John Curl's Blowtorch preamplifier part II

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I prefer power transformers with internal shields between primaries and secondaries.

And just what do you do with this shield? I take it you mean an insulated conductive foil (so as not to act as a shorted turn) with a drain lead attached.

The first issue is to identify on the primary which lead goes to the inside of the coil and be sure that is connected to the neutral. (The neutral is actually grounded in the U.S.) This means that you have minimum coupling of the AC line directly to the metal of the transformer core and through it's mounting into your chassis.

Now when you have a transformer where the secondary is wound on top of the primary you will have the "Hot" lead coupling better into the secondary! Placing a shield here is the old method of reducing the issue. However if you connect the shield to the common or ground then you are coupling the noise into your circuit. If you connect the shield to the safety ground wire, then you have to float the chassis or ground. But any noise or RFI that comes in on the ground line will have greater coupling into the secondary. So you basically are trading hum for RFI!

If you connect the shield to the neutral you violate code and will have real fireworks if it ever gets plugged into a incorrectly wired outlet.

Now with a split bobbin you have a bit of capacitance from primary to secondary. However as the dual secondary is wound at the same time you get a differential mode that cancels much of the coupled noise!
 
Well said, Ed Simon. Where, oh where, do we connect the shield wire? A fundamental and often 'fatal' question.
Bonsai, we normally use more 'modern' transformers, today, especially when the transformer is located near the audio electronics. In the CTC Blowtorch case, we designed the power supply chassis to be located away from the audio, so we could use these more traditional transformers, especially designed to be low capacitance between the input and output windings. Parasound preamps use a R core (I'm pretty sure) that works pretty well, and has less stray field.
 
Well said, Ed Simon. Where, oh where, do we connect the shield wire?

Scott's magic finger?

Or otherwise, it's a thing I suggested before: why not have one safety ground also used for shielding, and a separate floating signal ground? Following Class II requirements for the innards, there should not be any safety issues.

Wouldn't work with RCA cables, but XLR with one hot and one signal earth wire would. No pin 1 problem possible, since signal earth and shielding earth have no connection.

vac
 
No wonder why I do it wrong! My order is:

Think

Listen to some music

Measure components

Listen to some music

Think

Listen to some music

Measure some more

Listen to some music

Think

Listen to some music

Design,

Listen to some music

Think

Listen to some music

Measure subsections

Listen to some music

Think

Listen to some music

Measure system to be sure it is actually working.

Listen to some music

Listen to the new equipment

Look for smoke

Think

Listen to some music

Write some B on the Blowtorch thread!
 
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