• WANTED: Happy members who like to discuss audio and other topics related to our interest. Desire to learn and share knowledge of science required. There are many reviews of audio hardware and expert members to help answer your questions. Click here to have your audio equipment measured for free!

PS Audio Ultimate Outlet Review

Rate this product:

  • 1. Waste of money (piggy bank panther)/Dangerous

    Votes: 245 96.8%
  • 2. Not terrible (postman panther)

    Votes: 2 0.8%
  • 3. Fine (happy panther)

    Votes: 1 0.4%
  • 4. Great (golfing panther)

    Votes: 5 2.0%

  • Total voters
    253

DanielT

Major Contributor
Joined
Oct 10, 2020
Messages
4,751
Likes
4,633
Location
Sweden - Слава Україні
It doesn’t surprise me.. Paul’s ****** Audio again.. Amazing that they are still around after having launched so many crappy products..
And Paul, the cozy HiFi grandpa is faffing on with his videos. As a person he seems really nice, I must say, ...but that PS Audio, hm..

Has Amir even reviewed, tested only ONE product from PS Audio that is at least ok and doesn't cost a shit load of money?
 

Blumlein 88

Grand Contributor
Forum Donor
Joined
Feb 23, 2016
Messages
20,522
Likes
37,050
I agree that's a possibility. But a proper ground should not allow it to rise up to the full mains voltage. It should hold it at or near zero volts even with substantial leakage. Seeing the full voltage at the ground indicates its either open, or has a very high impedance. Edit: You do see that sort of thing with class-II switching supplies that have a safety cap as it will allow AC/ripple voltage from the primary side to be present at the output, and this can be quite high, but since it passes very little current it doesn't pose much risk outside of a slight tingle if you touch it. But with an actual ground it should not have much if any voltage at all at any time since it needs to be able to trip the protection.
Well if the unit is unusable, I'd vote for some destructive investigative testing to figure out how the unit has gone bad. With full video of the testing of course. :)

A decision for the owner of the unit obviously.
 
Last edited:

Cars-N-Cans

Addicted to Fun and Learning
Joined
May 19, 2022
Messages
819
Likes
1,009
Location
Dirty Jerzey
Well if the unit is unusable, I'd vote for some destructive investigative testing to figure out how the unit has gone bad. With full video of the testing of course. :)

A decision for the owner of the unit of course.
Agreed 100% if Amir's time permits, or if someone else can have a look at it.
 

Blumlein 88

Grand Contributor
Forum Donor
Joined
Feb 23, 2016
Messages
20,522
Likes
37,050
Agreed 100% if Amir's time permits, or if someone else can have a look at it.
I have something like this in mind.

1662798252261.jpeg
 

solderdude

Grand Contributor
Joined
Jul 21, 2018
Messages
15,891
Likes
35,912
Location
The Neitherlands
I agree that's a possibility. But a proper ground should not allow it to rise up to the full mains voltage. It should hold it at or near zero volts even with substantial leakage. Seeing the full voltage at the ground indicates its either open, or has a very high impedance. Edit: You do see that sort of thing with class-II switching supplies that have a safety cap as it will allow AC/ripple voltage from the primary side to be present at the output, and this can be quite high, but since it passes very little current it doesn't pose much risk outside of a slight tingle if you touch it. But with an actual ground it should not have much if any voltage at all at any time since it needs to be able to trip the protection.

It would unless the device is connected to a socket that has no safety ground. In that case the enclosure has mains on it.

IME most of these MOV actually short when doing their job (and is what they are supposed to do) unless a too high current has passed through it in which case they explode and the circuit is open.
When the fuse is directly connected to the input it should have blown. Often the MOVs are mounted before the device fuse and designers rely on the mains fuse to blow.
 
Last edited:

Calleberg

Active Member
Joined
Aug 23, 2021
Messages
101
Likes
136
Location
Sweden
SURELY if you have the FULL 120V on the output ground pin, it HAS to be connected to an outlet that is not grounded. (Or somehow not connected to ground atleast) Otherwise that 1A fuse would blow. Perhaps it is time to install a Ground fault circuit breaker in your testing environment Amir. I'm sure your wife and kids will second my suggestion.
 
Last edited:

BALKAN_RAKIA

Member
Joined
Aug 8, 2022
Messages
41
Likes
155
Let's ignore the obvious fire hazards, snake oilery and everything else that make sense for a second.

How is this supposed to work - plug it in the wall and then connect your PS Audio Power Plant to the "power port"? Or you choose your favorite two audio devices to plug in the Outlet itself?

From the other review someone quoted "The unit comes with a removable, custom-made 14-gauge cable. PS Audio suggests that replacing this with a multiple stranded, shielded cord of no more than 12-gauge will provide further benefits. The PS Audio Lab Cable is one possible option."
So they provide you with a custom cable, but it is not custom-custom enough. You need to replace it with even more custom.

Here is what Stereophile has to say about the PS Audio Lab Cable

" The main difference was in noise level, which was noticeably lower with the Lab—music emerged from a background of greater silence."
 

Dennis_FL

Addicted to Fun and Learning
Forum Donor
Joined
Feb 21, 2020
Messages
525
Likes
413
Well if the unit is unusable, I'd vote for some destructive investigative testing to figure out how the unit has gone bad. With full video of the testing of course. :)

A decision for the owner of the unit obviously.
And, possibly, a test of a new one to rule out any damage related issues.
 

respice finem

Major Contributor
Joined
Feb 1, 2021
Messages
1,867
Likes
3,774
And, possibly, a test of a new one to rule out any damage related issues.
Because the manufacturer will gladly provide an unaltered unit for comparison ;)
But yes, interesting, if somebody could provide their working sample.
 
Last edited:

Sokel

Master Contributor
Joined
Sep 8, 2021
Messages
5,840
Likes
5,775
Every serious company would at least put a warning after the regulations changed and devices like this proved a potential danger.
Additionally,every serious company would have tested this to every extreme condition it may occurred and advice people to throw it after such an event.
 

restorer-john

Grand Contributor
Joined
Mar 1, 2018
Messages
12,579
Likes
38,278
Location
Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia
I agree that's a possibility. But a proper ground should not allow it to rise up to the full mains voltage. It should hold it at or near zero volts even with substantial leakage. Seeing the full voltage at the ground indicates its either open, or has a very high impedance. Edit: You do see that sort of thing with class-II switching supplies that have a safety cap as it will allow AC/ripple voltage from the primary side to be present at the output, and this can be quite high, but since it passes very little current it doesn't pose much risk outside of a slight tingle if you touch it. But with an actual ground it should not have much if any voltage at all at any time since it needs to be able to trip the protection.

Don't forget, Amir saw a bunch of smoking components inside...

An ELCB/RCD/GFCI will trip if it's bad, but nobody wants to count on those few mA before trip to save you...
 

AudioSceptic

Major Contributor
Joined
Jul 31, 2019
Messages
2,691
Likes
2,534
Location
Northampton, UK
This is a review and detailed measurements of the PS Audio Ultimate AC Outlet. It is on kind loan from a member and cost US $299 when available in 2002:
View attachment 229822
The device is is the typical noise/surge filter targeting audiophile market. Not much to the front or the back:
View attachment 229823

I can't see any safety certifications on the device or the manual.

I ran a number of standard tests on the unit measuring noise attenuation, etc. I then decided to test it with a pre-amplifier. I plugged the PS Audio outlet into the wall. Then I brought the AC mains from the pre-amp to it. As soon as the ground pin touched the front outlet, I heard loud popping causing me to immediately pull the plug back. I was quite surprised as only the safety ground pin of the pre-amp had connected and not the main line and neutral. Wanting to see what is going on, I measured the voltage between the PS audio outlet safety ground and chassis ground of my analyzer:
View attachment 229824

Can you believe this? The safety ground has become hot!!! No wonder it made that sound when it came close to being shorted using the ground pin of the pre-amp AC mains.

I took the front cover off and there were components in there smoking. My guess was the MOV in there having shorted out between mains and safety ground. With no fuse, it stayed energized.

This is why I am always raising caution on safety matters/certification around audio/power products folks. I could have hurt myself bad or damaged tens of thousands of dollars of equipment.

Just in case you are curious, it doesn't do much of anything on measurement front:



View attachment 229827

View attachment 229828

View attachment 229829

It did however show a few dBs of attenuation when I treated it as an in-band filter:
View attachment 229830

Conclusions
Dangerous! Avoid at all cost!!!
Please, if you have one, put it aside or better yet, send it to be recycled/destroyed. Do not sell it to anyone. I am glad it is not on the market anymore or I would really lose my cool! And oh, even if it worked, just like a number of audio power tweaks I have tested, it does nothing for your audio equipment.

Needless to say, I cannot in any form or fashion recommend PS Audio Ultimate Outlet. Let's hope the company knows more about safe AC design now than it did then.

------------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.

Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
I don't believe that something so dangerously faulty could make it to market. Trying to give PS Audio all possible slack, is there any way that even a competent design could suffer such a failure due to an extremely unlikely combination of circumstances?
 

restorer-john

Grand Contributor
Joined
Mar 1, 2018
Messages
12,579
Likes
38,278
Location
Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia
Every serious company would at least put a warning after the regulations changed and devices like this proved a potential danger.
Additionally,every serious company would have tested this to every extreme condition it may occurred and advice people to through it after such an event.

I don't think that is fair to be honest.

It's a 20 year old product. Regulations change.

Plenty of HiFi in 60s, 70s and 80s, was fitted with what we now call "death caps"- capacitors neutral to chassis earth for RFI and especially with old US two pin plugs where they can be rotated, a failed cap (shorted) means a live chassis. Which equals the "death" part.

You might think, well, in Australia with our non rotatable plugs, that shouldn't be a problem. But it is. In the 1970s and into the 1980s, much universal voltage gear was imported here, the plugs cut off and the voltage switch adjusted. Sent out the door, not only by the importers, but by HiFi stores. Thing was, most two wire mains leads were black and not marked with a white polarity stripe. Some had the ridge down one side, but 'techs' and importers rarely considered polarity on a two pin mains lead.

I've lost count of the number of Death Caps (not the mushrooms) I have seen and removed. Or cleaned up the collateral damage. :)
 

Sokel

Master Contributor
Joined
Sep 8, 2021
Messages
5,840
Likes
5,775
Don't forget, Amir saw a bunch of smoking components inside...

An ELCB/RCD/GFCI will trip if it's bad, but nobody wants to count on those few mA before trip to save you...
Don't some of them had a led showing the ground is ok?Thing is that back then,it took some time to know that the led should be on and it's not a warning light.
 

respice finem

Major Contributor
Joined
Feb 1, 2021
Messages
1,867
Likes
3,774
But I would expect, if I were a customer, to at least receive a warning after the regulations have changed.
I've heard in the USA you can get sued as a mfr because you haven't warned not to dry a cat in your microwave...
 
Last edited:

restorer-john

Grand Contributor
Joined
Mar 1, 2018
Messages
12,579
Likes
38,278
Location
Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia
I don't believe that something so dangerously faulty could make it to market. Trying to give PS Audio all possible slack, is there any way that even a competent design could suffer such a failure due to an extremely unlikely combination of circumstances?

It wasn't faulty when new. Failures occur in 20 years, and stuff can become dangerous. Consider this has internal surge arrestors (MOVs).

I see it all the time in older gear. It's up to the person using it to either be on top of the risks with vintage electronics, get an expert to test it, or walk away and take the risk with something new.
 
Top Bottom