This afternoon I added 4 HiDiamond P-4 power cords to my system, replacing a P-3 from wall to 1 amp, as well as 3 SR Hologram-As. The SR's were going from both PS Audio P-10s to my amps, which are now replaced by P-4s. The Cd player now has a P-4 from the P-10, replacing a P-3 which is now on my preamp, having replaced another Hologram-A. The 4th P-4 is from the wall to the other P-10, replacing a P-3 that was there. Fortunately the PS Audio and HiDiamond pieces work very well together.

Immediate results, cold, with no hours on these new p-4s: wider and deeper soundstage, lower noise level(so sounded a bit louder and more detailed) as well as deeper and more pronounced bass(so had to dial the sub down). We heard things on a CD deep into the soundstage that we had not heard before, literally. My system sounds better than it ever has. Its as though we went from feeding power to the system through garden hoses, to now using fire hoses with silencers. The SRs were good in my system, but the Hi Diamonds, especially the P-4s, already take things up a few notches, COLD. I can only imagine when these break in... :-)

fplanner2000 December 23, 2012 04:30

Dev- I'm sure your dealer could always get a Statement piece for you through an authorized VAC Statement dealer.

I also wasn't suggesting anybody was or wasn't reputable, but I do know that the larger dealers who do more VAC volume that I have talked to have no problem at all with the new policy. Its also a question of allocation of resources and Kevin's plan makes perfect sense to me.

fplanner2000 December 19, 2012 04:55

Fplanner, I agree if they were special informed trained dealers but the 2 dealers that I have met and one I have known for over 20 years unfortuantely aren't.

Jumping to conclusion suggesting a specific dealer isn't reputable just because they do not want or have Vac Statement pces on hand to demo to me is wrong, my dealer has done business and assisted in building Vac's business for some 9 + years while one of the "Statement" dealers I'm familiar with only a few years and my friend's dealer has also been arround for many years.

I don't believe it's good business practice and if a company did that to me I would tell them .... Best of luck!

The Vac pre, only time will tell I suppose but if it's anywhere in that amount well ....

As you know I have and do enjoy my Vac pces and have recommended to several but don't agree with what VAC is currently doing, Newbee dealer no problem but not someone who has done business with you for 9 + YEARS.

dev December 19, 2012 01:35

Dev-
You raise some interesting points - Limiting Statement sales to dealers who have made both the economic and training investment seems like a good thing to do. As a fellow Statement(s) owner I appreciate having access to an informed, well-versed dealer network should I need it. Not surprisingly, not all VAC dealers are willing to do this. That is their choice. It would seem that the more reputable dealers shouldn't have a problem with this at all.

As far as the new Statement pre-amp is concerned, I know Kevin has been noodling with this for the past 3 years. Unlike many other manufacturers, he doesn't bring out new pieces unless they are a dramatic improvement over what is currently in his line. Much like the Statement 450s were a large jump over the 300.1s, I would expect the same of a new Statement preamp over the existing Sig Mk2, which as you know is already world-class. Pricing is at best a guess - no numbers are firm at this point.

fplanner2000 December 18, 2012 23:18

I was inquiring about the new Vac Statement pces with the dealer that I have worked with over the year whom has been selling Vac for some 9 years now and said;

Kevin has started something new, basically you have to be a "Statement" dealer to sell their Statement products.
To be a "Statement" dealer you have to have a Statement system in stock for demo, which I don't have.

I contacted my friend, another member here whom I had recommended the Vac pre and Statement mono blocks and currently owns, inquiring and found out the dealer he deals with doesn't either.

It's going to be very interesting if this actually works for Kevin, I know I got tired of waiting for his phono and purchased the Burmester 100.

Vac is loosing my interest in their product with this type of attitude and in discussing with my freind his also.

I can see if you were a newbe wanting to be a dealer to sell Vac but someone that has been promoting and assisting in building your company "VAC" to where it is at currently for some 9 years in the making is just bluntly STUPID!

Basically saying I don't want or need your business or the customers whom you have established.

Apparently this new Statement pre will be listing for aprox $40K, if this is correct it will be more than DOUBLE the list price of the Signature MK2a

Kevin has said for years now there really isn't anywhere to go with his line stage design but sideways "no REAL improvements" but now a Statement pce possibly @ more than double the list.

Is it just marketing? Will be very intersting

dev December 18, 2012 12:56

I was inquiring about the new Vac Statement pces with the dealer that I have worked with over the year whom has been selling Vac for some 9 years now and said;

Kevin has started something new, basically you have to be a "Statement" dealer to sell their Statement products.
To be a "Statement" dealer you have to have a Statement system in stock for demo, which I don't have.

I contacted my friend, another member here whom I had recommended the Vac pre and Statement mono blocks and currently owns, inquiring and found out the dealer he deals with doesn't either.

It's going to be very interesting if this actually works for Kevin, I know I got tired of waiting for his phono and purchased the Burmester 100.

Vac is loosing my interest in their product with this type of attitude and in discussing with my freind his also.

I can see if you were a newbe wanting to be a dealer to sell Vac but someone that has been promoting and assisting in building your company to where it is at currently for some 9 years in the making is just bluntly STUPID!

Basically saying I don't want or need your business or the customers whom you have established.

Apparently this new Statement pre will be listing for aprox $40K, if this is correct it will be more than DOUBLE the list price of the Signature MK2a

Kevin has said for years now there really isn't anywhere to go with his current line stage design but sideways "no REAL improvements" but now a Statement pce possibly @ more than double the list.

Is it just marketing? Will be very intersting

dev December 18, 2012 12:41

Fplanner, yes I agree about THD already saw that also.

So far in the system even with disconnecting everything and then reconnecting I'm not hearing any negatives which is a good sign, usually takes a few days for everything to be back to norm. I dad to even bend some PC cables etc. to re-route everything and make look as neat as possible.

I just popped in the cords they came with for now, will put some hours in and then try others.

I still have the Burmester coming so that will be interesting, I have that fully loaded Burmester phono 100 coming also so I'll be able to do some direct comparisions plugged in down the road.

For the other room where the MM3's will be going I will be installing a Equi=tech 10WQ Wall Cabinet System out side feeding that room but also installing a few runs up to my MBL/Vac room also. I will really be able to do some comparisons, looking to keep what I preffer and get rid of what ever I don't.

CES, ya that should be interesting specially with VAC showing off their new Statement pre and phono which they have been working on for some time now.

If you go ensure to get pics

dev December 17, 2012 00:22

Hi Lioydelee, how are things?

Still really enjoying my Vac/MBL combo.

I did buy a pair of Acustic Evolution MM3 speakers to play around with in a second room set-up so that will be interesting, different flavour than my MBL's for sure.

dev December 17, 2012 00:02

Dev-
Sounds like the P-10s may work out for you. They are REALLY working well for me and protecting my system as well, which I am very happy about. Another thing you can easily do with the screen is monitor the THD going IN to the P-10 vs what comes out. The difference is audible, as the noise floor has been reduced. That to me is also pretty astonishing, in addition to steady power.

Combined with the gradual break-in of the HiDiamond P-4 and p-3 pcs, my system sounds a little better each time I turn it on. At this point,it is also the P-10s breaking in. All positive - hope your experience is the same. :-)

It also looks like Kevin may have some new Statement pieces unveiled at CES this year. My schedule is finally lightening up a bit so that I will probably be able to be there.

fplanner2000 December 16, 2012 22:59

You're seriously muscling up there on the power side Dev! Nice one! Look forward to reading more over the holidays!

lloydelee21 December 16, 2012 22:08

Fplanner, thanks for the update.

Finally received the 2 P-10 unit's in silver finish.

I found them to be taller than my exisiting Torus RM-20 unit's which I have placed underneigh the 450's. I'm using Sistrum 101 platforms with a svelt platform placed ontop and then the 450's ontop and works out nicely and very happy sonic wise. I then have a platform sitting on the floor right underneath and the conditioner sits ontop it and looks very clean.

I had the taunting task of reconfiguration due to that height differeance so I had to move the amps and come up with a configuration to raise my SP101's 3 inches higher, but all done and worked out nicely. :)

I find the build quality superior "exterior" to the RM20's, as mentioned prior no longer had my 450's plugged into them because I found in doing such degraded the sonic quality while with other amps worked fine and increaesed such.

I'm not shocked but it's kinda neat to see the fluctuation of power coming in and at different times of the day and then viewing the reading of 120 going out, makes me very happy.

As long as there is no negative sonic wise using these I'll be very happy just knowing my investment has some type of protection.

dev December 16, 2012 20:16

Looks like I will have HiDiamond P-4 pcs from wall to P-10s and P-10s to amps, as well as from P-10 to CD/SACD by next weekend. Needless to say, I have found they make a substantial positive difference in my system, or I wouldn't be doing this. They also play well with the PS Audio P-10's. I will then be through for a while, as I need to put 250-300 hours on these pcs to get a system baseline. Really looking forward to the results.

fplanner2000 December 14, 2012 15:12

Dev-
Thanks for the suggestions. I have already thought of these and a dozen other permutations, but until I decide to put the TV on the wall, none will be happening. Also, my pics aren't totally accurate - most of the video gear is now to the right of the TV and 1 P-10 is in the rack just above the 450. The SR Powercell is no longer in the system.

My priority right now is deciding the best pcs for my newly-protected system and cleaning up the cable/wall wart mess behind everything. Fortunately, that is going pretty well and I am encouraged by the results so far.

Thanks again for your suggestions.

fplanner2000 December 05, 2012 17:18

Fplanner2000, I would like to recommend something.

If your picks are showing your exisitng set-up see below;

#1 your tv, hang it on the wall

P.S. As you know I have the same pce and got mine calibrated, very happy with the difference and well worth the money.

#2 look at getting a new audio stand that is three shelves high, double wide stand for your components

#3 mount a specific shelf on the wall for your centre speaker between the bottom of your tv position and above component on the top shelf.

#4 place your mono blocks beside your speakers inside, prefered if you can pull out your speakers a bit from the back wall and place behind.

The benifits in doing all this will be VERY rewarding. :)

dev December 05, 2012 11:14

K-
I will be trying a P-3 on 1 of my amps later this week. A possible scenario soon could be P-4's from the wall to the P-10's, p-3's from the P-10 to the amps, and a P-4 on the CD player. My ears will of course be the guide here and below.

Right now, I have PS Audio AC-12's going from the wall to the P-10s and they sound good, but not great. I will also be trying both P-3 and P-4 in that position and see if I hear a difference.

fplanner2000 December 04, 2012 15:38

All that's important is YOU are happy.

Have you tried the HD P-3 on your amps? I'm using them on my mono amps and Weizhi PRS-6 to the wall and detect NO current or dynamic limiting. This is the 1st PC I found that works equally well on low and high current components.

I will be interested in your experience on the P-4. Probably get some down the road for my pre and Dac.

knghifi December 03, 2012 21:08

K- I am quite happy so far with what the P-10's are doing. Thank you for your suggestion.

fplanner2000 December 03, 2012 19:43

If you need so many p-10s, checkout EquiTech wall units. It's balanced power, protection and you can wire your sound room and office with one unit. They come in different sizes. It will reduce clutter, superior performance, less PCs and probably less expensive than all the p-10s.

They have a very impressive list of clients ... www.equitech.com

knghifi December 03, 2012 05:27

So far, quite happy with what the p-10s are doing, or not doing with my system. I've used David's cables years ago with good results, but haven't kept up as his prices have skyrocketed. I'm sure they are very good power cords.

These Hi Diamonds seem to be in a class by themselves and are very reasonably priced, at least so far. I would try one and see for yourself. They sell through a distributor, which eliminates a bunch of markup, and he's a pretty knowledgeable guy as well. Not a lot of BS, which is refreshing. I'm already upgrading... :-)

I don't know enough about the rm20s to even guess why they didn't work with the VACs, unless they didn't have enough capacitance to handle what the VACs were requiring. I have not found that to be the case at all in my system with the P-10s. In fact, my VACs are sounding better each time I turn them on now - probably has something to do with cleaner, more constant voltage. You can actually measure the THD going in and coming out of the unit - pretty cool. Let me know when you get yours in.

fplanner2000 December 03, 2012 04:53

okay thanks

Yes I'm waiting to receive 2-P10's, one for each mono and also have the Burumester coming.

I have never tried the PC's you make mention of, I'm currently using Stealth Dream PC's and been very happy. Elrod Gold or Diamond PC's do peak my interest.

I still own one Torus RM20 which my front end including pre and tv are plugged into.

I have my amps plugged directly into the wall which to date has been my preference over plugged into two separate RM20's and the therory behind them similar. Like I mention prior worked great on other amps but for what ever reason no so with the Vac's

dev December 02, 2012 22:22

Hi Dev-

Yes- SR Hologram-A: worst; PS Audio AC-12 - 2nd; Hi Diamond p-3 - best. Since I only have 1 Hi Diamond at home, it will be on my cd-player until mid-week. At that point, another P-3 will be here as well as a P-4. This will allow my p-3s to feed the P-10s from the wall while the p-4 runs between a p-10 and my cd player.

I'm told it takes about 250 hours for the p-3s to really open up. Once that happens, I will put them elsewhere in my home system - probably to the amps from the P-10s and replace the p-3s with p-4s from the wall to the P-10s.

So far, the p-3 at home, which has very few hours on it, is handily out-performing my multi-thousand hour SR Hologram pcs. Makes my decision pretty easy, especially with the side benefit of getting rid of those MPCs and simplifying things.

Having the power protection as well as the clean, steady power provided by the PS Audio p-10s, along with the almost eerily quiet noise floor, make them keepers for my system. I think when people might run into problems with dynamics is when they try to get away with just 1 in a system that draws more current than they imagine. For example, each side of my system runs between 450-500 watts at IDLE, something I was totally unaware of. That tells me immediately that 1 p-10 is probably not enough, since it will "only" go to 1200w/1500w peak. I was planning on 2 all along, so not a problem. Another option down the line might be to also get a p-5 to just isolate all my video/movies equipment. I'm already getting a better picture out of my TV which is now protected as well.

Weren't you getting P-10's as well? How's that going?

fplanner2000 December 02, 2012 18:59

Wow! good news! better and less expensive! the best of both worlds. i'll let you know what the Stillpoints Ultra 5s do...i have read/been told that they do for spreakers what they did for your equipment. and in fact, they apparently were designed for speakers.

lloydelee21 December 02, 2012 15:53

Curious, did you compare any PC's from your P-10's to the wall?

What were your findings

dev December 02, 2012 11:49

Hi Lloyd- thanks for the kind words - you flatter me. I have never tried Stillpoints under my speakers, as I am on concrete and they didn't seem appropriate. I did have them under 1 of my old VAC 300.1 amps as well as a CD player I used to use, and they gave me a bit tighter bass and cleaner highs. Not sure if that experience would translate into the same sort of result under your speakers, but please let me know what happens.

Per my comments above, I was so amazed that the Hi Diamond P-3 pc destroyed my $2400 (retail) SR Hologram-D pc at 1/3 the price, I just ordered a new P-4 to put on the CD player. I know what my ears heard - the P-3s drop the noise floor and just let the music come through. I can't even imagine what the P-4, their newest and best will do, but I'll find out in a few days. So far, I've been very impressed, as have those who have heard my office and home systems recently. FWIW, YMMV, etc., etc. :-)

fplanner2000 December 02, 2012 04:35

Nice one! congrats! your system just keeps on getting more and more incredible! I noticed you use stillpoints...i've asked to audition the stillpoints ultra 5s under my trusty old Wilson X1s...any thoughts on what i should expect to hear? i've read most of the reviews...your personal experience and advice is always welcome!

lloydelee21 December 02, 2012 00:28