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  Accessories > MultiWave™ II Upgrade Kit MultiWave II More Info Starting at just $249.95!  MultiWave II™ and the newest waveform TubeWave™ is not only revolutionary but will provide an immediate improvement over anything you have ever heard before.It is revolutionary in its concept and it will be a revolution in performance when you hear the results. Simply stated, until you hear your equipment powered with the pure output of a Power Plant producing MultiWave II or TubeWave, 'you ain't heard nothin' yet!' Power Plant owners with or without the original MultiWave™ I will be simply astounded at the level of improvement offered by MultiWave II and TubeWave not to mention the amazing reduction in transformer hum inside their units. MultiWave II including TubeWave is now the standard available in the P300, P500 and P1000 Power Plants and now available to any Power Plant owner as an easy to install upgrade. An upgrade to MultiWave II is something every Power Plant owner should consider adding as the the level of performance increase is quite large and provides a significant improvement to both audio and video systems. It is not necessary to have MultiWave I installed. If your Power Plant has no MultiWave inside, you can jump right over to MultiWave II. We do it again! When PS Audio introduced the AC power regenerator concept to the world, it was a revolutionary new idea that fundamentally changed the way we think about powering our home entertainment equipment. Power Plant AC regenerators take the raw, dirty and distorted AC your home provides, converts it to DC (like a battery voltage) and then regenerates perfectly clean balanced AC sinewaves that are regulated and distortion free. PS Power Plant regenerators remain the only such products in the world. Some manufacturers have introduced competing products that purport to do the same thing, but the truth is they do not. Perfect AC was the first step  Once we had introduced the Power Plant concept to the world we next unveiled a new power scheme known as MultiWave. MultiWave I took advantage of the Power Plant’s ability to both power equipment at frequencies other than the standard of 50 or 60Hz and to generate multiple waves at the same time. Many Power Plant owners quickly realized the sonic and visual benefits of operating their equipment at higher frequencies and adding multiple waveforms together: lower noise, less power supply ripple, better charging of the capacitors in your equipment, reduced magnetic fields in powered equipment and an effective increase in power supply capacitance. Since no one frequency was best at improving every aspect of the system’s performance,  MultiWave addressed that problem by adding two or more frequencies in sequence. First there would be a 50Hz sinewave, followed by a 120 Hz sinewave, and then back to 50Hz again.The Power Plants used these sequences of fixed frequencies, along with a waveform called the 'Partial Square' (PS2) that, together, gave a better overall performance to the connected equipment. MultiWave I was a revolution not unlike the Power Plant itself. The next revolution is here MultiWave II, TubeWave and AutoWave are the next revolutionary steps in the quest for perfect AC power. Not evolutionary steps, mind you, but revolutionary. Let’s be clear: MultiWave II is not just an improved MultiWave but an entirely new thought process as well as new circuitry to provide a super-symetrical balance to your equipment's transformer that together works sonic miracles on the connected equipment. Once you hear the performance benefits MultiWave II provides you will never be able to go back to MultiWave I. As great as MultiWave I was, MultiWave II takes it to the next level. What are the differences?  MultiWave I (MW I) relied on very limited fixed sequences of frequency changes that occurred at the beginning of each cycle of the sinewave. MultiWave II (MW II) is completely different. MW II increases the MW I’s limited frequency changes of two to twenty! Moreover, the changes in frequency occur at the mid point in a cycle rather than the beginning point, thus lowering the potential for noise and hum. MW II’s new circuitry contains a fully automatic servo control for the Power Plant’s output that eliminates the small amount of distortion producing imbalance between the two AC phases on the output of the Power Plant. Interestingly enough, this imbalance is also present in your home’s AC supply as well - even though it does not have balanced power like the Power Plants! The imbalance caused by your home's AC is in the form of a small amount of DC voltage that shifts the symmetry of the equipment's power supply. The major differences between MW I and MW II are:
Instead of the nine choices of waveforms that many users found to be a challenge determining which one best optimized their system’s potential, MWII has just 5 optimized choices that makes selection a snap. MWave 1 is an improved version of the original MultiWave’s “PS2” or 'Partial Square' waveform. This extremely popular waveform should be used for any tube equipment that is sensitive to the AC line frequency, or solid state equipment needing a bit more 'fullness' in the lower midbass region. MWave 1 produces a pure 60Hz wave with an added component of 180Hz in a very small amount (1/9th to be exact) that flattens out the top of the sinewave and lengthens the charging time for your equipment’s power supply.  Look at the example on the right side of the page. This is what a partial square wave looks like. A broader peak in the sinewave means that your power supply capacitors have more energy over a longer period of time to charge. This results in less power supply ripple, and significantly better sonics and video performance. It will allow your equipment's power supply to act closer to the performance of an enormous battery. It might be instructive to compare this new Multiwave with a 60 Hz sine wave. Note the scope photo below. This compares a 60 Hz sinewave (like what comes out of your wall socket) with that of MWave 1. Notice how much broader the red trace is (MWave 1) to that of the sinewave (blue). This is important  because when your equipment draws power from either the Power Plant or your AC wall socket, it draws that power only when the AC gets right near the top and bottom of its shape. The top and bottom of an AC signal are referred to as the 'peak' or the 'crest' of the wave. It is interesting to note that the majority of the AC waveform's available power is never used by your equipment. As you can see in the next illustration below, only the top 1/4 of the power is ever used by your equipment - and a sinewave is narrow up at the top and so doesn't have very long to charge up your equipment's supply. Look at MWave 1 (in red) and see how much longer it stays on for your equipment and thus charges it better. Improvements between the original PS2 and MWave 1 are lower noise and lower DC due to the servo control of MultiWave II.  MWave 2 is a pure sinewave that randomly moves between 50 and 70Hz in the cleanest and lowest distortion manner of any MultiWave pattern ever devised. This MWave will work wonders with video equipment and source equipment of all kinds. MWave 3 is MWave 1 with two differences: half the amount of the 180Hz waveform is added to produce a gentler charging time and the frequencies are randomly selected between 50 and 70Hz. This setting is one of two for power amplifiers and source equipment that are recommended when driving multiple items. Choose this waveform first and then try MWave 4 next and see which of the two best suit your combination of source and power amplifiers. MWave 4 is MWave 1, frequency modulated in a random fashion and designed to switch frequencies at the lowest impact point for a clean and distortion free output. Best when used with solid state power amplifiers, or if the connected solid state equipment needs some added fullness in the midbass area. TubeWave™ is a special waveform that is specifically designed for any tube circuit or solid state equipment you want to take on a tubelike sound. In the past, we have cautioned folks about the use of some MultiWaves with tube circuits. This is because many tube circuits have fans which need a relatively constant frequency sinewave to operate properly.  Further, other tube circuits had to have their bias reset when run on some MultiWaves.With PS Audio's unique TubeWave, you can use it to power any tube circuit from tubed D to A processors, to tube preamplifiers, power amplifers and so on. Even those with fans are fine as well. TubeWave uses a pure low distortion sinewave and selects up to 10 different frequencies that it 'dithers' around in a random fashion, with frequencies varying in a narrow band between 60Hz and 70Hz. Unique is the limited bandwidth of the frequency movement and the way it moves from frequency to frequency. Completely safe for all tube circuits, now you can use a MultiWave on your tube equipment with no worries. Even solid state equipment can benefit from TubeWave. TubeWave will add a roundness to solid state equipment, with a big open soundstage that you probably have never heard your equipment produce before. Lower hum and distortion Perhaps one of the most important and beneficial features of MW II is the built in servo system. This servo system is added to any Power Plant as soon as you upgrade to MW II. MultiWave II offers a major improvement in distortion generated within your equipment’s power transformer and even plugging the equipment directly into the wall socket. This is accomplished through a new servo control circuit that provides a super-symetrical balance between the two phases of power coming out of your Power Plant. Even your home's AC can, and frequently does, upset the symmetry of your equipment's power supply resulting in mechanical hum you can hear inside the equipment as well as increased distortion products. This unbalancing of the AC is caused by a small amount of DC voltage present on the line. Most of our home’s AC has this small component of DC on the AC. This small amount of DC can  cause your equipment’s transformer to hum and generate unwanted distortion products, even clipping if the DC component is large enough. Any level of DC causes the transformer to produce an asymmetrical charging current which can “clip” the transformer, much like a power amplifier putting out too much wattage, causing increased harmonic distortion and mechanical vibrations in the transformer, which you hear as hum. Power Plants have been used successfully to eliminate these common DC problems on your homes AC line, but in some cases, even Power Plants themselves have contributed a bit of unbalanced AC as well. To solve this problem, MW II includes a new servo controlled circuit that virtually eliminates the imbalance and reduces the DC to less than 0.01 volts! Your wall socket can easily have 10 to 20 times this amount. This is a major improvement over both your home’s wall socket as well as the original Power Plants with or without MultiWave installed. Lower induced distortion MW I changed frequencies at the beginning or what engineers refer to as the zero crossing point of the sinewave. There are 60 new waves produced every second in your home’s wall socket. The problem with changing frequencies at the beginning of the sinewave is an increase in transformer flux (magnetic field) that eventually translates to increased noise in the power supply and harmonic distortion.  The flux in a power transformer is directly proportional to the slope of the waveform feeding it. A steeper slope causes more flux. More flux generates a bigger magnetic field and increases the possibility of added harmonics, especially when the transformer in your equipment is working hard. When you change frequencies right at the zero crossing point, the angle changes abruptly thus causing noise and some distortion. MW II solves this problem by changing frequency only at the top of the waveform, or the mid point in the waveform’s journey. The mid point is where it is essentially flat and does not change the angle when you change frequencies, thus keeping the transformer’s flux level the same. This is a significant improvement over MW I and is one of the reasons why MW II sounds so much better. Finer control over the sinewaves Many Power Plant owners enjoy the benefits of a Power Plant’s ability to choose whatever frequency you want. Uses for this frequency adjustment range from controlling the speed of your turntable to improving the sonics of your equipment.  With MW I and all Power Plants not equipped with MW II, frequencies could be selected in 5Hz increments. Now, with MW II you can select any frequency between 50Hz and 120Hz in 1Hz increments, thus giving you a much finer level of control over the output frequencies. Turntable performance is enhanced with the rock solid regulated and pure AC a Power Plant provides. Smaller scope, wider range MW I made huge jumps in frequencies: typically going between 50Hz and 120Hz. While these jumps in frequency contributed to better sonics by charging your equipment’s power supply in a more efficient manner, they also were rather crude and needed to be refined to a smoother transition. MW II has a smaller range of frequencies it moves through, going between only 50 to 70 Hz and never moves more than 5 Hz at a time and chooses which of the 20 frequencies it moves to/from on a completely random basis. This smaller range of movement produces a much finer and smoother output waveform for your equipment without sacrificing any performance. In fact, performance of MW II is dramatically better than MW I. The random nature of the frequency shifts in MW II can have a significant effect on lowering powerline noise and making your equipment a lot happier, something not available in MW I! Most powerline artifacts occur at specific frequencies and their amplitude (volume) can be reduced by spreading the one point out to many points. Further, your equipment’s susceptibility to single frequency problems such as hum and noise is reduced dramatically by spreading the frequencies powering it in a random fashion. This all adds up to a significant level of improvement for any piece of equipment plugged into a Power Plant. Then, there’s AutoWave AutoWave is a method of choosing one of the four MWaves automatically depending on load conditions.  The computer inside the Power Plant chooses one of the four MWave patterns that best suits the load on an instantaneous basis, thus providing the perfect MWave for the conditions that are constantly changing when music or video is playing.AutoWave is available only on the P500 and P1000 and cannot be offered as an upgrade. The bottom line MultiWave II is a major step forward in the revolution of power solutions by PS Audio. We would highly recommend that anyone owning a Power Plant consider upgrading to MW II. MW II will provide lower noise, lower distortion, lower hum, and a major improvement to the way your system sounds and looks when powered by a Power Plant. If you think a Power Plant make a marked improvement to your system’s performance now, just wait until you install MWave II! This will be a huge improvement, one that no Power Plant owner should be without. How do you get MultiWave II? MultiWave II and AutoWave are included with the new Power Plant P500 and P1000 models. MultiWave II, TubeWave and the new Servo Circuitry with all of their capalities and features, are available as an upgrade for all Power Plant models including the P300, P600 and P1200. AutoWave is not available as an upgrade. Features of the MultiWave II upgrade include:
The upgrade involves plugging in a new oscillator card and replacing 1 chip. The kit contains the new PC board, the new chip and the tools and instructions for easy home installation. Click here to download the installation instructions for the MultiWave II upgrade. There is no soldering involved. The entire operation takes under half an hour and the results are well worth the effort. For those customers feeling a bit challenged to 'operate' on their Power Plant we also have a factory upgrade option you can take advantage of as well. Contact your dealer or PS Audio for details. Cost of the upgrade kit for home installation is $250.00 plus shipping if you purchase from the PS Audio Online Store. The upgrades may also be purchased directly from your PS dealer and there will be no shipping charges. Upgrade kit are available now. |
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