Condo Power Issues

[microstrip]

To me the very best is Double conversation UPS. I have made that abundantly clear.

Perhaps some one can add this aspect to the list of audiophile sins:

- generating his own mains because normal mains distributed by electrical companies is not good enough for his audio system.

Although I agree with you this is a definitive and good solution, it is a defeat of engineering accepting that an audio system does not have rejection enough of mains induced noise and distortions, and needs a separate generator.

BTW, it was stated clearly before that power line mains grounding to Mother Earth only affects safety and does not have any effect in providing a good out path to noise. The magical effects of grounding to earth in noise are just an audiophile myth.

 

[Nyal Mellor]

Perhaps some one can add this aspect to the list of audiophile sins:

- generating his own mains because normal mains distributed by electrical companies is not good enough for his audio system.

Although I agree with you this is a definitive and good solution, it is a defeat of engineering accepting that an audio system does not have rejection enough of mains induced noise and distortions, and needs a separate generator.

BTW, it was stated clearly before that mains grounding only affects security and does not have any effect in providing a good out path to noise. It is just an audiophile myth.

Power regeneration / dual conversion online UPSs address every power quality issue but I'm personally not convinced about their ability to supply peak current requirements for amplifiers and the like. Dual conversion UPSs also have the battery replacement issue.

A tap-switching isolation transformer such as the Torus AVR series will cover you for basically everything except a power outage. It will regulate output voltage to 120V for most input voltages. If there is a severe under or over voltage event then the power will be disconnected to your gear.

Noise can get in via the safety ground. You can solve that with a ground filter.

 

[Speedskater]

...........

BTW, it was stated clearly before that mains grounding only affects security and does not have any effect in providing a good out path to noise. It is just an audiophile myth.

Didn't you mean to write?

BTW, it was stated clearly before that power line mains grounding to Mother Earth only affects safety and does not have any effect in providing a good out path to noise.


That above safety is during power company high voltage disasters and thunder storms.

 

[Speedskater]

............
Noise can get in via the safety ground. You can solve that with a ground filter.

no - no - no never usa a ground lifter !!!!!!!!!!!

 

[microstrip]

Didn't you mean to write?

BTW, it was stated clearly before that power line mains grounding to Mother Earth only affects safety and does not have any effect in providing a good out path to noise.


That above safety is during power company high voltage disasters and thunder storms.

Speedskater,

Yes, I just copied your better formulation of my sentence. But safety also includes possible disasters caused by malfunction in equipment that can electrocute people.
Thanks!

 

[KeithR]

Frantz- thanks. Let me know what you think.

Bob Hovland (who checked my amps out) thinks 274Bs may not work well in this circuit as a replacement for the 5uR rectifier. So I will use stock rectifiers from now on at least to take away that variable while I work through this power stuff.

On another note, I did order a pair of SS amps that I can rotate back and forth. They match my preamps (Valvet), so will see how it all shakes out in a few weeks sonics-wise.

 

[treitz3]

You could always ask 3 or 4 electrical companies to see what they would charge to have them record a 24-48 hour period of incoming voltage. Finding an electrical company that has this type of equipment may prove to be a challenge but once you get on the horn, I'm sure you will get some referrals to the right type of place. What I'm trying to get at is that you might want to properly diagnose the issue before you go blowing money on things that may or may help. For what it's worth.

Tom

 

[microstrip]

My cheap alternative. Get a power transformer with a low voltage AC secondary - 3 to 6V will be great. Prepare a cable with RCA plug on one side and the two bare wires (GND and signal) at the other side and solder them to the AC outputs. Connect this cable to the input of a passive preamplifier and the output of the preamplifier to your external USB sound card. Adjust level to have a suitable signal amplitude ( ~-12dB) and record this signal for 24-48 hours using your PC. Sample rate can be low - it will allow a much faster analysis. All you need now is some one with a good sound editor to analyze this long file - they have tools that can be used to search for any defects in the wave form and zoom in these zones.

If you can get an AC transformer with less than 1V output you do not need the passive - most soundcards accept signals up to 2V. Alternatively get a toroidal power transformer and wind your secondary using a few feet of insulated wire - the voltage will be low and you will be able to connect it directly to the sound card input. It is my personnel solution.

Do not do this directly on the sound input of your expensive portable - very strong transients can damage the sound input and it is less harmful loosing an inexpensive sound card than damaging the PC! I have added some strings of protection diodes to the input of my home made mains analyzer.

 

[Nyal Mellor]

no - no - no never usa a ground lifter !!!!!!!!!!!

I said ground FILTER, not ground LIFTER.

 

[Speedskater]

I'm sorry Nyal, my old eyes saw 'ground lifter'.

What's a ground filter?

 

[Nyal Mellor]

I'm sorry Nyal, my old eyes saw 'ground lifter'.

What's a ground filter?

Basically an inductor that stops high frequency noise from circulating in the ground wire.

See here:

http://www.onfilter.com/product.html?s=GFILTERS
http://ep2000.com/uploads/EP_Ground Filter.pdf