Richard Gray's Power Company 1200S
 Playwright
Moss Hart once visited a potential backer's Fifth Avenue apartment and was entertained on
the terrace, which had tubs of flowering cherry trees scattered about. Two days later he
returned and, looking around, noticed that the cherries had been replaced with dogwoods in
bloom. "Imagine," he quipped, "what God could have done if only he'd had
money!"
Sometimes it seems like becoming an A/V enthusiast is like
that. It's not the $20,000 plasma TVs or the $40,000 CRT projectors that will break you,
it's the $2000 here and $4000 there for "accessories" that have suddenly become
necessities, that'll kill ya.
But the fact remains that many a $100,000 system has been
hobbled for the lack of some of these accessories. Take power line conditioners, for
instance. The average guy on the street has probably never even heard of them. But the
fact remains that recording studios, for example, start with filtering and regulating AC
power before they do a lick of work in actually constructing a facility. It doesn't matter
how soundproof or good-sounding your studio is if your AC power is noisy.
I sell here, Sir, what all the world desires to have --
power
The same thing is as true when you're playing music or
movies, as it was when they were recorded: A thoroughbred hi-fi or home theater running on
dirty power is no better than a nag. Let's face it, our much-vaunted 21st-century
technology is driven by a power grid that was created to drive streetcars.
Not that there's anything wrong with streetcars, mind you
-- I think most cities need a lot more of 'em -- but they aren't/weren't as sensitive to
power-grid-borne contamination as, say, your new high-resolution HDTV. In fact, when AC
was chosen over DC, no one even thought about noise -- AC was chosen essentially because
it was better suited for central delivery from massive, monolithic (and presumably
corporately owned) power stations than DC, which lent itself more to a network of small,
independent power stations. (This was the hidden subtext behind the Westinghouse [AC] vs.
Tesla [DC] struggle for acceptance; the public issue was safety, and Westinghouse played
on the public's fears by staging public executions of farm animals.)
The US power standard is an unbalanced system incorporating
a ground leg, a neutral leg, and a "hot" (120V) carrier. This system is prone to
noise for a variety of reasons. To begin with, there's generally a very minor difference
between the ground and neutral legs, which creates noise right there. And at each stage
between the power station and you, there are computers and other devices
"leaking" loads of RF back into the system. By the time it reaches you, line AC
is about as pure and unsullied as the runoff from a 42nd Street storm drain.
So what do you do? Buy your own power station? That's an
option, of course. No, I don't mean go into competition with ConEd. There are products on
the market that convert AC to DC and then reconstruct and output a pure AC sine wave. As
you'd imagine, these devices are expensive. They're also inefficient as all get out and
will cost you an arm and a leg to operate. You think running a class-A amplifier eats a
lot of juice? Try a line regenerator.
Other companies use a method called "balanced
AC," which isolates and neutralizes noise through common-mode rejection.
The problem with all of these products is, according to
Richard Gray, they add resistance to the AC line. And, Gray claims, this increased
resistance limits the current necessary to provide the power transients required by
high-resolution A/V components, robbing them of the dynamics their designers intended they
produce.
The Richard Gray’s Power Company device uses
inductance or, as it was known in the early days of audio, a "power choke,"
which, the company claims, has the benefit of adding "stiffening" by storing
energy in its core while simultaneously allowing power a "straight through" path
to your components. Confused?
We thought, because we had power, we had wisdom
 It's not actually all that
complicated, but let's look at the RGPC 1200S first and talk about how it works later. The
1200S is a hefty unit (almost 44 pounds) about the size of a 200Wpc power amp
(17.25"W x 5.25"H x 9.5"D). Its casework is stylish, and its backlit,
centrally located logo has a retro-cool theatricality to it. It is functionally identical
to two RGPC 400Ses, sporting 12 Hubbell AC outlets, a metal-oxide varistor (MOV)
surge-protection system, a pair of 20-amp fast-blow fuses, and a 20-amp IEC power cord. It
is billed as an all-in-one solution, offering AC powerline enhancement, power
distribution, and surge protection, and it retails for $2000 ($2100 in silver). For users
who need more outlets than a 400S but fewer than a 1200s, there's the 600S with six
outlets for $1200 ($1250 in silver).
Inside the 1200S are two large inductors
("chokes") wired in parallel. These two chokes, which are essentially a single
component, are then placed in parallel with the AC line. This is why Gray claims the AC
sees a "straight through" path to your components.
How does that work? When used in an AC circuit, an inductor
is a reactive component. As the current flows through it, it creates a magnetic field
within its core and in the coiled wire surrounding it. When this current stops flowing,
the magnetic field collapses and the energy stored in the magnetic field is returned to
the circuit.
In electronic theory, an inductor's current release lags
behind the voltage by 90 degrees, but in reality the coil's resistance makes it slightly
less than 90 degrees. This small deviation is what Richard Gray describes as a current
reservoir -- when current demand overwhelms supply, he says, the inductor discharges its
reserve, "filling in" the shortfall. Further, Gray maintains, this reactive
process "quenches the reflected back EMF," eliminating line-borne contamination.
I recognize all the words, but the theory doesn't jibe with
my understanding of how inductance works. As I understand it, the inductive release is
instantaneous -- maybe it is possible that the energy released is compensating for some
type of AC anomaly, but I don't understand how it can act as any type of power reserve.
However, my failure to understand how something works is not the same as saying that it
doesn't work -- the last time I checked, the universe continued to do all sorts of things
whether I understood the processes involved or not.
Hath not the potter power over the clay?
I don't mean to single out the Richard Gray products in
this regard, but I have yet to run into a universal panacea when it comes to AC line
conditioners. Even my reference API Power Wedge Ultra 116 doesn't always offer an
improvement in performance. Large power amplifiers, for instance, tend to sound better
drinking their current straight from the wall. No AC device I have auditioned yet has
passed the Krell test.
I first tried the 1200S with a fairly basic home-theater
system: PLUS HE-3100 projector, Denon AVR-3300 A/V receiver, Arcam DV88 DVD player,
Philips DSR6000 TiVo/DIRECTV receiver, Thiel PowerPoint loudspeakers, and a Polk PSW650
subwoofer. Initially I had a hard time determining what differences, if any, the RGPC unit
wrought, so I removed it from the system and things became apparent. (This isn't totally
unexpected, since -- again, in theory -- it should take some time for the inductor to
store energy, but its release is instantaneous.)
The sound with the 1200S was snappier. It wasn't a huge
difference, but everything seemed to have deeper tonal color, slightly greater dynamic
contrast, and less grain than with the "un-Grayed" juice. But the difference was
not subtle on the video image, especially from DIRECTV. Colors were deeper and more
saturated, and there was a near total absence of video noise (those irritating random
white flecks and smears).
On First Knight, this had the effect of deepening
the magical spell of the matte-painted Camelot backgrounds and, totally unexpected on my
part, further emphasizing the ambience provided by the surround channels. It made sense
when I thought about it -- a lower noise floor always seems like a louder signal.
Next, I thought I'd introduce some high-quality separates,
such as the Anthem AVM 20/Musical Fidelity M-250 combo. These are fairly refined audio
products ($4495 and $1195/each respectively), so even incremental improvements can sound
more significant than the same amount of improvement in mass-market gear.
I couldn't detect anything. Nothing. Nada. Well,
that happens -- and it's not too surprising when you consider that more expensive
components generally have better-designed power supplies to begin with. In fact, in some
components the biggest difference between them and lesser gear exists in their power
supplies.
Switch-mode power supplies, for example, a staple of Linn,
essentially regenerate AC completely before utilizing it. Other companies, like Ayre,
already use chokes in their power supplies -- and, in fact, the last major revision to the
Ayre K-1x preamplifier was a $450 upgrade to the power supply itself.
So, since they shared a technology -- and because Richard
Gray makes much of the results of "stacking" inductors (using multiple inductors
within the same AC circuit), I connected the latest Ayre K-1x and Ayre V-5 stereo power
amplifier to the 1200S. Far from offering an improvement, I felt the system had taken a
step backwards. Listening to "From a Buick 6" from DCC's Highway 61 Revisited
[DCC 1021 CD], using my Musical Fidelity Nu-Vista 3D CD player as a source, the sound
through the 1200S had less swagger -- its pounding rhythm was less insistent and more
measured, its growl was more a purr. Removing the unit brought back the irregularities in
the meter and the swings from soft to loud. It was rawer and more, ahem, electric.
This was actually a fascinating comparison and I'm not sure
everyone would have called it as I did. It reminded me of a lecture I once attended by the
brilliant ethnomusicologist Tom Turino (whose Turning Away From Silence is one of
the most beautifully written -- and thought -- books in the ethnomusicology canon). Turino
was explaining how Andean villagers who moved to the major cities tried to retain a
connection to their homes by forming musical performance societies to play the music of
the villages. This essentially changed the music by removing its entire reason for
existing -- in the villages, everyone performed the music (well, the men played and
the women danced) and competence wasn't an issue. If you lived there, you performed. By
performing, you belonged; by belonging, you performed.
When the music was removed from the village, all kinds of
thorny issues raised their heads, including that of competence, for example. The bands
began to want to sound good. Turino played tapes of the same songs performed by
small villages as part of their celebrations and by the performance societies and asked
the students who attended his talk to choose which sounded better. Most people chose the
performance society's recording -- it was metrically more regular and it was more in tune.
It sounded smoother.
I dodged the issue by declining to call one
"better," but it was quite apparent to me that the wildness and lack of control
inherent in the "authentic" recording was more thrilling. It wasn't pretty but
it was real.
Listening to the Nu-Vista/Ayre system with and without the
1200S had certain similarities to that demonstration. The system sounded smoother plugged
into the Richard Gray unit; things seemed metrically "smoother." Some people
would call it prettier. To my ears, it removed many of the swings and jerks and twitches
of real life that the unencumbered system so remarkably revealed.
Yes, "From a Buick 6" is Dylan performing
blues-influenced rock with a crack band. It's powerful, but it ain't pretty. The band sort
of lurches along from change to change, and Dylan is shouting out fragments of blues songs
interspersed with puns and non-sequiturs. And if his voice is reedy and shrill, his
harmonica is positively ear shattering. Yet, he comes closer to invoking the dark gods of
the blues than any smooth guitar wrangler with the reputation of being a blues technician.
But that's just me. You might see things differently.
Let our pains be less, or power more
As with any audio component, the value of the Richard
Gray’s Power Company 1200S lies in how it works in your system and what you
think of what it does. My results were decidedly mixed, so it's fortunate that the company
offers a trial program through its dealer network. (The company even offers helpful
audition information at: www.richardgrayspowercompany.com/instructions/index.html.)
There's no question that the unit improved the performance
of my video gear -- and, if the demos at HE 2002 were any indication, the improvements it
offers are even greater on HDTVs and plasma-screen displays. If that's your focus, give
this a try.
With mass-market A/V gear, I also found that the 1200S
offered audibly improved performance, although here the question of value is harder to
assess. Replacing a mass-market receiver, DVD player, or even subwoofer with a $2000
upgrade will almost certainly buy you a more dramatic improvement than those attributable
to the 1200S.
At the top of my particular performance pyramid for audio,
I found the effects of the unit not at all to my taste. It had a definite effect on the
sound, however, and you may value what it did in ways I did not. As in all matters of
preference, your opinion is the only one that matters. But do take advantage of their
trial offer before making a commitment.
...Wes Phillips
wes@onhometheater.com
Richard Gray's Power Company 1200S
Price: $2000 USD ($100 more for silver faceplate)
Warranty: Five years parts and labor
Richard Gray's Power Company, LLC.
2727 Prytania Street, Unit #6
New Orleans, LA 70130
Phone: (800) 880-3474
E-mail: info@richardgrayspowercompany.com
Website: www.richardgrayspowercompany.com
|
