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P300 Power Plant

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Power Products > P300 Power Plant

P300 Higher Frequencies

Starting at just $1,495.00!

Unique to the PS Audio Power Plant series is our exclusive Power Factor feature which, incidentally, is fondly referred to by our customers as 'warp factor'.

Simply put, the Power Factor feature adjusts the output frequency of the Power Plant from your country's standard, either 60 Hz or 50 Hz, to as high as 120 Hz, and as low as 50 Hz. Using our DSP-based technology, addressable through the Power Plant's front panel Power Factor settings, we effectively increase the power supply size in your DAC, preamp, video projector, or any unit connected to the Power Plant's output, when we raise the frequency.

'I increase the power factor to 120 Hz. A lengthy period ensues of retrieving my jaw from the floor. It is hard to comprehend that this is the same front end I'm hearing. The lowered noise floor, image focus and dynamics are dramatically better than with the Power Wedge Ultra.' Bob

Increased is the effective size of your unit's power transformer and capacitors, lowered is the transformer's radiated magnetic field and power supply ripple. This is all accomplished by DSP synthesizing higher output frequencies, as selected by the user via the Power Plant's front panel.

Then, there is MultiWave II
In addition to raising the frequency, we have also included 5 MultiWave II patterns as standard on all Power Plant models. MutliWaves use mulitple higher frequencies to improve even the best benefits of higher frequencies. Read about MultiWave by clicking here.

Raising the frequency
What comes out of our wall sockets in this country happens 60 times a second, and in many other parts of the world, it is 50 times a second. This is called alternating current. The voltage in the wall socket is moving between plus and minus, 50 or 60 times a second (depending on where you live).

Changing polarity between plus and minus is necessary for a transformer to work. Our stereo equipment all have transformers as their input.

But is 50 or 60 cycles (or Hertz - Hz for short) the best frequency? Is it the most efficient? The answer is simple; no. Transformers become difficult to build properly at either end of the frequency spectrum: too high or too low. The fact is, every transformer has an optimum working frequency. Power transformers designed to operate at 50 Hz or 60 Hz, work best at approximately 100 Hz. Problem is, there's no way to power them with a higher frequency. That was true before the PS Audio Power Plants.

As you may know, the Power Plant is able to produce a perfect AC voltage at any frequency from 50 Hz to 120 Hz, with a simple front panel adjustment. Raising the frequency of the Power Plant has a number of sonic advantages.

When is it not a good idea?
Higher frequencies are not a good idea when powering certain types of motors. For instance, if you have a tube power amplifier that has an AC fan motor in it, then raising the frequency is a bad idea because the fan will cease to operate. A turntable can be operated at a higher frequency, but only if the frequency is specific to the desired record speed. For instance, all Power Plants come with 60 Hz and 81 Hz as standard. 60 Hz is perfect for 33 1/3 rpm, while 81 Hz is perfect for 45 rpm.

CD players, DVD players, preamplifiers, DACs or power amplifier will be fine and will benefit greatly.

Why do they sound better at higher frequencies?
There are a number of reasons why audio video equipment sound better and look better when operated at their optimum AC frequency. Among them are:

Lower radiated magnetic field.
Lower power supply ripple.
Effective increase of power supply capacitance.
Greater energy density.

There has recently been a great deal of debate about the facts presented above. Fellow manufacturers of audio equipment have both endorsed the higher frequency approach with their equipment, and a few have rejected it. While we know that our friends in the audio manufacturing fields have their customer's best interests at heart, it seems that some amount of misinformation has unintentionally been propagated. This is only natural given the new and unique nature of this technology.

Let's take a look. We'll focus on power supply ripple for the moment. Power supply ripple is easy to understand. When the AC voltage is first converted to DC voltage (like that of a battery), it appears in a rather crude form of jagged peaks. These peaks can be very small or very large, depending on the amount of current being drawn and the amount of filter capacitors in the power supply. This crude form of DC is known as ripple (no, not the wine, although it's almost as crude!).

One of the goals in any power supply is to make this ripple as low as possible: the lower, the better. You can add more capacitors to make it lower, you can reduce the amount of current being drawn, or you can raise the frequency (as we do). Raising the frequency has the benefit of increasing the energy density, while lowering the power supply ripple at the same time.

Look at the examples we have for you. The first is the ripple of the power supply of a preamp at 60 Hz, the second is the same preamp's power supply at 120 Hz. Note the meter's reading in the lower right hand corner of each example. The meter is reading the ripple.

Note that the first example on the right has a meter reading of 190 millivolts (mv), and the second example has exactly half the 190 mv reading. Twice the frequency, equates to half the ripple. This is because the same amount of energy is being delivered to the power supply twice as quickly.

The benefits to the audio video user are many. A far greater sense of depth, of space, and a tonal quality that more closely approaches the sound of live music.

Can you go too far?
We have observed that the upper frequencies (the treble) get better and better as the frequency of the Power Plant's output goes up, while the bass impact gets better as well, but then appears to get too lean above 100 Hz. Most of our customers have noted a sweet spot of 90 Hz for their equipment.

The very good news of all of this information is that with a Power Plant in your system, you have the control necessary to make a huge improvement in the way your system sounds and looks.

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