In your experience, which of the following toroidals have been consistently of better quality, regulation and quiet (no buzzing/humming etc):
- Antek
- Avel Lindberg
- Hammond
- Triad Magnetics
- Toroidy (poland)
- Plitron (since they changed hands however, I cannot find their transformers on the web)
- Any others ?
Is there any you would specifically recommend or specifically eliminate ?
Thanks
- Antek
- Avel Lindberg
- Hammond
- Triad Magnetics
- Toroidy (poland)
- Plitron (since they changed hands however, I cannot find their transformers on the web)
- Any others ?
Is there any you would specifically recommend or specifically eliminate ?
Thanks
What application is this for?
Plitron has definitely been a higher end transformer manufacturer in the past. Noratel, the company that took over Plitron, produces more budget friendly transformers of somewhat lower quality than Plitron IMO, but we'll have to see if they have "premium" transformers that come out of the Plitron factory.
Toroidy makes good quality transformers, especially their higher grade transformers and encapsulated units. More expensive than some of the others on the list, but low noise and good quality.
Hammond and Triad have swapped a lot of their production lines with outsourcing from China. Their cheap EI transformers are very hit and miss quality and many have some pretty bad buzzing. Their cheap toroidals that they source from China are decent quality; though I'd recommend not pushing the transformers to their limits as they tend to be quite leaky in terms of electromagnetic field. If you want the somewhat better quality units from Hammond and Triad, go for their medical rated toroidal trnasformers (well worth the slight premium).
I don't have experience with Avel Lindberg, but Antek transformers are middle of the road in terms of quality. Better than the lowest cost Hammond/Triad transformers, but not as high quality as Plitron or Toroidy.
Plitron has definitely been a higher end transformer manufacturer in the past. Noratel, the company that took over Plitron, produces more budget friendly transformers of somewhat lower quality than Plitron IMO, but we'll have to see if they have "premium" transformers that come out of the Plitron factory.
Toroidy makes good quality transformers, especially their higher grade transformers and encapsulated units. More expensive than some of the others on the list, but low noise and good quality.
Hammond and Triad have swapped a lot of their production lines with outsourcing from China. Their cheap EI transformers are very hit and miss quality and many have some pretty bad buzzing. Their cheap toroidals that they source from China are decent quality; though I'd recommend not pushing the transformers to their limits as they tend to be quite leaky in terms of electromagnetic field. If you want the somewhat better quality units from Hammond and Triad, go for their medical rated toroidal trnasformers (well worth the slight premium).
I don't have experience with Avel Lindberg, but Antek transformers are middle of the road in terms of quality. Better than the lowest cost Hammond/Triad transformers, but not as high quality as Plitron or Toroidy.
I would add Richard Sumner aka sumR to that list and aside from the plitron of old and perhaps toroidy, they are a better class of transformer IMO.
Antek do the job, but are generally underrated ie. I would buy the next size up in current rating for a job and their offload regulation is not the greatest. The hammond toroids used to be good, I dont have any recent experience.
Antek do the job, but are generally underrated ie. I would buy the next size up in current rating for a job and their offload regulation is not the greatest. The hammond toroids used to be good, I dont have any recent experience.
Some Hammond stuff is made in China, but the stuff you’ll use in an audio amp (solid state or tube) will come out of Canada.
Triad is cheap - especially for the smaller stuff. Antek is a better value, especially when going large (800-1.5kVA). Cannot beat the price - and nothing inherently wrong with them. I’ve had really good stuff from Plitron and Toroid Corp of Maryland - best I’ve used - but more expensive.
My experience with Amveco/Ulveco has all been with surplus and salvaged units. Build quality was all over the map. Much of that was probably due to what the customer originally ordered - I’ve salvaged some strange stuff. I’ve had some that run the flux density too high and hum like an old school battery charger, others audiophile quiet. One batch with the primary on the outside. Some that look as good as the old Plitrons, and others a mess of scramble winding. When you pick up units for $20 you don’t complain, you just put the secondary you need on it and count your blessings.
Triad is cheap - especially for the smaller stuff. Antek is a better value, especially when going large (800-1.5kVA). Cannot beat the price - and nothing inherently wrong with them. I’ve had really good stuff from Plitron and Toroid Corp of Maryland - best I’ve used - but more expensive.
My experience with Amveco/Ulveco has all been with surplus and salvaged units. Build quality was all over the map. Much of that was probably due to what the customer originally ordered - I’ve salvaged some strange stuff. I’ve had some that run the flux density too high and hum like an old school battery charger, others audiophile quiet. One batch with the primary on the outside. Some that look as good as the old Plitrons, and others a mess of scramble winding. When you pick up units for $20 you don’t complain, you just put the secondary you need on it and count your blessings.
I've had a bad experience with SumR toroidals, and unfortunately it seems I was not the only one (see here: Primrose(SumR Audio) Toroid GB)
Small SumR toroidals ( <= 100 VA) seem to be fine the few times I've used them, but the bigger ones all buzzed quite loudly. It was a mechanical buzz coming from the transformer itself that could easily be heard 2 meters away. The unfortunate part is that Richard from SumR blamed everything else except his products when I contacted him about it. The only fix was to change the SumR transformers in the amps.
Maybe he fixed whatever production defects he had with some of his products since then, but his poor handling of the issues I had with his products means that I rather source the transformers from other places.
Paul
Like to do some reading?
Here's a clip of the article linked with it...
"Imagine my surprise when I started noticing that many of the best sounding components I’ve experienced in my system have all had EI-frame transformers. Coincidence? I might have thought so before finding out so more about power and transformers. Now I’m convinced that cleverly done EI-frame transformers could/should give us better sounding high-end audio components." ...Doug Blackburn
https://www.soundstagenetwork.com/maxdb/maxdb071998.htm
Hi wg_ski.
I also heard of Toroid of Maryland. What was your experience with them ? At least it seems like they are guaranteed to be manufactured in the US.
Thanks
The best stuff I’ve used came from Toroid Corp and Plitron. Both are better build quality than Antek - mostly the cosmetic stuff like the over-wrap and stain relief on the leads. Antek is a little sloppier in that regard but at the price you can’t complain. The windings are tight and even and the cores run down at a reasonable flux density so they’re quiet. Toroid Corp are dead silent, but “prettier” and built like brick $***houses. You do pay for them, though - about 40-50% more than Antek for similar units. Last time I checked. Still not that bad a price though - I’ve seen much higher.
I think Toroid Corp is the only place left that makes in the US where you can get standard off the shelf units in onesy twoseys. Plitron is strictly custom now (didn’t used to be).
I think Toroid Corp is the only place left that makes in the US where you can get standard off the shelf units in onesy twoseys. Plitron is strictly custom now (didn’t used to be).
OK, fair enough. I haven't needed to buy anything for years apart from smaller ones. biggest being ~250va 220VAC->2 x 45-0-45 @ 1.2A + 1 x 30-0-30 @ 250ma and even that was a while ago, as I just reuse what ive got onhand and I inherited a bunch of his units from a friend when he left the country too; all of which are quiet. good to have another datapoint regardless. I used him predominantly for potted, multiple secondary units in cans and have not had any issues personally, but I have heard a couple murmurs like you mention.
Hello All,
It is very difficult to find good transformers.
for several years I have only been taking from toroidy.pl, and only this category
"Toroidal-transformers-SUPREME-AUDIO-GRADE-V2/99"
But is not the only one:
Toroidal transformers SUPREME AUDIO GRADE V2 - Shop Toroidy.pl
Transformer_James transformer-custom toroidal transformer|R core transformer|O core transformer|C core transformer|EI transformer
J&K Audio Design: About Us(not a Toroidal but extra quality)
in my opinion the 3 best quality, but more expensive
Regards and happy new year to all
Charles
It is very difficult to find good transformers.
for several years I have only been taking from toroidy.pl, and only this category
"Toroidal-transformers-SUPREME-AUDIO-GRADE-V2/99"
But is not the only one:
Toroidal transformers SUPREME AUDIO GRADE V2 - Shop Toroidy.pl
Transformer_James transformer-custom toroidal transformer|R core transformer|O core transformer|C core transformer|EI transformer
J&K Audio Design: About Us(not a Toroidal but extra quality)
in my opinion the 3 best quality, but more expensive
Regards and happy new year to all
Charles