January 15, 2012

  • API Power Enhancer I, Part 4

    Most people aren't old enough to know that, in 1984, Lionel Richie was HUGE!  But 25 years ago, it all came to an end.  Richie released the momentum-killing Dancing On The Ceiling.

    I don't know what's on your ceiling, but "Dancing On The Ceiling" is a laughably bad song.  Richie followed that up with the equally awful, "Say You, Say Me."  These songs were so bad, they overshadowed the one good song, "Ballerina Girl."  Alas, I went to snooty Lowell High School.  My fellow Loch Monsters looked down upon ballet.  Thus, "Ballerina Girl" wasn't popular at Lowell.  But I liked it.

    In the mid-80s, Lionel Richie was constantly on the radio.  But again, after "Say You, Say Me," radio stations pulled the plug on Richie.  Speaking of plugs, the plug on my old API Power Enhancer I is kind of tarnished.  My PE-1 has been in on-again/off-again use for almost 17 years.  It was so quiet and cool, I had forgotten about it.  So I do not know when the AC plug got tarnished.

    It looks like you can remove the powercord, but you can't.  If you unscrew the hex bolt, it just reveals that the powercord goes inside the unit, where it is hard-wired.

    In the December 1994 issue of Stereophile, Dick Olsher reviewed the PE-1.  Olsher wrote: "I found the Power Enhancer to have a minor positive effect on the amp circuit.  Back at the front end, the Enhancer's effect, I'm sorry to say, was next to nil."

    Stereophile's Editor, John Atkinson, wrote, "The Power Enhancer was a worthwhile addition to my system, deepening the blackness of black backgrounds."

    In my experience, I have found the PE-1 to effect little or no change.  In some cases, I hear a slightly greater sense of ease, a freedom from grain.  Whether the PE-1 is in use or not, I don't notice it.  Is that praise or condemnation?