50 and 60Hz mains

[James G]

Not sure the best place for this, but here goes.

Could someone in the know tell me; does audio gear perform differently in 50 and 60Hz mains? Does it make any difference? Thanks.

[Reid Malenfant]

Apart from the fact that i'll seriously mess up the speed of some record decks the answer is yes :eyebrows: 60Hz would probably give you a bit more power out of an amplifier due to less voltage droop on the reservoir capacitors (they are being charged more often ;))

I can't think of much else right now tbh :scratch:

[James G]

Thanks for that explanation. So the power caps get charged at the frequency of the mains, so the less frequency, the "slower" it charges. Makes perfect sense, just never thought of it like that.

So would it be safe to say if it there was and robust transformer and a surplus of reservoir capacitance, one would probably not notice an appreciable drop in performance (theoretically)? And perhaps less on gear that has a tiny current draw?

[StanleyB]

It all depends on the rate of discharge of the reservoir caps. If you are not pumping out music at full blast you won't be any better off with 60Hz. I consider 66% of the max power output to be the plateau after which 60Hz starts to make a difference to me.
Talking about percentages: the amp is its most inefficient at about 33% of its full power capacity, which is between 1/4 and 1/2 on most amps. I can't remember the reason for it though..

[Barry]

Some equipment designed to operate on 60Hz supply may not be happy when used on 50Hz mains. Some transformers, intended for use at 60Hz, may buzz when used at 50Hz, however any competently designed transformer ought to be OK.

[James G]

Stan, Barry, thanks. I learned something. :)

[John]

When i had the PS P500 on my Nu-vista 3d cd player 60hz sine sounded harsh 50hz (maybe the other way sorry good few years back) sounded great No idea why

[Reid Malenfant]

Possibly beat frequencies :) What i mean by that is there is bound to be a miniscule ammount of 60/120Hz hum on the CD player output. If you were feeding it to any kit fed by 50Hz then the two will interact & generate new fequencies that may have caused what you heard.

If you could have fed it a precise 100Hz in phase with the mains it might have been a different story.

Just a guess by the way, i don't have much of an idea either :eyebrows: