Purepower 2000

[manisandher]

I've just ordered a 'Purepower 2000' unit (not cheap at £2500). This is a true AC regenerator, totally isolated from the mains by a battery. My main interest is in feeding clean power to my ADC/DAC, which draws ~200W. But I'm going to try connecting as many devices with linear PSs to it as possible, including my power amp.

Will let you know what I think...

Mani.

[Marcin_gps]

Good luck with that! I have MIT Z Powerbar in my system now, but don't like it at all.

[Telstar]

subscribed.

[manisandher]

I've had the weekend to play around with the PurePower 2000i. Overall, I like the change in sound. It's 'calmer' and a lot less 'edgy'. The sound stage seems to have been pushed right back, and the sound itself is less in your face - more laid back. It seems to be accentuating the LF region and attenuating the HF region, which I really like. Since getting it, I've tended to load an album and just listen to it all the way through, which is a really good sign.

With my whole system plugged into the unit, I can run it for ~10 minutes by unplugging the 2000i from the wall and using it's internal battery. What's interesting is that there is absolutely no change in sound when the unit is plugged back into the wall. This is a very good sign IMO.

However, it seeems that I've lost some dynamics. This is actually quite hard to figure out. Is this down to the removal of edgy distortion, or is it a compression of dynamic peaks, which has been the universal criticism of other power cleaning devices? I'm not sure. I can say though that the protection circuits in my Quad speakers seem to be kicking in more often. I attribute this to the increased LF energy and the fact that I'm tending to listen at higher volumes now because the sound is so laid back and easy on the ear.

My biggest concern though is the output voltage from the 2000i. In compliance with EU regulations, it outputs a rock steady 230V (even when unplugged from the wall). Ordinarily, this is great. However, my power-amp, pre-amp and ADC/DAC only have switchable 100V, 120V, 220V and 240V inputs. So, I can set them to 220V and have them overvolted by 10V, or set them to 240V and have them undervolted by 10V. Theoretically, a 5% difference shouldn't make a difference of course. But IME, undervolting seems to provide a more laid-back sound... which is exactly what I'm getting. Now the 2000i can output 240V, but this is set at the factory. I will contact PurePower to see if this is something I can do easily. If so, I'd like to increase the output to 240V.

Any thoughts welcome.

Mani.

[manisandher]

UPDATE

Firstly, I contacted the PurePower guys a couple of weeks ago. They were ultra-responsive and very helpful. With their help, I easily managed to increase the output of the PP2000 up to a constant 240V. It was obvious the moment I switched the PP2000 back on that all equipment set specifically to 240V is happier running at exactly 240V, rather than being ‘undervolted’ by 10V. (I'm totally aware that this equipment uses voltage regulators and that a 5% undervoltage should not matter.)

The dynamics are back!

In the last couple of weeks, I’ve managed to get a few moments to sit and listen to music. I’ve also managed to compare running the system from the PP2000 vs. straight from the wall. The PP2000 easily beats the wall. The sound is ‘cleaner’, more solid and, perhaps most importantly, more harmonically rich. It’s just more enjoyable and rewarding to listen to. In comparison, from the wall, the sound is thin and edgy. Maybe this is purely psychological, but it really does seem as if the music is being corrupted by noise.

I will repeat this comparison once the new mains circuit is in place. This should improve the performance of the system running off the wall. However, I suspect the PP2000 will benefit also.

Mani.

[PeterSt]

It was obvious the moment I switched the PP2000 back on that all equipment set specifically to 240V is happier running at exactly 240V, rather than being ‘undervolted’ by 10V.

Who would have thought that ...

(yeah, you )

[pedal]

I am happy to hear about your findings.
I am planning to feed all my (low level) components from a PP (except my 3 huge power amps).

Some Norwegian users have reported failure problems/lot's of defect units from PP. Hopefully this quality issue has been solved by now.
If so, it's listed on my 2011 budget!

[manisandher]

UPDATE

I've had my PP2000 for around 4 months, so I thought I'd post my findings to date.

Hmmmm... I'm not sure if I can fully recommend this product.

Although I haven't really tested the direct wall mains AC vs. the PP2000 regenerated AC (I've been waiting for my dedicated mains supply to be installed first), I have compared (quite extensively) the regenerated AC vs. the battery AC. What really, really bothers me is that there is a big difference in sound between these two. And it's not totally obvious which sounds better... it depends.

For example, I've been listening to Special vs. Adaptive in 0.9z-4-1. Now to my ears, Special sounds 'drier' and more 'wooden', Adaptive 'wetter' and more 'metallic'. However, my overall preference very much depends on which mode the PP2000 is set to. If it's in regenerated AC mode, then I prefer Special. If it's in battery mode, then I prefer Adaptive.

What really cheeses me off about the PP2000 is that there is a difference at all between the two modes. PurePower claims that there isn't. But there obviously is! And hence why I can't fully recommend this product.

Mani.

[pedal]

UPDATE

I've had my PP2000 for around 4 months, so I thought I'd post my findings to date.

Hmmmm... I'm not sure if I can fully recommend this product.

Although I haven't really tested the direct wall mains AC vs. the PP2000 regenerated AC (I've been waiting for my dedicated mains supply to be installed first), I have compared (quite extensively) the regenerated AC vs. the battery AC. What really, really bothers me is that there is a big difference in sound between these two. And it's not totally obvious which sounds better... it depends.

For example, I've been listening to Special vs. Adaptive in 0.9z-4-1. Now to my ears, Special sounds 'drier' and more 'wooden', Adaptive 'wetter' and more 'metallic'. However, my overall preference very much depends on which mode the PP2000 is set to. If it's in regenerated AC mode, then I prefer Special. If it's in battery mode, then I prefer Adaptive.

What really cheeses me off about the PP2000 is that there is a difference at all between the two modes. PurePower claims that there isn't. But there obviously is! And hence why I can't fully recommend this product.

Mani.

Hi Mani,

Which of your components are fed from the PP2000?

[manisandher]

Hi Pedal,

I've actually tried all sorts of combinations, including running my PC from the PP2000. But right now, I have the NOS1 and my power amp connected to the PP2000 (no preamp). I'll experiment more with different combinations once my dedicated mains circuit is completed (hopefully soon, but I've said that many times before).

I just can't help wondering whether some of the issues that we're trying to solve (e.g. a 'forward' sound) are actually problems induced by our mains electricity supplies. But this really is a whole 'can of worms' - no one seems to have any idea on how the mains electricity affects sound. It seems that a perfect sinewave is not sufficient for good sound. Some people have suggested that even snow on the ground (and/or on overhead power cables) seems to improve the sound. Because of temperature? Because an electromagnetic wave is passing through a crystalline structure? Who knows...

But there really does seem to be something weird going on with electricity...

Mani.

[PeterSt]

Mani, FYI, I have just sorted this out - sort of. Took me a whole month together with one of our respected members here, but things ARE going on indeed. Just wait. Please ...

[Suteetat]

I have been experimenting a bit with power conditioners including PS Audio Powerpack 1600 (similar idea to PurePower2000 but much cheaper,
not sure if it would perform at the same level, probably not!). A friend was also trying Purepowr2000 with his VTL 7.5 preamp and EMM XDS1.
So far, I found that any kind of active conditioner (regenerators etc) seems to have both positive and negative effect. Background tends to be more quite, better detail but loss of dynamic can be bothersome and often the sound is more shut in. (my observation only and only on those I I tried so far).

I find passive conditioning much better and seems to have less impact on dynamic but most still decrease dynamic to certain extent.

The best thing I found so far is Isoclean Isolation transformer. Everything becomes more quiet, much better detail and does not seems to limit current at all. My friend is using his on Plinius 1000w monoblocks with no problem at all. I am using 2, one each on my monoblock and one more for all the sources.

Isoclean also comes with 220v, 230v and 240v tabs. At 220v, the sound is more laid back but a bit lethargic in comparison to 240v.

I think that something like Purepower2000 is probably not going to like heavy load like power amplifier very much. One main problem with battery is always that it can deliver steady voltage but cannot go up and down on very demanding dynamic passage quickly unless lots of capacitor banks are used.

A lot of my friends are also experimenting with having separate ground rod just for dedicated audio circuit ( I am not one of them since I am in an apartment building) and reported significant improvement.

Electricity is definitely an annoying thing and tampering with it definitely pays dividens but unfortunately most will have both positive and negative effects.

[Flecko]

The best thing I found so far is Isoclean Isolation transformer. Everything becomes more quiet, much better detail and does not seems to limit current at all. My friend is using his on Plinius 1000w monoblocks with no problem at all. I am using 2, one each on my monoblock and one more for all the sources.

Isoclean also comes with 220v, 230v and 240v tabs. At 220v, the sound is more laid back but a bit lethargic in comparison to 240v.

Interesting product. I wonder how it gets rid of RF without any electronic parts. It seems to be a transformator that normaly should stop only DC component.

[Suteetat]

The best thing I found so far is Isoclean Isolation transformer. Everything becomes more quiet, much better detail and does not seems to limit current at all. My friend is using his on Plinius 1000w monoblocks with no problem at all. I am using 2, one each on my monoblock and one more for all the sources.

Isoclean also comes with 220v, 230v and 240v tabs. At 220v, the sound is more laid back but a bit lethargic in comparison to 240v.

Interesting product. I wonder how it gets rid of RF without any electronic parts. It seems to be a transformator that normaly should stop only DC component.

I have no idea exactly how it works but 4-5 friends of mine who auditioned Isoclean, everybody ended up buying them.
Our local dealer actually came to our places to install them for home demo first. The friend who used Purepower also took out his Purepower and
replaced it with Isoclean. 

[manisandher]

Mani, FYI, I have just sorted this out - sort of. Took me a whole month together with one of our respected members here, but things ARE going on indeed. Just wait. Please ...

Happy to wait. Very interested in hearing about your findings.

Meanwhile, my new hifi mains circuit should be coming online this weekend. It's fed right from the mains inlet to the house, is isolated from the inlet with a 15KVA (yes, 15000VA) triple-shielded isolation transformer and has a dedicated ionic grounding system (<5 Ohms impedance). All components will be 'star grounded' to maintain virtually zero potential difference between them. At a total cost of around €7000 (parts + installation), it had better be an improvement over a straight PP2000! I'll let you know...

Mani.