fluorescent ballast for driving esl

[tade]

I know the ballasts for lights are used to create high voltage. do you suppose one could work for driving an esl? do they rectify?

[bear]

If you are talking about a bias supply, then there is a vague possiblity... the open circuit voltage for most of them is ~600vac, iirc.

It's not really required, since you can use a simple diode multiplier stack to acheive almost any HV you need to bias an ESL, no significant current is needed.

At least one manufacturer used an AC "wall wart" and a reversed small step down transformer followed by a diode multiplier for the HV bias... resulting ~5kvdc.

To drive an ESL with audio you need a high quality transformer, often people use an appropriate impedance ratio output transformer driven "backwards".

_-_-bear