Taking care of the other half
Power is essential to the system’s operation and its performance. Sure you can run any high-end system on ordinary wall current and have satisfactory results. But if you’ve invested in a high-end system then getting power out of the wall and hoping for the best is the same as leaving money on the table: you’re not getting all that your system’s capable of giving you.
Power Plants offer a perfect solution for fixing the problems of AC power and building a solid foundation from which to extract all that’s possible from the music. But perfect power is only as good as your ability to deliver that power.
Power delivery is the job of the power cable.
A bit of history
In the mid to late 1990′s not many in the high-end paid any attention to power quality for their systems. In 1997, PS Audio introduced its ground breaking product, the AC regenerator known as the Power Plant. Power Plants changed everything about the way we think of AC power and started a quiet revolution of sorts that today embodies an entire industry dedicated to improving performance and reliability through AC power enhancement products.
In early 2000 PS took the next step in the quest for better power by introducing the Lab Cable power cord. The Lab Cable was the first true high-end audio power cable and it too ignited a revolution in AC power interest that continues through today.
The Lab Cable, in its day, was a major improvement over the stock power cable supplied with the equipment then (and today). The main benefits of the Lab Cable are those still embodied in most well designed after market power cables more than a decade later: significant shielding from outside noise, internal geometries that reduce complex load interactions, heavier wire gauge to reduce power drops and the use of superior conducting materials.
All well designed products recognize the fact that the power driving our systems is a critical element in the quality of our system’s performances. Consider that everything we hear in an audio system and everything we see in a home theater system is actually AC power reconfigured by the audio and video equipment. The quality of that power has a surprisingly big effect on what you hear and see in a high-end system.
It would behoove anyone interested in audio and video quality to ensure a proper AC power foundation and delivery system in order to gain maximum benefit from their investment in their systems.
Why power cables matter
There’s a lot of controversy and misinformation surrounding the subject of AC power quality, power delivery systems and the importance of the power cable in a high-end system. Power cables matter if gaining all that’s possible with any piece of equipment matters – and most high-end system owners would perhaps agree this is a goal worth pursuing.
One of the first questions people typically ask us is why the last 6 feet of power cable matters when typically there are hundreds of feet of power delivery wires feeding the AC to the wall socket in the first place. The answer is deceptively simple and can be addressed in two parts: the equipment is not at the end of the delivery system and most of the noise that degrades performance is generated by the equipment itself.
It is a common misconception that a piece of equipment is at the end of the power delivery chain when, in fact, it is actually in the middle of that chain. AC power has two conductors (ignoring the ground wire which is only for noise and safety) and power flows in a loop between the two conductors – your equipment sitting right in the middle of that loop. So the unit is not at the end of the chain, but rather in the middle and this is the area where the AC power is subjected to high levels of noise – and that noise can degrade the audio or video quality significantly.
The noise is actually generated by the equipment itself and for this reason, it is critically important that the last 6 feet of power delivery in the loop be extremely well shielded both internally (to the power cable) and externally (to the equipment). A stock power cable is perhaps the worst thing you can use to connect your equipment to the power as these are neither protected internally or externally and their construction does not support the reduction of complex interactions and noise generated by the equipment.
To get the most out of your system you must replace all your stock power cables with well designed low noise versions. Doing so will help the performance of your system immeasurably and, depending on the type of power cable you wind up with, can contribute to significantly lower system noise, less glare riding on the music and better micro and macro dynamics.
PS Audio offers what we consider to be the best overall solutions to power delivery and power generating products. Our power cable designs have been refined over the last decade to provide unprecedented levels of full, rich sound, with lightning fast transients, improved dynamic contrasts, and dead quiet performance.