my system without it. Yes, the cost is high, but so is everything else in this high end audio game. I recommend this product heartily for people who have at least $5k invested in their systems. For lower cost systems, I'd think twice.

I have to add one important point to all the comments here.

Not long before I got the P300, I had gotten fed up with my lack of involvement in music listening, and "forced a cure" in a radical (and expensive) way--I went back to vinyl and to tube amplification (VPI HW-19 Mk. III and conrad-johnson). The cure worked; I found myself more enthusiastic about listening to music and more satisfied whenever I did.

Then I got the P300. My experience was as transformative as many others who have reported here, so I won't take up bandwidth repeating it. However, another thing I noticed is that, in my system and my home, it seemed to have a much greater effect on CD replay than vinyl. CDs became much more liquid, musical, and satisfying to listen to--more relaxed, less fatiguing, less annoying--plus the soundstage was bigger--plus they had that incredible PS Audio bass punch that just seems to make percussion come alive on CDs (listen to Ginger Baker's _Coward of the County_ through the P300--just stunning!). Well, as the months turn into years, I find I've just migrated away from vinyl again. I still like it, and I still like my turntable, but there is just little reason to prefer it any more--despite the improvement it originally made in my music-listening happiness.

And, finally, just recently I've gone back to solid-state amplification. Again, it's not that I don't like tubes--I really do. It's just that solid state is quieter (goodbye tube hiss!) and more convenient, not to mention more consistent day-to-day and hour-to-hour. And, I get as much satisfaction from it as long as the P300 is in the chain.

If I had to quantify this on a 1-10 scale just for illustration purposes, I'd say that the P300 took vinyl from a 7 to an 8 in quality for me, but it took CD from a 5 to an 8 (I imagine this number would be higher if I had a more high-end system--mine is good, solid mid-fi or low high-end, about $5-6K total, used).

If you're thinking of going back to vinyl and tubes because your system just isn't as satisfying as you think it should be, I wouldn't stop you. My sortie back to the old days was fun for me, not to mention educational (some things you just have to find out for yourself). And I just love all the fantastic reissue vinyl you can get these days. But I wish I had gotten the P300 first. Although I can't recommend it highly enough, I would personally recommend it much more strongly for people with CD-based systems. It doesn't make CD sound "like" vinyl and tubes, but--for me--it makes CD just as satisfying (maybe even a wee bit more) to listen to.

That's my experience.

Improves sound, nice build

Damn overheating, minor or absolutely no improvement on video

When I hooked my gear
Theta Casa Nova processor, Audio Alchemy DDS Pro Transport,
Quad amp to PS300 I've noticed difference immediately. But it was hard to tell at the beginning whether it was really improvement or just result of some equilization/filtering. Lately after 40-50 hours of use the soundstage started to become wider and all sounds were getting more distinct and natural. Now when I'm listening music I feel like it's kind of 'breezing'. It is pretty surprising 'cause I've considered my toys not the cheapest ones and still the sound can be improved. With mentioned above equipment at approx half volume (50W) power factor on display is around 30-40.
The other test that I've conducted was with my video section that includes Panasonic 320 DVD player, DVDo line doubler and Sanyo SU-09n LCD video projector. In this case the results were rather disappointing 'cause I've invested enough money to get fancy power strip and decent power cables. Maybe DVD player provide slightly quieter picture but neither DVDo with it's lousy power supply unit nor projector don't improve at all. More than that after adding projector PS300 started to heat up like crazy (I have modification with build-in fan but I still find the unit too hot all the time). The reading on display was just 80 - not even close to 300. After watching movie for 2 hours it turned off. I've nearly got heart attack thinking that it was toasted but later I was able to run it again. So I don't use projector with it anymore. Btw I know that projector is incorporating fan which can be critical to power frequencies and I was using proper multiwave mode.

So for music I find it pretty good especially it'll excel on lower priced systems but for video purposes I'm sceptical that it can do anything to improve picture quality.

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Monster 2000

The best possible sound-quality improvement via any single component upgrade; simple to use; appearance.

Perhaps the odd shape.

The ability for audio gear to produce quality music is wholly dependent on the quality of AC power. Equipment amplifies and modulates the incoming power - which exits the speakers as music. If the incoming AC power is flawed so will the music exiting the speakers. This concept is often missed when upgrading gear.

The P300 Power Plant is the real deal! While power enhancers (such as Adcom, Tice, Audio Power, etc.) will filter out noise to varying degrees, the P300 takes a quantum leap by re-creating a perfect AC sine wave from scratch. This is very beneficial since audible flaws in AC power are not just noise artifacts but also distortion of the sine wave exiting the AC wall outlet. The name, "Power Plant", can be taken literally.

But the improvement you'll hear using a P300 is still dependent on the refinement of the power supplies within the audio gear used. The increase in performance of my cd player (plugged into the P300) is easily tenfold. But the performance increase of the pre- and power amps, both having sophisticated power supplies, is perhaps 80% each. So if you have mid-fi gear (such as Adcom) and are considering long-term upgrades, buying a P300 is probably the most cost-effective choice possible. Buy the other gear later.

Although most of the increased sound quality with the P300 can be found using the basic 60Hz sine setting, further benefits are obtained via the multiwave settings. SS1 makes a strong first impression with an up-front emphasis on the upper mids/treble. But PS2 sounds more natural, relaxed, and less mechanical than SS1. (I don't care for the other multiwave settings.) The P300 also benefits when placed on a hard, massive surface. Lying on a typical audio shelf the sound becomes a bit "gray", increasing when the P300 is placed on a sand or air-damped isolation platform. For best results I have mine resting on a 40 lb. slab of marble on the floor.

Although only low-powered amps are recommended for the P300 I have my 150 watt/channel amp plugged in along with the pre- and cd player. Playing music at moderate levels registers only 60-90 on the power meter. (Using maximum volume levels - just before the speakers "bottom" - will push the meter to 160 for a second or two.) Plugging the amp directly into the wall results in a bit more "punchy" sound at the slight expense of clarity and smoothness via the P300. Overall, I prefer using my amp with the P300.

For maximum isolation of digital gear plug the cd in one set of outlets and analog in the other set. I also received benefits by inserting an AudioPrism "wall wart" in the outlet set powering the cd player.

-minoan


cd: JoLida 601A
pre: Morrison ELAD
power: Musical Fidelity A3cr (dual mono)
speaks: Totem Rokks (85 dB sensitivity)
intercnts: Cardas Golden Cross
cables: Cardas Cross

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Adcom ACE-515 would be the closest.

Everything pertaining to the sound

Power consumption- it sucks 2 watts from the wall outlet for EVERY watt used

Read the reviews on this unit, I think they're UNDERSTATED! Try one, I can't believe that you will send it back! Noise disappeared, imaging was much more defined, spread out and deeper, bass was more powerful and quick. That "digital edge" that I hear on most CD-s has disappeared. Frequency setting between 75 & 85 works for me. To get this kind of improvement by upgrading equipment, I would have paid a LOT MORE than the $995 that I paid for this piece. For my equipment [all tubed], see the Von Schweikert VR-6 review on this website. IT DOES RUN HOT!

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Chang-Power Wedge-MIT

Makes a good system sound like a great one

Only 4 outlets, and it cannot handle amps - only front end equipment

After 3 to 4 months of continued usage, the Power Plant only gets better. I have finally settled on a power rating of 85, as this setting is the most pleasing. Utilizing a 3-in-1 pig-tail outlet I have the following equipment plugged in: Citation 7.0, Pioneer 606D(Modified by Ric Schultz), MSB Link DAC (modified by Ric Schultz), Sony A4, Martin-Logan reQuests.

In my opinion, this system has unequaled resolution for 2 channel reproduction since the addition of the Power Plant.

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Panamax 1000+, Monster 3500

deeper black backgrounds, clearer and more precise soundstage, ability to bring out more details while still somehow able to make the female voice sweeter, mid-bass increase definition and somewhat increase in slam

very hot, multi-wave an inprovement over model without but hard to hear differences btw some of the settings, electric bill increase was not pleasant

okay, so now I'm a believer. I've been in search of audio nirvana (digital only, too hard to be an audiophile who uses lp's) now for over 10 years. Through those years I've been able to accumulate some very good gear whose additions to the systems have made either major improvement or minor but each one added something to the enjoyment of both stereo as well as home theatre. Recently purchased the ps 300 from videomart (good people, work hard to get everything right) brought it home and added it to my upstairs system (my system versus theirs). Plugged in the Krell hts2, sony 9000es and pioneer 38a into the ps 300, put on rebecca pidgeon and was transported to a different audio place. All the audiophile terms applied to the improvement that this made in the system, and these improvements did not take forever to hear. I noticed background vocals that I knew were there but I previously thought the room interactions were masking, instruments that were barely audable were now clearer and precise in the audio sound stage, submerged bass notes that were mixed up in the sound became distinct, precise (sorry can't seem to evade that word) and more authoritative. These improvements only matured as I let the system settle and allowed the interactions of the various parts become more distinct. One unexpected but wanted benefit of the ps 300 was the improvement in the picture that was displayed on the rptv (pioneer hd61, I know it wasn't plugged into the ps300 but I unplugged those three previously mentioned components from the richard gray 1200s and maybe it allowed the rg to do a better job or the dvd's increase in cleaner power helped the picture (?)). After a week, took the ps downstairs to "their" system and noted an even bigger improvement in their system. If I had to narrow my focus down to just purchasing a limited number of components, a ps would be on the mandatory "have to own list". Right now, have put a deposit on a ps audio 600 for the downstairs system so I can plug in the front ends, pre and pro amps (never hooked up the amps to ps audio to test the results, not enough juice to power the amps).

upstairs system

B&W 801n's(main l&r), b&w htm1n (center), b&w 805n (rears)
Krell fbp 250ms across the front channels and krell 250a rears
Krell hts2 processor
harmonic tech cables throughout (balanced and rca where applicable), either pro silway mkII's, pro 9's speaker biwire speaker
pioneer dv-38a, sony dvps 9000es sacd
dedicated 20 amp lines (five across the front, one for the back)

Their system

B&W 803n's mains, htm 2n center, no rears
RDC 7 integra research processor
Krell kav 500 amp
Pioneer dv-37a dvd player
sony 7000 dvd player
harmonic tech cables throughout (same as above)

PS. there were times that the money spent on trying to improve the systems seemed too extreme since the improvements were not that audable BUT with the ps audio in place everything has come together, the music (analog and digital) has become significantly more life-like.

Similar Products Used:

richard gray 1200s power