[golfugh]

John forgot to mention that in addition to some filtration, the PS Audio units are power regenerators, i.e. they are like power amplifiers only not for audio signals but rather for AC electricity.

The Quintet is passive.  No regeneration.

[jimdgoulding]

Skeptical about conditioners. With new ac powered amps I'm gonna go the balanced isolation transformer route and call it a day.

I think Silver Circle units are transformers but, geez, they cost five grand!  Describe more about what you have in mind specifically.  I don't know so much how these things differ or their technologies.  Thanks.

[drummermitchell]

That's what I run are two balanced Torus units(60A+20A) and a 20a(120V) unit for my sub.
I've use others but these are staying put as they really make an impact on the music.
Someone in the audio industry told me once when I exchanged all my Shunyatas for Torus said:
you have discovered that having gobs of power in reserve for the amps makes a huge difference on the music.
Authoritative bass(slam ect)way more dynamics and protection.
The difference was night and day and until something else literally blows me away like these do,they will be staying home.
These too are pricey,but it's for the music.

[Rclark]

Talk to Doug S, he managed to come up with several under a grand. Not pretty, but who cares?

[cheap-Jack]

Hi.

The Quintet is passive.  No regeneration.

Yup. For less than USD500 don't expect active, bud.

PS Audio' s flagship "Power House Premier" is active or "regenerastion". But asking for USD2,150.00! No joke.

c-J

[TJHUB]

Felix!

I just wanted to update this thread with some new information. 

A friend of mine let me try his Monster Power HTS 2600 MKII.  While it did positively affect some aspects of the sound I was listening for, it did not sound like the PS Audio power conditioner.  It also limited the overall dynamics of the sound, and overall I just didn't like it. 

Today, a friend of mine loaned me his Felix to try.  I listened to my setup for about an hour to familiarize myself with the sound before testing the Felix.  Then I installed the Felix on my preamp.  I am hearing much of what I heard from the PS Audio Duet.  I really think this is going to be my solution.  I do need to listen more, and I want to see how it affects my DAC, but this is definitely what I need.  It looks like I'll be building 2 or 3 of these once I figure out what I need.

[jonbee]

The Quintet is good, probably the best bet for under $300 used. They show up regularly on Agon. They are quite bulletproof, and offer excellent protection from line spikes, surges, etc.
This year I move from a Quintet to a PS Power Plant Premier, which is a regenerator. If the Quintet makes X improvement, the PPP makes 2-3X, in the same direction. They are an old model as well and sell for $900-1000 used.
Ohers swear by the Uberbuss for about the same $, and of course there are many others. IMO they offer a real improvement in a good system.Makes a TV look better,too.

[Elizabeth]

Solution is tell your friend who brought over the PS Audio product. Explain to him your need for the device. And explain the Audiophile rule about showing someone something which does wonders, but you cannot buy: The rule is if they showed you thiers, they OWE you because now you can never be satisfied with your system without one. So, the rule is THEY have to give you thiers!! Until either you or they have found another one, or a reasonable substitute.

This is an Audiophile rule and must not be broken.
Or they will get tinnitus as a curse for the audiophile breaking such an important rule.

you must explain this to your friend who allowed you such a glimpse of aural heaven. Or he will suffer the curse. 
Once he understands the rule, he will submit, realizing it was ALL HIS FAULT, for showing you what you cannot find. And he will give you the PS Audio device on permanent loan, until the curse can be lifted by you finding a substitute device, or your friend finds one so you can keep the one he loaned you.
This is one part of "The Audiophile Buddy Law".

(I use a PS Audio P600 for my digital stuff, and a Furman REF20i for everything else.)

[TJHUB]

Solution is tell your friend who brought over the PS Audio product. Explain to him your need for the device. And explain the Audiophile rule about showing someone something which does wonders, but you cannot buy: The rule is if they showed you thiers, they OWE you because now you can never be satisfied with your system without one. So, the rule is THEY have to give you thiers!! Until either you or they have found another one, or a reasonable substitute.

This is an Audiophile rule and must not be broken.
Or they will get tinnitus as a curse for the audiophile breaking such an important rule.

you must explain this to your friend who allowed you such a glimpse of aural heaven. Or he will suffer the curse. 
Once he understands the rule, he will submit, realizing it was ALL HIS FAULT, for showing you what you cannot find. And he will give you the PS Audio device on permanent loan, until the curse can be lifted by you finding a substitute device, or your friend finds one so you can keep the one he loaned you.
This is one part of "The Audiophile Buddy Law".

(I use a PS Audio P600 for my digital stuff, and a Furman REF20i for everything else.)

I think this makes perfect sense.  I sent him an email linking this thread.  I hope he realizes what he's done, and I certainly hope he does the right thing.

[Ericus Rex]

Good thing it's working for you! But you'll get half the people saying brand x conditioner is great and the other half saying brand x ruined the party.

But that can be said about nearly all recommendations for amps, pres, dacs, cd players, speakers, etc.  One man's trash is another's treasure.  Let's not forget that the OP has already heard one in his system and very much liked it.

A couple of cheapos you can get to try are the Chang Lightspeed and the Audioprism.  I don't know how they compare to the Quintet (or the Felix, for that matter), they are older models, but either can be had for cheap and tested.  If they don't work out, put em back on Audiogon and move on with virtually no loss of dough.

[golfugh]

Perrota Consulting has a PS Audio Quintet in it's inventory for $275

http://www.perrottaconsulting.com/

[TJHUB]

Perrota Consulting has a PS Audio Quintet in it's inventory for $275

http://www.perrottaconsulting.com/

Thanks for the find.  I couldn't find any of these things anywhere. 

What I'm hearing from the Felix seems every bit as good as what I remembered from the PS Audio conditioner.  For the money, the Felix seems like the better deal by a long ways, and frankly it's a more elegant solution.  The one I have on loan is just built into a power cable.  This is more attractive than having a conditioner with more power cables plugged into it.  Is it a big deal?  No.  I just find it more simple. 

On that note, the Felix sounds incredible on my preamp.  Last night I swapped it over to my EE Minimax Plus DAC, and all the goodness was gone.  To keep things simple, I didn't like the sound at all, and it was a huge change from having the Felix on the preamp.  I wasn't expecting this at all.  I'll have to listen more tonight and try to figure some of this out. 

[Occam]

Lawdy, now you can start obsessing over power cords and connectors....
Jtwrace has a lovely one built into a nice powercord for sale -
http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=104506.msg1064581;topicseen#new

[TJHUB]

Another update.  This one of disappointment.

Since the Felix sounds terrible on my DAC, I put it back on my preamp.  I left it for a couple of days, and I started to realize that I didn't like the sound from my setup.  It's funny how you can intellectually think something sounds "better" when it doesn't.  It seems that the Felix is robbing my setup of some magic.  I find now that I don't care to listen to music, even though it's very hard to describe what might be "wrong."

What I've come up with is that the upper treble is somewhat rolled off.  I also think the bass is less defined.  I guess the combination of these two things is making the sound less attractive for me. 

I'm testing the Felix on the power supply for my Touch now.  I guess I'll leave it there for the time being.

Since I don't think the Felix is going to work for me, I purchased a PS Audio Duet to try.  I hope it works its magic.

[Danberg]

TJHUB - I find this post interesting reading... please keep us informed!

[TJHUB]

Ok, here I am again...

I've been listening with the Felix powering my preamp since my last post.  I figured out that the Felix does rob some treble extension and "air" from the sound.  It also lowers the overall timbre causing the allusion of more bass.  This also comes with less definition in the lower octaves.  I still couldn't find love for the sound with the Felix plugged into my preamp, DAC, nor Touch power supply. 

My brand new to me PS Audio Duet showed up today.  I just installed it about an hour ago.  I decided the most fair comparison would be to have the Duet just power the preamp to start.  When I removed the Felix, I did listen with no conditioner at all for about 15 minutes.  It was very obvious what the Felix was doing to the sound, and overall, I'd say it wasn't good.  It was as described above. 

Then in went the Duet powering just my preamp.  The difference in sound between the Felix and the Duet is dramatically different.  The Duet robs nothing from the sound.  There was absolutely no change in timbre, no loss of treble extension or "air", and the bass lost no definition.  However, I can clearly hear the benefits of the Duet.  I hear more definition top to bottom and smaller details just seem more obvious and easy to hear.  Notes seem to hang in the air longer, and decay cleaner.  There is a big increase in the perception of realism to the sound.  The Duet seems to be doing much more of what someone would want from a power conditioner. 

I'd also like to note that the Felix made my DAC sound horrible.  It sounded very strident, which really surprised me.  It's like it did the opposite to my DAC as it did to my preamp.  I would love an explanation as to how or why this happened.  It seems my DAC doesn't like the Duet either, but the change is not all that bad this time.  I can just tell it's not as good, but certainly not horrible like the Felix made it sound. 

That's as far as I am at the moment.  I'll take a few days to really figure things out, but it's already clear that the Duet was a good purchase.  I hope it stays that way. 

[Jon L]

Unfortunately for the pocketbook, a well-done active regenerator will reveal the "glass ceiling" of most passive conditioners.  There just seems to be a limit beyond which active regeneration is required to achieve that last 10% of frightening resolution while shrouded in frightening musicality at the same time   

Here's a link where where PS Audio's Power Plant Premier is deemed compared to PS Quintet..

http://www.stereophile.com/powerlineaccessories/ps_audio_quintet_power_center/index.html

[TJHUB]

Thanks for the link.  I wish I had the funds to try a Premier, but all I can afford at the moment is the Duet.  At this point, I'm very happy with the $200 purchase.  Having never tried a conditioner before, this has turned out to be a positive experience.  As my audio progression continues, I'll have to keep something like the Premier in mind. 

[rdsu]

@TJHUB,

What was the Felix components (chokes and capacitors) that you used?