power conditioning

[andrewe1]

Hi everyone,
I have just finished another project. A pair of single ended valve amps. These things are absolutely fatastic. I never thought speakers could sound as sweet as this. Anyway...I am just debating on weather to build an AC power line condtioner or not to bother at all. What do you think?
Also. If I do build one. Where is a good web site to get some schematics from as I dont wish to pay those over the top prices just to filter AC ??
Thanks agian
andrewe1

[BHD]

Plitron recently put out a balanced toroid transformer for filtering AC and is offering it at a pretty reasonable price.

http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/volum...er-8-2003.html

This article and others (pretty good stuff) are listed under the "news" section of the plitron site.

[Ken L]

Originally posted by andrewe1
I dont wish to pay those over the top prices just to filter AC ??

Suggest you seek out the local equivalent of a surplus powervar - on OZ e-bay or industrial surplus.

Filtering of AC is routinely done by medical labs and numerous industrial concerns.

You can usually pick these up as surplus for somewhere around or less than ten percent of original cost

To see what I'm talking about go to www.powervar.com

click on products

then Standard

go to Powervar 12 - I picked up two of these on E-bay for roughly 7 per cent of retail -(including freight) retail is over $1000 each. Powervar is just one brand, there are a number of others.

A powervar 12 is up to $153.00 on e-bay US with over a day left - Seems high to me.
Be careful on freight charges - these suckers are heavy. The standard powervars are essentially a toroidal isolation transformer in a box with a grounding scheme.

I did a search of OZ ebay and found nothing so I'm guessing that you will have different brands there by an Oz manufacturer. There are ten different Powervar models on E-bay here right now - I would be very surprised if there are not several different brand equivalents readily available locally as industrial surplus in some manner.


HTH

Regards

Ken L

[andrewe1]

Thank you to those of you that answered my questions. I will start the hunt for some AC filtering soon.
Thanks again
andrewe1

[Sch3mat1c]

Originally posted by andrewe1
Anyway...I am just debating on weather to build an AC power line condtioner or not to bother at all. What do you think?

Well, since you asked, I'd say your power supply must be lower-than-a-snake'-sbelly grade F crap to allow any power line noise through and make it audible. Since I presume it isn't (think about it, you have the DC filtered to a lower frequency than you can do AC), I doubt you'll notice a difference. Mind you, psychoacoustic improvement is proportional to effort or money spent on a mod.

Tim

[jlsem]

I doubt you'll notice a difference. Mind you, psychoacoustic improvement is proportional to effort or money spent on a mod.

Never listen to advice from a cheapskate.

John

[Sch3mat1c]

Hahaha, guess you better end your membership here at diyAudio. Since um, that's kind of one of the things DIY'ers do, save money. LOL.

Especially considering the $30,000 pieces of modern art, er wait there's an amplifier in there too? neato... ROTF

Tim

[BHD]

Well, some people build their own stuff to save money, others do it just because it's fun. Others want to build stuff that isn't available at any price. Everyone has their own reasons, and they're not necessarily the same as yours.

Line noise can be a real PITA, especially if you live in an apartment building like myself. In a perfect world, power supplies in audio equipment would filter all of this crap out, but it doesn't. Maybe in some of the well filtered tube gear you see here, but not in mass produced products like CD players.

In all fairness, I think your original post was good natured, so let's leave it at a difference of opinion...

[jleaman]

So i was in A&B sound yesterday where they had the monster line conditioner / stabelizer i am now wondering how hard it would be to make one.. HUmm a active servo that mesures the incoming vltage to keep the output at the same say 110 or 115 humm im going to have to look into this now..

Any one got any idea's ? im thinking a pair or just one 1kva varaic with a digital servo that moves the armiture humm now my mind is wondering ...

[Layberinthius]

*cough*

Some companies should feel ashamed...Most certianly this one.

Audio Consulting tried virtually every possible transformer technology on the market. This was of course possible as they do wind their own transformers! They got the best results with a special shape of iron. This iron is produced in Switzerland in very small quantities and according to their specs.

*It gets worse*

Third Step: Up to 10 L-C filter units connected in parallel with the isolation transformer's primary. Each of those consists in a 9 kg copper air coil and a capacitor. Usually, audiophiles start with 3 to 5 units, while the "full Monty" will be 10 units!

I'm sure they're glad to take your millions off of you, I'm sure as hell glad to shun them on a global website as personal opinion

What worries me about this company, is that a search on google australia brings up these freaks as the first hit for "Isolation transformer"...

I'm not one to promote cheap chinese electronic component pushers which are most likely now prominent in Australia *DSE* *Cough* *DSE* *Cough* but I think a prominent source of /quality/ electronic components would be a god-send to us DIYers down here, I for one have to import the majority of my components just to get one with proper ratings.

Personally, I'd go for one of these fancy things =)
240v Mains Filtering (Silicon Chip Magazine)

Oh word of warning, you're mucking with mains so....meh Don't go filtering your oil heater anytime soon and such.