PSU Upgrades. Why?

[Arkless Electronics]

Cheers Jez

Is there a way for punters to objectively measure their amps to see if an alternative PSU may improve things?

Do your comments hold true for other things - like DACS, computers, TTs etc?

Edward

btw: did you get the Marconi thing yet and does it work?

I'm afraid there is nothing a punter can do to measure any of this no...

Different things vary hugely as to how sensitive they are to PSU quality but the comments generally hold true yes.

TT supplies for most synchronous motor TT's are in effect low powered mains regenerators and supply a high voltage AC waveform to the TT. This will usually be 240V AC 50Hz of course but some TT supplies have a facility to change the frequency by a few Hz and so change the speed of the TT to be precisely 33 1/3 RPM. This can also be used to deliberately set it to the wrong speed to bring a recording which was off pitch into tune. Some can vary the AC voltage as well in the pursuit of lower vibration from the TT motor.

No I still don't have the Marconi Instruments signal generator....

[RothwellAudio]

Some equipment has no regulation, smoothing etc internally and hence relies entirely on the quality of the external PSU but this is a VERY bad way of doing things...

A cynic might say that designing something known to be heavily reliant on the quality of the power supply (because there's no regulation etc.) allows the manufacturer to "prove" that a more expensive outboard PSU add-on improves sound quality and puts customers on the never ending upgrade path with ever more expensive levels of PSU to upgrade to.

[walpurgis]

A cynic might say that designing something known to be heavily reliant on the quality of the power supply (because there's no regulation etc.) allows the manufacturer to "prove" that a more expensive outboard PSU add-on improves sound quality and puts customers on the never ending upgrade path with ever more expensive levels of PSU to upgrade to.

Now we're heading somewhere towards what I was getting at. I was beginning to think nobody had got the point of my question.

Which was largely. If a piece of equipment is working perfectly and exactly as it should with the standard power supply, how can it benefit from an 'upgraded' one.

I suspect there's a big market for posh PSU's and nobody wants to let on that they are probably a con.

[Arkless Electronics]

Now we're heading somewhere towards what I was getting at. I was beginning to think nobody had got the point of my question.

Which was largely. If a piece of equipment is working perfectly and exactly as it should with the standard power supply, how can it benefit from an 'upgraded' one.

I suspect there's a big market for posh PSU's and nobody wants to let on that they are probably a con.

Yep.

Some of the things that go on would make your toes curl! I well remember a past employer of mine having an FM tuner which retailed about £250 and used a bought in single board (the same board was available as a Rotel tuner for £120!). The mains transformer was not properly supported and many were arriving dead due to the PCB cracking under the weight of the TX in transit. So... they got staff to remove the TX, put it in a separate external box and claimed it was a completely redesigned MkII tuner with much improved performance... and added another £50 to the price! The mags duly reviewed it and said how much better it was than the MkI!!

[Light Dependant Resistor]

Despite the best man made measuring gear, it cannot do what a pair of ears can.

For instance in a new DC regulator design of mine, if you use a Nat semi LM317 which
measures the same as a ST LM317 it does not get close to what the ST does, yet they are
both LM317 from very well respected manufacturers.

In an earlier post I reached conclusion that the ST schematic internally leaves out a zener
diode on the adjustment leg, being the only difference between the two.

So to create circuits that sound good, you need to listen and also measure, as just measuring
you will otherwise miss essential aspects.

[RobbieGong]

Now we're heading somewhere towards what I was getting at. I was beginning to think nobody had got the point of my question.

Which was largely. If a piece of equipment is working perfectly and exactly as it should with the standard power supply, how can it benefit from an 'upgraded' one.

I suspect there's a big market for posh PSU's and nobody wants to let on that they are probably a con.

Big ? Don't know, but like all things there'll be the type of market you refer of cause - business is like that.
It's not the overall picture though imo\e and we all know in this game if it sounds better it is

[Jimbo]

Ah so it's just about manufacturers making more money?

[jandl100]

There are power supply 'upgrades' for many Hi-Fi components, from turntables to phono stages and amplifiers and pre-amps and so on. Some from the manufacturer or others being aftermarket units.

If these 'better' power supplies are needed, that implies that the original was inadequate. If that is the case, why are so many products being sold with unsuitable power supplies? Or, is the wool being pulled over our eyes?

I always knew that we have a fundamentally different world view.
This post simply confirms it!

[Arkless Electronics]

Naim are about the worst offenders at this... Not only do they put the regulator at the wrong end (PSU end), they're 20P LM317's... and then they feed the power to the circuits via a 27R resistor decoupled to ground via a 47uF cap.... which removes most of the point of the regulation anyway! (it will help to remove noise though) Then there's the toroidal transformer big enough to literally power a hundred pre-amps... which no doubt makes it feel heavy enough to be worth all that money

[walpurgis]

DNM used to make me wonder. The basic pre-amp came with an offboard power supply, to which could be added what seemed like an endless chain of additional power supplies.