Puritan Audio Laboratories PSM136, PSM156, PSM1512 Power Conditioners

[Boodle]

Sorry for the delay, I'm based in the UK...
In all honesty there are lots of cables in the market, and probably like yourself, I simply read in between peoples comments,and took a chance.
My reasoning with Oyaide was the high priase the Black Mamba had recieved on Head FI, then I simply noticed that Oyaide had also released the Voniditta cable, but finding reviews where hard, and finding reviews that actually made sence where hard, some read like a Austrialian Fosters Lager Advert.
In the end I took the chance and was happy.
I was comparing the Vonditta to the really expensive Furutech DPS 4.1 cable, which I manage to purchase used as it's out of my budget really.
One takeaway I can give you, is the type of plugs you use on cable has a big effect on the sound, personally I like Viborg copper gold, but I would say buy quality plugs.

Now before you spend your hard earned cash... I would put making you main power supply as clean as possible,before cable changes,although cables are important.

Cleaning my supply has taught myself, you are probably only hearing 70% of what you system is capable of. And I could see a 5K setup with clean mains killing a 30k setup ,simply by not having a clean power supply.
Of course this is a very broad example,with millions of variables... but I'm sure you get my drift.

An update on the 20 amp iec connector plug.
Black Rhodium UK had a promotion on Oyaide products recently and I bought an Oyaide F1 20 amp connector at a 20% discount. This connector replaced my Viborg 20amp rhodium plated iec plug with the aluminium body. Fitting the Oyaide F1 was a struggle so I left the Oyaide F1 aluminium cover which seems to be cosmetic out in order to get the Furutech Dps 4.1 to fit.
All I can say after 96 hours of continuous burn in is simply - this is another league maybe two leagues above. Absolutely no comparison compared to Viborg or Audioquest that costs 3 times more than Viborg.
This connector really does justice to the Furutech DPS 4.1. If you are using an Oyaide Vondita cable then i would urge you to invest in the Oyaide F1 20 amp for the input to the Puritan psm156. This oyaide F1 is perhaps as good as the Furutech FI52 ncf that costs around £430.
No point in getting the best diy cable and using a connector less than the Oyaide F1.

 

[Boodle]

Nice recommend - I think I have the same ones but haven’t tried them with the PSM. Will have to try with it. I ended up preferring the more expensive and heavier ‘XSSH’ silver ones for my components, but the smaller ones were very effective vs stock footers and exceptional value. I recommend getting the ceramic (black) bearings so you can compare em to the stainless bearings, I prefer the sound with the ceramic.

I received the version on the left and tried it under my power amp and then the platform under my streamer/dac. Very damped sound. Then removed the rubber ring on the shaft - big difference and very worthwhile upgrade under my power amp with the ceramic balls.

 

[BShaw]

I’m finally going to start mucking around with my second Groundmaster, which I bought a year ago with the grand idea of using it like a black hole grounding box.
I don’t know if this is the right thread but I know some of you here and respect your knowledge so it seems like as good a place as any
The plan is to make up a few connector cables to attach to my pre, tube amp, and DAC using unused negative jacks on the chassis, coming together on the GM, then going to a pair of copper rods driven into the dirt floor in my basement directly below. Here are a few questions:
1. These are the same rids already in play with my original GM connected to the PSM156. Think that’s ok?
2. Rather than connect to the open output jacks on the chassis (rca most likely), why not connect directly to the chassis? In all of the components listed the ground is connected directly to the chassis internally so this makes sense to me.
3. I forget what number three is but you’re welcome to respond anyway

 

[terrasound]

Anyone use the PSM136 or the PSM156? These items have been gaining a lot of popularity in the conditioner realms as it does not take away dynamics common to most other conditioners.

Anyone have experience using their power cords?

One piece of equipment I refrained from buying for many years is the power conditioner. I did go through lot of reviews on Puritan 156 and was curious enough to order one.
PURITAN 156 with the ultimate power chord. WOW!! I don’t know what to say.
My system is Naim NAC252 with super cap and NAP300 DR, Linn Klimax DSM speakers are Focal Sopra 3.
I never had any issue with ' power noise' but with introduction of PURITAN 156 , it has made a difference in SQ.. There has been an increase in gain, midrange is absolutely stunning from before, increase in Bass. soundstage separation is noticeable . Overall absolutely worth my investment. I also noticed it is so musical and soothing to my ears .

I agree it is better than the Audioquest Niagara 5000 which I almost bought for much higher price.
People say seeing is believing but in audiophile world "Hearing is Believing”. Nothing is the best . But I am certainly happy with the 156. I wish it had 8 outlets instead of 6
Otherwise I would rate it 10/10.

 

[bluenight]

I got a bit sceptical about it after seeing this review
https://www.alpha-audio.net/review/review-puritan-psm-156-power-conditioner/

I Think sometimes picture quality is more telling on how it peforms.
My ifi Powerstation for exempel showed a less good picture then AQ Niagara 1000. Powerstation showed darker picture with less good shadow detail with more black crush, more washed out colours with lower resolotion and less depth.

How Does the Puritian 156 handle picture quality does it do something funky like my powerstation?

I might buy one Psm 156 in the future. I actually just bought an Niagara 1200 used for half the price to replace my ifi powerstation. If i get one Psm 156 i can move one of the Niagaras to power my network equipment instead.

 

[BShaw]

I got a bit sceptical about it after seeing this review
https://www.alpha-audio.net/review/review-puritan-psm-156-power-conditioner/

I Think sometimes picture quality is more telling on how it peforms.
My ifi Powerstation for exempel showed a less good picture then AQ Niagara 1000. Powerstation showed darker picture with less good shadow detail with more black crush, more washed out colours with lower resolotion and less depth.

How Does the Puritian 156 handle picture quality does it do something funky like my powerstation?

I might buy one Psm 156 in the future. I actually just bought an Niagara 1200 used for half the price to replace my ifi powerstation. If i get one Psm 156 i can move one of the Niagaras to power my network equipment instead.

I’ve always liked Alpha Audio, some of their long subjective sessions are epic. But I don’t always find their component reviews to be in synch with the majority of users, or with the small handful of honest reviewers I trust. Personally, adding the 156 to my system made immediate and obvious improvement, although I do have some curiosity about the grounding path which in my case goes through the Groundmaster. For instance, I have extremely high sensitivity speakers approaching 100db and I can’t plug my tube amp into it because the grating hum that is otherwise entirely tolerable through my mid horns is unlistenable when plugged into the Puritan. 100db speakers are like a microscope or at least a magnifying glass in that way. With 86db speakers I wouldn’t even hear it, but this tells me something isn’t completely hygienic.

 

[Frankie D]

I got a bit sceptical about it after seeing this review
https://www.alpha-audio.net/review/review-puritan-psm-156-power-conditioner/

I Think sometimes picture quality is more telling on how it peforms.
My ifi Powerstation for exempel showed a less good picture then AQ Niagara 1000. Powerstation showed darker picture with less good shadow detail with more black crush, more washed out colours with lower resolotion and less depth.

How Does the Puritian 156 handle picture quality does it do something funky like my powerstation?

I might buy one Psm 156 in the future. I actually just bought a Niagara 1200 used for half the price to replace my ifi powerstation. If i get one Psm 156 i can move one of the Niagaras to power my network equipment instead.

I use the Puritan. I found it to help in terms of a lower noise floor. While I cannot say I heard an immediate improvement, in testing, my amps were quieter as you turn up the volume. My power is pretty good overall so no power conditioner will deliver anything dramatic. The best power conditioner I have and use is the totl Audience. But they have now been priced out of sight.

 

[Jake2]

@BShaw I do have comments, been trying to make the most of a sunny Sunday in our changeable summer!

In short for now, no problem grounding signal ground to same ground rod(s) as the PSM156 ground cable via your other GM go to. Puritan’s advice is simply to use - as I think you are proposing - a separate GM and cable run to the rod for chassis grounding via the PSM and signal grounding to avoid noise leakage between the two cross-components, noting for some components signal ground may be the same as/very close to chassis ground (incl in noise levels), others not so much.

 

[BShaw]

@BShaw I do have comments, been trying to make the most of a sunny Sunday in our changeable summer!

In short for now, no problem grounding signal ground to same ground rod(s) as the PSM156 ground cable via your other GM go to. Puritan’s advice is simply to use - as I think you are proposing - a separate GM and cable run to the rod for chassis grounding via the PSM and signal grounding to avoid noise leakage between the two cross-components, noting for some components signal ground may be the same as/very close to chassis ground (incl in noise levels), others not so much.

Thanks for the reassurance Jake. I think the ideal might be to connect directly to the internal chassis star ground where possible, it would only require one small hole to pass the wire through. Right now I’m using a binding post on the amp and an rca out on the pre. Not sure where to connect to the Cyan2, might have to make a chassis ground there. Can’t say what the difference is but the music sounded very good tonight!

 

[Jake2]

Thanks for the reassurance Jake. I think the ideal might be to connect directly to the internal chassis star ground where possible, it would only require one small hole to pass the wire through. Right now I’m using a binding post on the amp and an rca out on the pre. Not sure where to connect to the Cyan2, might have to make a chassis ground there. Can’t say what the difference is but the music sounded very good tonight!

You could absolutely do that but you may find as many do that if it is a choice of one or the other - grounding signal grounds, the ground of a digital or analogue output or input as you have done may have a more potent effect than another chassis ground which you already have in place, albeit less direcly via power cables and the Puritan and your home’s existing safety ground rod. The reason for this has been theorised that high frequency noise on the ground plane is sticky and needs as proximate off-ramps as possible, which a connection directly into a digital or analogue circuit is. It’s pretty variable, some inputs can have more effect than others. In a perfect world one might have three GMs and cables to the dedicated audio ground rods, one for the Puritan via the AC cables (alongside the safety ground), one for signal grounds and one for additional direct chassis star grounding…

PS - the main thing is it’s sounding good!

PPS- I have a mix of RCA, USB, BNC and AES/EBU terminated signal ground cables I’ve experimented with. USB is consistently effective on a number of components, the others pretty variable, other than RCA on the coax digital input of my R26.

 

[LooseCaboose]

Thanks for the reassurance Jake. I think the ideal might be to connect directly to the internal chassis star ground where possible, it would only require one small hole to pass the wire through. Right now I’m using a binding post on the amp and an rca out on the pre. Not sure where to connect to the Cyan2, might have to make a chassis ground there. Can’t say what the difference is but the music sounded very good tonight!

Very appealing alternative to the path I was following… I'd been under the misapprehension that I would've needed a ground master for each component (or at least another ground master to go with a routemaster) for signal grounding? The cumulative cost and complexity of those options were one of the reasons I was intrigued to try the cdacosta ground boxes from the head-fi thread as an alternative. Although I'm very pleased with the results of the first few boxes, if I continue for all components/devices, it's gonna get a bit busy... a single ground master would be far cleaner.

My other considerations/concerns/questions going that route were how much the quality/constitution of the soil impacts performance (I used bentonite clay around ground rod with hopes it might help as I only have 4' before cliff rock), how much the length and quality of wire to rod affects things (20m of solid core, min. gauge they recommend for easier routing) and how multiple rods in a star ground orientation might improve things? https://netaworldjournal.org/ground-testing-procedures/ https://www.russandrews.com/images/pdf/GroundingGuideV7.pdf

Should say my early experiences with the signal ground boxes match many other positive ones on that thread. They are indeed a tweakers paradise (full pdf implementation) and their adjustability is a welcome feature to help fine-tune a system.

Happy to hear your results with a single ground master improved the sound, opening a simpler and elegant avenue for others to pursue. Thanks for the clarification/heads up Bshaw and Jake2!

 

[BShaw]

@LooseCaboose -Thanks for the info, to me the whole arena of grounding is fascinating and mysterious. Having chased a couple of ground loops I got some respect, and I honestly can’t fathom the way things are connected through ground. For example when I unplug one of my amps, my sub hums away and it’s not directly connected to that amp or even the same household circuit.
Jake, thanks for the additional clarity, when you said “as proximate offramps as possible” it all made sense. Most if not all of my components combine signal, power/safety, and chassis ground which is accepted but maybe not ideal as some of the old timers have pointed out. This ground scheme is relying on the household electrical ground, which is actually the neutral at the panel, to return anything connected to ground, and may be too congested for sensitive gear like audio/video. So grabbing the signal ground and whisking it away via path of least resistance (lowest impedance) makes sense.
I’ll look into the ground rod “star ground configuration” that LC has introduced. There’s magic in geometry! As it stands I have two copper clad ground rods in the pristine sandy loam below, glacial deposit from the last ice age here 30k years ago when this entire region was under the waters of the enormous Lake Hitchcock. I’ve always been suspicious that these ersatz rods were fine for high voltage like lightning but perhaps offer too much impedance for the delicate and bashful needs of our gear. So I’m going to replace them with 1/2” copper plumbing pipe, and add more rods. Easy enough to do and hopefully will make an audible difference.

 

[F208Frank]

Psm1512 listed for sale

Ultimate cable included c19 (wall to conditioner) 2 meters

 

[Tubewin]

I got a bit sceptical about it after seeing this review
https://www.alpha-audio.net/review/review-puritan-psm-156-power-conditioner/

I Think sometimes picture quality is more telling on how it peforms.
My ifi Powerstation for exempel showed a less good picture then AQ Niagara 1000. Powerstation showed darker picture with less good shadow detail with more black crush, more washed out colours with lower resolotion and less depth.

How Does the Puritian 156 handle picture quality does it do something funky like my powerstation?

I might buy one Psm 156 in the future. I actually just bought an Niagara 1200 used for half the price to replace my ifi powerstation. If i get one Psm 156 i can move one of the Niagaras to power my network equipment instead.

To be fair, Alpha audio used the stock puritan power cable. The psm156 with the ultimate power cord is a game changer. I've tried their stock cable and their classic plus cable and it goes from Classic stock(warmest/blended sound) to Classic Plus(less warm and slightly better separation but still very close to the stock), and then to Ultimate(least warm of the three cables, but the most convincing and lifelike with the lowest background noise, simply heads and shoulders better than the other two in my opinion).

There was only one ultimate cable that I purchased that sounded too warm and blended, and that was bought used here on the classifieds. Don't know if they overcooked the cable or what, but I don't use that cable. I guess that's the cost of doing business on the second hand market. I only purchase puritan ultimate cables directly from their distributors now.

 

[bluenight]

So theres no restrictions in dynamics that you have noticed with Psm 156?
But i guess that was never alphas problem.

Midrange sharpness and smaller soundstage. Was there problem.

From Alpha Audio review
"Match?
In our system, the match with the Puritan PSM 156 is not ideal if we are honest. The midrange is a bit harsh and sharp. Also, we still hear some unrest when we switch the Sonnet Pasithea from the IKEA distribution block (connected directly to the wall socket) to the Puritan PSM 156.

Of course there are things that improve. There is certainly a bit more calmness, but the stereo image also gets a bit smaller ánd an some harshness remains audible. This is clearly audible with A Perfect Circle where sometimes the ‘S’-sounds come in hard. That normally does not happen in our system.

If we then go to the – much more expensive! – YETI Reference 1000, we hear that everything clicks together again. The calmness is back, the stereo image grows and the midbass is also back where it belongs. In short: the balance is simply better. Then again: it should be, of course.

Now we have previously tested the Puritan PSM 156. And namely in Yung’s “retro-system” in the Nieuwplaatz studio. There the Puritan certainly did not score badly, but it is fair to say that the Isotek Aquarius V5 (2500 Euro) scored better and also the Isotek Syncro with Gemini (Around 1000 Euro) was a bit more musical.

However, the effect in the retro-system was quite different from the Alpha Audio reference system. In the retro-setup the Puritan smeared a bit more. In the reference setup, on the contrary, it becomes a bit glassy and restless. So you see. It is ver
y difficult to predict the interaction."

My own words and thoughts again.
I dont know why this has become so popular. Im guessing because some youtube review? Still could be a hype train. Its not impossible theres others performing better around same price range or if you pay a bit more( maybe you will get what you pay for). Only those who have compared will truly know.

@Tubewin they seem to have used better than stock
From Alpha Audio.
"Ultimate Power Cord
We also got an Ultimate Power Cord with the Puritan. This one costs 744 Euros for 2 meters. We don’t know very much about the power cord except what we can read in this PDF from Puritan. In summary: 12AWG copper conductors, silecon insulation. Each bundle is treated so there is minimal interference."