R-core transformers in Europe

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R-core is available direct from Kitamura kiden, the inventor of R-core trafo. They do sell direct, just email from their website. Shipping via DHL/Fedex only, no EMS.

It cost an arm and a leg, which turned me away when choosing trafo for my project. Another is Shimizu denki but only up to 320VA, never contacted them.

Supposedly they use top quality material.
 
R-core is available direct from Kitamura kiden, the inventor of R-core trafo. They do sell direct, just email from their website. Shipping via DHL/Fedex only, no EMS.

It cost an arm and a leg, which turned me away when choosing trafo for my project. Another is Shimizu denki but only up to 320VA, never contacted them.

Supposedly they use top quality material.
Expensive in electronic is a strange yard stick, a chip to 50 cent can be called expensive while an other 200$ chip can be called a bargain.



Do you have an example on a price, nothing you have to guarantee but just so I know how much of my arm I have to cut off:)


In a way, it may not be so strange that the transformer is expensive, it is the inventor, the one who know and put his name on how it is done. So it have to be the best.
 
Expensive in electronic is a strange yard stick, a chip to 50 cent can be called expensive while an other 200$ chip can be called a bargain.



Do you have an example on a price, nothing you have to guarantee but just so I know how much of my arm I have to cut off:)


In a way, it may not be so strange that the transformer is expensive, it is the inventor, the one who know and put his name on how it is done. So it have to be the best.

Kitamura 400VA is around $500 incl shipping + 27.5% import tax. I find it hard to justify the cost. In the end I just get a toroid about 40% of that price. Even that is way more than what people are paying for Antek toroid.

I understand the Japanese mentality of "shokunin" its a little bit of artisanal spirit in a sense. They just want to build something of the best quality stuff according to them.
 
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Kitamura 400VA is around $500 incl shipping + 27.5% import tax. I find it hard to justify the cost. In the end I just get a toroid about 40% of that price. Even that is way more than what people are paying for Antek toroid.
WOW that was steep, is it made of pure gold? :)
Okay, if you are building a reference "don't care about the price" amplifier that would cost 50,000$ in sale, the transformer is a no brainier.
But how much is the R-core better?
 
@FriedMule, correct question is which are advantages of R-Core versus other transformers and these are:
- high efficiency,
- low noise,
- low loss
- low flux leakage,
- no-load current

R-Core transformers make sense in ultra low noise applications, low jitter clock, mc phono etc.

Regards,
Tibi
 
@FriedMule, correct question is which are advantages of R-Core versus other transformers and these are:
- high efficiency,
- low noise,
- low loss
- low flux leakage,
- no-load current

R-Core transformers make sense in ultra low noise applications, low jitter clock, mc phono etc.

Regards,
Tibi[/QUOTE
Thanks great answer, so in an amplifier where shielding are being used, is is almost overkill?
 
Advantage over Toroids: they can be winded in perfect symmetry with computer controlled winding machines.

That's not special: all transformers using straight bobbins can be wound with computer controlled winding machines to maintain symmetry. That's normal practice nowadays.

A not unimportant property of R-cores is that the bobbins are round.
Winding round bobbins can be done faster (economics....).
Just check an R-core transformer closely and you will see that the bobbins are wound with special winding equipment because the bobbins are already mounted on the core when wound.
When R-cores use cut cores, I don't see any advantage of them over c-core transformers.
 
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