PurePower wrote:

The overheating she refers to occurred on a small sub board that provides charging current to the battery string. It happens that we made a minor change in location of the board when we started full production that moved it out of an area of greater air flow and the heat sink needed to be increased to preserve the cooling level of a power transistor.  It did not overheat in our bench tests, and many units in the field never experienced overheating. In hifigeekgirl's case it did overheat. The result was a recurring alarm and descriptive error code raised by the on board diagnostics which was presented on the front display. The PurePower+ automatically protected itself from overheating by shutting down the regeneration and charger. That doesn't seem too stupid to me.  The engineering change required to remedy the problem was very simple and effective. Increasing the heat sink size by 50% reduced the component temperature to well within acceptable operating range and even continuous operation at 100% load did not increase the charging board operating temperature.

Though these devices are marketed as such for hi-fi use, in fact there really is no "affordable" universal solution to AC power correction from an electrical standpoint, especially not for hi-fi, where amplifier topology might be just about anything, and these amps might be running right along with sensitive low-level devices that have basically "opposite" needs.  While this does not excuse APS' shoddy operation or - apparently - ongoing lack of insight into the matter, it should serve as yet another reminder to GSC readers that "plug and play" really means "roll the dice", product price or mfg. promises notwithstanding.  Of course this does not mean no one will ever find a solution to his own, particular problem.  Rather, it means that each of us is - ultimately - looking for a unique solution, and it remains likely that we may have to do some futzing with any given piece of equipment that we attempt to integrate into a system.  Again, Romy's case is the best example here of this idea, albeit he appears to have caught APS "at a good time".  Anyone who just bought one and sent it back without clearly targeted objectives, there were no clearly targeted fixes.

Paul S

In  late December hifigirlgeek reported an error message on the display of her PurePower+ that indicated our diagnostic system had detected an overtemp reading, which caused the PurePower unit to go into protective shut down.

We diagnosed the source of the problem in Canada almost immediately, tested an effective solution and offered to effect the warranty upgrade at an approved depot in New Zealand. hifigirl geek  suggested she could save time and effort by using her own local technician to carry our the work. We discussed the repair and  provided the instructions to her technician, who impressed us with his professionalism and knowledge. We approved of his carrying out our warranty work because of his very long experience in high end audio and his credentials. We offered to ship the required heat sink part. Instead the technician indicated he could supply a suitable part himself.  He did so and completed the needed update in early January. The unit has performed correctly ever since.

hifigeekgirl was insistent that we replace the original unit with a new PurePower+ 2000 at a shipping cost from Canada to New Zealand of over $1500. We explained that her PurePower warranty remained in full effect and that the factory service would have been essentially identical. This was  a simple mechanical repair. Her original unit is to all intents and purposes identical to current production and there is no benefit to a replacement. 

We feel we fulfilled our warranty obligations quickly and efficiently, and hifigirl geek  has the benefit of the best  audio power conditioner available that will operate reliably for many years. She can count on our continued support and our warranty will protect her investment.

Paul S wrote:

...  there really is no "affordable" universal solution to AC power correction from an electrical standpoint, especially not for hi-fi, where amplifier topology might be just about anything, and these amps might be running right along with sensitive low-level devices that have basically "opposite" needs.  While this does not excuse APS' shoddy operation or - apparently - ongoing lack of insight into the matter ... Paul S

SOS wrote:

What about this issue of humming, this is a reoccurring theme that has not been addressed. Even my own 2000+ unit I sold to a gentleman that owned an original 2000 unit who said he would be able to figure the issue out had the humming issue and to date has not been able to stop the new 2000+ from this concern. I've yet to hear or see a report from any customer who has been happy with one of these newer plus units.

It's the old good news bad news situation.  It will no doubt evolve over time, with more good news and less bad news.  Or, one would hope.  More trust and certainty and less crossing of the fingers and baited breath.

I ordered a 1500+ in the summer.  There were numerous 'it's in the next batch out' replies, that never saw fruit.  But, because 2000+ units would be done before 1500+ (due to a lack of boards for the lesser units), I was given a free upgrade to 2000+. Eventually, in the heart of winter, a unit was shipped.  Unfortunately, it was shipped to the wrong person, and could not be rerouted.  When various respiratory illnesses depleted the PurePower work force, I had to wait for another attempt at a unit being shipped to my address. 

A  3000+ actually arrived, a surprise upgrade due to availability of units.  I hurried to hook it up, full of excitement, flush with the 'new toy' syndrome.  When I turned it on, there was a loud buzzing from a fan, so loud that it was present during listening sessions of all listening volumes.  So, I had to send it back to be looked at.  A fan had been dislodged during shipping.  Instead of securing the fan anew, the folks at PP decided to add a new heat sink instead, due to the experimentation performed on another unit that had suffered a similar shipping insult.  I should add that throughout the time the 3000+ was shipped, I had numerous prompt replies with no difficulty, including some sent from the site of CES, when the PP folks were very busy.

The 3000+ was promptly returned.  When I took the unit out of the box however, I could hear a fateful sliding sound. Worse, the unit would not turn on after powering up.  In conversation with folks at PP on the phone, I opened the unit.  Connecters had been uncoupled, explaining why the controls wouldn't work and why things wouldn't power up.  Why had that occurred?  The screws holding one large board down had not been put back after having been removed at the PP facilities during repair work.  That meant a visit to Lowes, a purchase of screws, and my own final assembly.

The end of the story (so far)?  The unit is very quiet now.  It functions fine.  The system sound better than before, when I was using a nice Jena labs power conditioner.  Unfortunately, I've never used a 2000 or a 3000 for comparison.

Paul S

I don't have vinyl playback at the moment.  My source is an MSB Platinum Data IV transport with transport power base, fed into a Metrum Hex dac.  The amp is an Ars Sonum Filharmonia.  So there isn't much of a power drain.  Also:  cabling is Skywire 2020.  Cords are Triode Wire labs.

I listen to a wide range over music, sometimes over a very short period of time.  The recording quality varies as much as the music catalog (heavy metal, hard rock, classic rock, blues, jazz, classical, pub rock, obscure rock, progressive, etc.  Basically everything except opera, twangy country, and rap/hip-hop).  One thing I will say, on some albums I would not expect to find recording prowess (eg Dokken for Pete's sake.  Don't ask me why I pulled that out....), with the new addsitions to my system, 3000+ included, I am surprised by interesting things in the musical layering.  Old tracks from Crack the Sky sound much better than the last time I dusted them off.  Blues feels more emotive on some albums, while others almost seem too clean and respectful now.  Might Sam McClain almost seems too clear and too well oriented for me to enjoy in the same manner I did before, as I last listened to his stuff when my system playback was compact and spacially limited (I suspect that is more to the dac and transport than the 3000+).  But, some tracks are better sounding, and in any case, his voice sounds much more 'real.'I'm still trying to figure out what I hear on Orchestral pieces and Chamber music.  African jazz with various drums really is more attention getting for me personally with the new additions (which threatens to make me listen analytically rather than sit back and enjoy).  Overall:  well recorded albums can in some circumstances sound tremendous. Middle-of-the road recordings can sound very good, but in some instances disappoint, sounding 'different' at first, or simply not sounding terribly better.  Some bad recordings sound slightly  better, but some just seem differently bad.  So, all of the improvements can't polish a turd, and I would guess that the 3000+ individulally is no different.

I tried out a PP product because I was intrigued by the hood opinions I read.  The improvements I mentioned are the improvements that happened after switching from the Jena to the PP, but also switching everything else mentioned at the same general time.  Eventually, when things settle down, I will try the Jena again by itself.  I will also try out the daisy chain approach.  I had initially considered that idea, but forgot about it.  Thanks for refreshing my memory!

Sorry I can't be more specific this time.  I bit off a lot to chew when I got stung by the upgrade bug, and really only have a sense of better sonic characterics getting even better with the 3000+.  I couldn't say with certainty that anyone else with a different sounding system would receive similar benefits.