Ensemble power porducts: a surprise


So there I was with my front end being supplied power by a PS Audio P300 fed by a Richard Gray RGPS 400s thinking that this is as good as it gets for power conditioning. Then along comes a chance to audition the recent power cords, power distribution center and iso-link transformer from Ensemble. I reluctantly agreed to give it a shot. I replaced my 10 guage ribbon power chords, plugged everything into the power distribution center and hooked up my transport (not my DAC) to the Iso-link transformer. Results: considerably better top end extension and detail with a noticable decline in hardness, Front to back depth increased about 25% and the ambience increased quite noticebly. The space in between everthing became noticebly quiter.No question, the P300/400s combination was immediatly put up for sale. The funny thing is that except for the transformer there is nothing going on here. No fancy active circuitry, no super storage devices. Its just using very high quality Swiss made cabling and yet I refuse to believe that putting a transformer into the power supplied to the transport can make this much of a difference. My guess is that once again, as we have often found in the past; less is in fact more (SET's, zero feedback, etc)
The Ensemble gear is exquisitly built and I'm looking forward to adding a second transformer in front of my DAC. Funny how we still need to improve the basics like the very power we use, to get the most out of all that exotic gear that we continually slave and salavate over.
90493m
PS Audio /Gray combination seems a strange marriage, since The PS Audio builds the power new from scratch. So why not take it straight from the wall, as PS Audio suggests?
Have you also listened to just the Gray, or just the Power Plant by themselves and what did you hear then? Curious....
The P300 is essentially an amplifier. The RGPS supposedly offers amplifiers greater power reserves, hence my combining them. In my listening there is a mildly additive perfromacne increase using the combination over either seperate. Given a choice I would opt for the P300 on the front end but take the RGPS for amplifiers.
I've heard from others out here that some equipment matches up better to certain power conditions. My Bat equipment in my systems sounds better to me with a Cinepro 20 balanced transformer than the p600. Maybe that's what you are hearing as well...