We have all heard about the benefits of ac regeneration from the likes of ps audio, accuphase etc etc. Very costly products. Here is a diy way of replicating this cheaply and with almost exactly the same audible outcome.
Get a dc supply of 12-24v of what ever amps you want. Then get a PURE SINE WAVE INVERTER (with correct amp and voltage requirements) from Ebay (If you search or wait long enough can be had for £40-60 )as used by caravans to run sensitive equipment off their car batteries.
DO NOT GET MODIFIED sine wave inverters make sure it says pure sine wave.
SO I use a ready off the shelf regulated dc power supply (usually £25 from ebay) feed this into the inverter which converts 12--24v dc to pure sine wave 240v (for UK use) then feed this into the hifi.
Unfortunately the sound is in my opinion typical of a pure ac regenerator device. Leaner cleaner and more detailed. However this also leads to less tonal colours less emotion to the music. So I am less likely to use them.
often used on turntables, cd players and preamps
But it works.
Get a dc supply of 12-24v of what ever amps you want. Then get a PURE SINE WAVE INVERTER (with correct amp and voltage requirements) from Ebay (If you search or wait long enough can be had for £40-60 )as used by caravans to run sensitive equipment off their car batteries.
DO NOT GET MODIFIED sine wave inverters make sure it says pure sine wave.
SO I use a ready off the shelf regulated dc power supply (usually £25 from ebay) feed this into the inverter which converts 12--24v dc to pure sine wave 240v (for UK use) then feed this into the hifi.
Unfortunately the sound is in my opinion typical of a pure ac regenerator device. Leaner cleaner and more detailed. However this also leads to less tonal colours less emotion to the music. So I am less likely to use them.
often used on turntables, cd players and preamps
But it works.
Why do you want a pure sine wave in the first place? It's going to be chopped and distorted by the rectifier diodes in the power supplies of audio equipment anyway. Typical mains waveform has flattened tops which translate into longer and less tall current pulses when it's rectified. Also, typical mains impedance is higher than the output impedance of sinewave inverters, which has the same advantageous effect.
If you want to get rid of EMI, use filtering (particularly common-mode).
If you want to get rid of EMI, use filtering (particularly common-mode).
star 882 already tried the USP's before but in head to head comparisons they sounded awful. However only tried two and both turned out the same. Both used batteries and were from different manufacturers
EVA why dont you ask that question to the manufactirers of this idea i.e accuphase and ps AUdio. Nevertheless they do make a significant difference to the sound.
Hey this is getting nice and cosy two ladies with me in between or are you males disguised as females? Knowing this site probably the latter. Ah well can only dream.
EVA why dont you ask that question to the manufactirers of this idea i.e accuphase and ps AUdio. Nevertheless they do make a significant difference to the sound.
Hey this is getting nice and cosy two ladies with me in between or are you males disguised as females? Knowing this site probably the latter. Ah well can only dream.
star 882 as i said earlier i didn't care much for the sound of regenerated ac.
I have, as EVA is already aware another love in my life, a Piezo, she was sure it was an April fools joke.....alas she was denying the inevitable. Simply made my electronics sound more potent releasing the full potential of my audio equipment.
It is a cheap solution to power filtering. Unfortunately due to politics no one dare admit to trying it.
I have, as EVA is already aware another love in my life, a Piezo, she was sure it was an April fools joke.....alas she was denying the inevitable. Simply made my electronics sound more potent releasing the full potential of my audio equipment.
It is a cheap solution to power filtering. Unfortunately due to politics no one dare admit to trying it.
Many inverters will have high frequency crap on the output, that's a result of the design necessary to convert low voltage DC to AC with any sort of reasonable efficiency. This is not a problem in most applications for inverters, the equipment they power isn't sensitive to it. They also often have limited current capacity. If your equipment is sensitive to high frequency crud on the power line getting through due to inadequate power supply filtering/regulation, then it's not surprising that inverters designed for computer applications sound lousy.
If you really must re-generate AC, then here are three suggestions:
1) get a massive class A power amp with +/- 80V rails (higher if you're in a country with 220V AC) and feed it with a 50/60Hz signal source. Connect the outputs to a wall socket. Plug your equipment into it. Of course, you have to worry about crap on the AC line that powers the amp generating your AC getting through onto the output, so cascade these as necessary until you're satisfied.
2) Get an AC motor with speed control, and connect the shaft to an alternator of sufficient capacity. Use a big flywheel. Connect the output to a wall socket and plug in. Used to have one of these as the UPS for the computer room at work. For the ultimate sound, turn off the motor and let the flywheel spin the alternator. With a big enough flywheel, you should be able to get in a few hours of listening before the flywheel runs down.
3) Instead of using a pile of batteries to provide DC to an inverter to convert to AC, and then converting back to DC in your equipment, just wire the batteries directly into the supply rails in your equipment. You can recharge them while you're asleep or at work. Then you can compare the sound of lead-acid to NiCad and Lithium ion batteries.
If you really must re-generate AC, then here are three suggestions:
1) get a massive class A power amp with +/- 80V rails (higher if you're in a country with 220V AC) and feed it with a 50/60Hz signal source. Connect the outputs to a wall socket. Plug your equipment into it. Of course, you have to worry about crap on the AC line that powers the amp generating your AC getting through onto the output, so cascade these as necessary until you're satisfied.
2) Get an AC motor with speed control, and connect the shaft to an alternator of sufficient capacity. Use a big flywheel. Connect the output to a wall socket and plug in. Used to have one of these as the UPS for the computer room at work. For the ultimate sound, turn off the motor and let the flywheel spin the alternator. With a big enough flywheel, you should be able to get in a few hours of listening before the flywheel runs down.
3) Instead of using a pile of batteries to provide DC to an inverter to convert to AC, and then converting back to DC in your equipment, just wire the batteries directly into the supply rails in your equipment. You can recharge them while you're asleep or at work. Then you can compare the sound of lead-acid to NiCad and Lithium ion batteries.
audiojoy said:
The ARRL (American Radio Relay League) did a review of a.c. regenerators and it is published in the most recent issue of QST -- they demonstrate your point quite well -- the MSW converters interfere with reception on the ham bands, but the PSW units do not. We're talking about microvolts of interference being perncicous.
Expect to pay $400 to $600 for a PSW converter.
Re: Re: cheap DIY PURE AC regenerator
And then there's used...
The cheapest UPS with sine wave output is just $46 new, and that's for a Tripp-Lite ECO350UPS, good for 350VA/180W. A large one rated for 1500VA/980W (Tripp-Lite SMART1500) is $344. $400-$600 will get you a quality rackmount unit, which would be overkill for our uses.jackinnj said:
And then there's used...
fuzzymuff link got corrupted due to bad management from DIYaudio and will be reignitied at a latter date but if you are brave here it is
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=141618
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=141618
Plenty of useless things can be bought in this world, and some of them are very expensive... Useless audio gear is a business on itself... 
I'm currently designing high power amplifiers and electronics for live sound applications. They demand small size, light weight, reliability and no heat, in other words, the opposite of useless (class A was ruled out 50 yeas ago, and clas AB is about to be ruled out too in favour of class D). But when I get old I may enter that other business as a retirement
I'm currently designing high power amplifiers and electronics for live sound applications. They demand small size, light weight, reliability and no heat, in other words, the opposite of useless (class A was ruled out 50 yeas ago, and clas AB is about to be ruled out too in favour of class D). But when I get old I may enter that other business as a retirement
And think of just where the life of every engineer, whether male or female, starts. You can learn a lot from the creators (and prospective creators, for that matter).audiojoy said:
For the most part, it is silly to make very pure DC in the UPS only to turn it into AC and back into pure DC. It's even sillier to do that with a frequency right within your signal bandwidth.
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