presenting the very sexy black-fascia ppp.... finally making its debut in this blog after so much NATO (no action, talk only).

i may be the first one in malaysia who knows how to use the ppp correctly. why i say so? not many users know that ppp is catered to 230v and to set it to an output voltage of 240v, you need to adjust the trimpot hidden underneath the ppp! (note: it is not documented in the manual!) even the local dealer (A&L) is not aware of that! i found out this after a speedy email communication with paul mcgowan. the difference between feeding 230v VS 240v to your equipment is day and night. 230v sounds lethargic whereas 240v is full of life! i wonder how many users in malaysia have been eluded by this. another good deed from me! i am going to ask atven (A&L's boss) to buy me lunch tomorrow ;-)

first impression - after 5 hours of breaking-in, the ppp has the edge in energy, boldness (in the typical american fashion), scale, quietness and cleanness but on the down side, it is tonally bland, a bit too sober, less sexy and rather anti-septic in presentation, compared to the tonally rich, sexy and colorful shunyata hydra. i will let it cook for 50 hours before any serious listening...

in the next 2 weeks, i am going to try the following permutations:

[1] stand-alone ppp
[2] shunyata hydra front-end; ppp back-end
[3] ppp front-end; shunyata hydra back-end

this promises to be the battle of the century! this kind of earth-shattering, life-altering battle is what makes hifi so fun and addictive!

stay closely tuned!

25 comments:

Anonymous said...

no wonder mine sounded lethargic!!!!!Hey they owe you more than lunch my man..you have solved my problerm too!!!!

Anonymous said...

Aha, time to go back and tweak my regulator to 240V.

Anonymous said...

It should be PPP vs Hydra 8/V-Ray but your combinations should be interesting nevertheless. A little confused, you talking about 230/240V input? What about the output can that be changed from 230V to 240V?
I ignored the PPP, APC, ExactPower because they can't output 240V. I am wrong?

maggielurva 愛美姬 said...

yes, it is indeed confusing. first of all, you must make sure that the ppp is calibrated correctly vis-a-vis in the incoming voltage. again, this is not documented!

after that, you set the trimpot to output the voltage to 240v; it works just like a regulator! 230V is the default factory setting for ppp (cos they got to cater to HK and other countries where the voltage is 220V). 230V won't sound good for us in malaysia!!!!

Lil' KC 小雞雞 said...

The trim pot is only for you to calibrate the display of the output voltage. You have to buy a voltmeter to read the actual output of PPP and adjust the trim pot to match exactly the measured and displayed voltage.

maggielurva 愛美姬 said...

hey bro, now you put me into total confusion!

look at what paul mcgowan taught me:
(read the post "calling paul")

http://www.audioasylum.com/forums/psaudio/

Anonymous said...

hi guys,
Very educational discussions here...

Now you know why Richard Gray works so well here .It doesnt restrict the incoming and out going voltage.
THe ps power works like a power amp and is designed like power amp and will not work well unless you use small intergrated amp.

Maggie I think you might have to follow Hafiz's advise and install the RG power Voult instead and you can continue 'cleaning ' with your shunyata...

Anonymous said...

I have used high quality power voult that is locally made ..

if you have high quality components iit is vise to use good power voult,good switch box ontop of your dedicated power line.

You can get the above mentioned if you contactthe local manufacturer[I found mine via yellow pages] and talk to them about your requirement.

they are use to manufacture this for power sensitive industries and you would be surprised at how affordable they are...

Anonymous said...

agree with kc about the need to use voltmeter..the anologue voltmeter is much more accurate than the digital one...

maggie is it fun when you have this kind of headache ,because at the end of it ,when the problems are solved ,you know you would end up with a better system

Anonymous said...

Read your post on AA .

Very,very impressive ...Now you know why we call you the RH of Malaysia...

To Atven,please belanja our friend a nice romantic Velintine dinner instead!!!

Anonymous said...

Wow Maggie,

You really know your stuff!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

Hey what about the Duet and quintet?
How do you adjust to 240 Volt?And the noise harvesters?

I bought all of those and found their performance wanting.could it be the voltage thingy?

maggielurva 愛美姬 said...

hi guys,

not to sound arrogant, i have high standards so a lot of the so-called recommended stuff don't always pass my test. on first impression, ppp doesn't pass it either.

but my interest is more than sound alone - i want to know if ppp can cure my power problem. so, there are two major considerations for me - sonics and problem-solving.

aleong,
aiyo, i am not as good as RH la. you made me blushed ;-)

aml,
i personally have not played quintet and duet. please write to paul mcgowan at the ps audio forum
(in audio asylum). he is super helpful and very promtp.

Anonymous said...

Maggie,
I also bought the ppp after reading their ad.I had to sell it for a major loss because I thought the humble RGPC was SIGNIFICANTLY better .maybe I haveto ask for my ppp back!

Anonymous said...

Maggie,

I seconded aleong,s motion ;you deserve a VALENTINE's dinner!!!

Happy Valentine's day ya!:;

GadgetBuzzer said...

Actually you need to cook the PPP much longer than 50 hours... more like 200 to 400 hours to let it open up.
But I am more interested in whether it solves TNB's problem (or at least partially). There's a THD% in and out reading on the PPP - does the difference fluctuates and narrows when it doesn't sound good?
Paul did suggest ignoring the voltage and try trimming the pot until you get the lowest THD output - in HK my PPP output THD% is quite consistent at about 0.2% to 0.3% (if I remember correctly), which is a factor of 10 down from my input THD%

Anonymous said...

Maggie,hello

This is just my opinion.

I think you are chasing the wrong bird .If it is the power flactuation that affect your system the ppp will not solve your problem.You need a high power voltage regulator{ use a hospital grade /oil industry grade]The Hi fi that we use is as sensitive as those precise machination in the oil& gasindustry.

The PPP needs a long burn in period a la a power SS amp[in essence that is what it is actually,marketing HYpes aside} and I do not think it would be any better .

The other thing you need to check is whether tour electronics are set at 240 v, as most are set at 220v. Have FUn!!!!

I

maggielurva 愛美姬 said...

hi jacques,

you must be new to my blog ;-)

i have said it many many times - my problem is NOT with power fluctuation - i get 240V consistently. my problem is with the quality and purity of the electricity.

early indications show me that even ppp can't solve it.

hi gadget,
thanks for the tips. i will monitor the THD when the sound is no good.

Anonymous said...

I've used the ONEACs to a great degree of success. I know some audiophiles sneer at them because they are not 'audiophile', but it gets the job done for me.
http://www.oneac.com/products/category.asp?cid=1t4
Also, I have resorted to using SLA batteries for some of my stuff. During a blackout, I still get tunes..:)

Maggie - Hope you can find a solution to your problems soon. Good luck!

Anonymous said...

Yes Maggie I am new here,

Now I understand your problem..

Your Solution Is Very simple ya;

Get RGPC power vault....

Anonymous said...

Dear Maggielurva,

You have to help us the owners of duet and Quintet..what do we do with the voltage..They are all in 230v.and the sound is horrible i paid1.5k for my duet and the sound actually got worse.

PLEASE HELP!!!!!!

Lil' KC 小雞雞 said...

Hi Desperado,

There's nothing much can be done as they are only passive filtration devices.

I tried the Noise Harvester and found the last mile of high extensions that gives the sense of airiness that dithers into thin air was truncated.

The sense of moist in the mids that gives emotions to the singing was dried off, making the singers dull and depressed.

I am not sure of the effects of Duet and Quintet to conclude this as the house sound of PSA.

Let me know.

Anonymous said...

Hi,

The power draw for pure power in tube amps are always higher than their SS cousins.Therefore undoubtly you need "purer" power.

As with you previous discussion on Digital front ,it is best to leave this to the specialist brands.We have many in the US,PPP is definitely not in the group{they make all kind of things] but RGPC which I presume is popular in Malaysia is definitely very reputable..I don't think you can better the recommendation of RG power Voult by much.Certainly would be worth scrapping your last dollar for..

maggielurva 愛美姬 said...

hi richardo,

exactly. tube amps are more susceptible to bad electrivity, what with the level of high definition i am playing.

retailing at close to RM100K, the RGPC power vault is over-the-top for me in terms of price and space constraints. which dealers in the sane mind would allow me to audition in my home? i don't just buy on hearsay or reviews (i don't read nor trust reviews!).

besides, i just came out from the RGPC camp ;-)

thanks for the pointers.

hi desperado,
sorry, there's nothing i can do. i have already checked with the dealer and they said there is no option to switch to 240v.

if what lil' kc said is true, you should sell them straight away. any conditioner that curtails highs is not worth the trouble. truly sorry about your predicament :-(

give me a call and i will give you some advice 012-2083790.

Anonymous said...

Hi Ricardo

Your comment that only specialist brands (which I presume you meant those who only does one product type/line) can do something well is debatable. mbl and numerous other brands make the full range of audiophile products from source components to speakers and they do this very well.

So are BMW & Mercedes Benz being able to offer very good cars at 'affordable' prices. No doubt that Ferrari and Rolls Royce have more clout and snob-factor in their segments but how many ppl can realistically afford them?