A question for PHC1 or probably anyone familiar with RGPC.
I just want to be sure I understand this configuration that PHC1 has described. As configured, only the Pole Pig is actually plugged into the wall.
Assuming that the wall outlet is a 20amp, dedicated circuit, that means that four components are drawing off this one wall outlet: MC501, MC501, MDA1000, MCD1000.
Do I have this correct?
Correct. My system is not ultra-demanding, my playback levels are typically in the 5-50w range with occasional peaks somewhere over 100w range when I turn it up for background or casual listening from the other room. A dedicated 20amp outlet is good for approx. 2300watts. As you can see it is enough for my system or at least I thought it was enough until I started using the 600s.
You have probably noticed there is always line-sagging whenever a heavy duty appliance such as a heater or a hair blow-dryer is plugged in, at least in my house there is as can be seen by any lights on the same line going dim.
We know that the power usage/distribution during average music playback is roughly 85% below 3500Hz and 15% above 3500Hz, taking it further, 50% is below 300Hz and 50% above 300Hz as confirmed by Ron-C and other articles I have come across before. Some genres of music recordings still have great dynamic range and are therefore much more demanding and will produce peaks much greater than your typical modern dynamic-range compressed CD's.
I will use the awesome Telarc recording of Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture as an example. There is tremendous dynamic range on that recording, the cannon blasts are incredible in force and impact and if you watch the meters at that moment you will see that they will simply rocket. The meters don't tell the whole story as they are "slowed down" by design so your eye can register their movement and the actual power output may be much greater for that split second. This is dynamics of a system. To reproduce dynamics properly you need huge power reserves. This is why many amplifiers will have tons of energy storage capacity in their power supplies in the form of capacitors.
Unlike a hair-dryer or a heater which has constant current draw, the dynamic peaks of music can and will sag the line so quick that the amplifier may not have all the instantaneous current it needs to reproduce those peaks with full fidelity.
I like to use an analogy of having 2 cars side by side on the highway traveling at 55mph, one has 250hp, the other 500hp. Both are capable of reaching 150mph, they start accelerating to reach 150mph but which one will get to 150mph quicker? This is where the RGPC comes in terms of giving the extra hp.
Getting back to our audio, when a dynamic peak comes along even though your dedicated circuit may be capable of supplying all the watts, it may sag the line a little, the results can be audible in the collapse of the soundstage, congestion and incoherence, bloatiness in bass, aggressive, shrill highs, etc...
This is the advantage of the RGPC and their "flywheel effect". The huge RGPC inductor operates as a reactive entity, it resists changes in current flow by storing energy within a magnetic field. When current passes through the inductor, a magnetic field accrues in the core, and around the coil. As soon as that dynamic peak starts to sag the line, when current ceases, the magnetic field collapses, restoring stored energy to the circuit. Just enough to get you through that dynamic peak. Remember that 500hp car and the rate of acceleration? At least that is the way I understand the principles behind it.
In summary, my system is not ultra demanding but I have noticed that the same recordings will yield a deeper bass that will actually just start to vibrate the floor which I never felt before the RGPC from my speakers, the soundstage remains intact whereas before, on some loud passages, the images at the outer ends of the soundstage would creep towards the center of the soundstage. I bought the RGPC for the power conditioning benefits but have noticed this interesting effect as well. In a system as complex and as demanding as Ivan's, the RGPC is a great benefit, no wonder he uses over 20 RGPC 1200's in his system.
