I still havent got the bugger yet and your already wanting mine :ner: I really want to see what the differences are between the current PSU (Timestep HE) and Paul's, I've already been warned that the beast is gonna be big! I may have to buy another rack for the stand :lol:
There's my excuse for not upgrading from the SR5. Damn, I'm not convinced...Quote:
Originally Posted by REXTON
Do you really need to, after all those regs?Quote:
Originally Posted by MartinT
Honestly - I don't know. I'm going to get the third stage regs done before I even think about it, though.
Lol - I'm not after anything, dude. I'm more than happy with the 'mere' standard SR7EHD! :eyebrows:Quote:
Originally Posted by REXTON
All I was suggesting is that it might be interesting swapping PSUs for a week sometime later on, as that way we can analyse the sonic effect of the 'posh bits' you've had put inside yours :cool:
Marco.
Trust me, if I popped down and let you hear my SR7EHD, it'd take you around 5 secs to understand why it's fundamentally better than the SR5, and indeed what makes it rather special - that is after you've scooped your jaw up off of the floor!! :eek: :wowzer:Quote:
Originally Posted by MartinT
Marco.
It'll be more difficult these days, Marco. Not only do you have a different connector, but I need 27V rather than the normal 21V for my deck now.
Marco’s SR7EHD can be adjusted to 27 volts output internally and I can provide a new lead with the requisite connectors if required.
Happy New Ears folks.
Regards
Paul
I'm also getting itchy waiting for mine to arrive. Specially after what Mikes Bearing has done to the deck.
And with all your help i should be able to turn this into something special.
22 years with a Linn and now my eyes have been opened.
Paul.
Hope the case arrived intact?, I haven't sent the front panel as i was worried it may get damaged, also would it be possible to keep all the connection/Switch to the left and right hand sides as my Fraim(Rack) is a tripod design.
This upgrading lark is very infectious. :eyebrows:
Hi Paul,
Interesting. A couple of questions, if I may...Quote:
Marco’s SR7EHD can be adjusted to 27 volts output internally and I can provide a new lead with the requisite connectors if required.
1) What are the sonic advantages (if any) of adjusting my PSU to 27 volts output? Or what is the actual purpose of adjusting the voltage?
2) Why would a new DC lead be necessary - couldn't I adjust the voltage and keep my existing lead? Or would the new lead you're proposing simply be to facilitate Martin and me swapping PSUs? :)
Lol - same to you, my friend! :cool:Quote:
Happy New Ears folks.
Marco.
Marco - the Technics main DC power rail must be run at 21V. This is why most external PSUs (such as yours) are set to 21V.
My deck now has internal 21V regulators so this is why an external 27V rail is required (this is two-stage regulation). You could not now use my PSU on your deck.
H'okey cokey... So, apologies for being dense, but what was Paul getting at with his suggestion of a new lead?
Anyway, there's one sure way to sort this...
I'd forgotten that I still have my SR5, therefore all we have to do, is for me to bring it down (along with my T/T) and let you hear the comparison between the PSUs, using my T/T in your system, which will easily show up the differences!
All you have to do then is listen to the sound of my T/T with both the SR5 and SR7EHD, using your system as the reference point, and judge from that.
Job done :cool:
Marco.
I don't doubt that the SR7EHD sounds better than the SR5 when used as a single external power supply on your deck. However, working out whether it will sound better on my deck (with, eventually, triple stage regulation) is more complex than that and necessitates the use of 27V external PSUs - with my deck, of course :)
This is why Paul is suggesting the adapter cable - so that we could adjust your SR7 to 27V and use the cable to connect it to the 4-pin flying lead from my deck.
Hi Marco,
Martin has answered your questions but for technical reference I have added some more information below.
The output voltage should only be adjusted to 27 volts if the SL1200 internal regulator upgrades are in place. All regulators have what is called a dropout voltage, which is the required voltage between input and output to maintain voltage regulation. The regulator will not regulate if the input to output voltage is reduced below the dropout voltage. The PR3 regulators fitted in the transformer well of the chassis have dropout voltage of around 4 to 5 volts in this application so the external power supply needs to be set higher to ensure correct regulation.
Martin’s SR5 was fitted with a 4 pin XLR originally. You have changed the SR7EHD XLR to a Furutech XLR which, I believe, is a 3 pin XLR. Unless Martin has also changed to a Furutech 3 pin XLR your connectors will not be compatible. I will have to make a 3 pin XLR cable the same length as his 4 pin cable for Martin to patch into his deck wiring. This will provide the minimum number of contacts in the DC path. I will need to know which pins have been used on the three pin XLR to ensure correct polarity.
Charles,
The case arrived yesterday. I have not checked the parcel yet as I have only returned to work today and there is a very large e-mail in box to get through. Many of the materials orders that were delayed by bad weather during December and the holidays have also arrived and I have to get these unpacked, checked and sorted for the various build projects in the build schedule. It will probably be Monday before I get into the workshop and I will be working through the build schedule in chronological order as usual.
Andrew,
The Teflon printed circuit board has arrived. I will be building a large batch of regulator modules for a variety or power supplies including yours next week and then working through the outstanding power supplies.
Regards
Paul
Great to see that good craftsmanship is in demand! :thumbsup:
Paul,
Thanks for confirming delivery.
Happy New Year
I'll be doing a slow upgrade over the next six-nine months starting with a new cart, new SUT and some lovely new reference power leads for my ATC's. I'm gonna see what each bit adds to the system, I'll probably also put in the new internal regs that Paul's designed but we'll have to see about that later! I'm very much up for fetching the PSU to you at some point. Probably meet you half way somewhere at a hifi show??Quote:
Originally Posted by Marco
You poor dude! :D You have techy1210itis which is a commonly known disease amongst the bretheran of AOS. There is no known cure and you'll always be skint but you will have a wonderful deck.Quote:
Originally Posted by Artifolk
:yay::yay: NICE! Now, when can we start to buy the internal regs from you :scratch:Quote:
Originally Posted by Paul Hynes
Who needs a cure when fully blown techy1210itis is the outcome :facepull::lol:Quote:
Originally Posted by REXTON
I rushed home tonight to get Paul's latest wonder PSU installed. The SR7-27 (set for 27V because I have the full dual-stage regs fitted internally) is a big beast, fitted into a silver chassis but with the mammoth heatsink deleted as I needed it to fit into the tight space available in my system rack. It's quite a lot larger and heavier than the SR5.
Now I must admit to wondering whether the SR7 would really yield any improvements over the already over-spec SR5, however I remembered the very significant uplift in performance of the SR5 over the SR3 and Timestep PSUs, so I went ahead and ordered it knowing what it was doing for Marco's deck.
I am not disappointed. There are improvements across the board (no night-and-day stuff, this is subtle) and, interestingly, the first thing I noticed was a cymbal in the opening to Gaucho that I hadn't really focused on before. There is more authority, more of that rhythmic-metronomic punch that the Technics does so well, more detail in the soundstage, more slam.
I am listening to it connected via the 4-pin XLR connector, just to get the thing going. I have yet to fit the 3-pin Jaegar connector that Paul assures me delivers an even lower output impedance.
I can't begin to figure out how a hugely over-spec PSU can better an over-spec PSU when there are two further stages of regulation down-line, driving a turntable motor. All I can say is that the SR7 is the best PSU I have heard on my deck, taking its performance even higher and representing (in my book) good value for money.
Welcome! Did you get the XL version??
SR7-27 EHD.
mines stupidly over specced but useless at this moment in time :( Paul has my deck and he's waiting for me to send him a replacement PCB, just you guys wait till my baby comes back!
We're waiting, Andrew. Seems like an age since you were last playing it. Expensive mistake :steam:
Which is why you won't catch me doing such things to my Techie. When it comes to electronics mods I'm best kept well out of the way as I'm likely to blow something up just by being near it :lol: I'll pay someone to do it for me if or when the time comes... ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by MartinT
Paul has set up agent(s) in order to have the mods performed for you, when you're ready Dave.
Cheers Martin, but I've a long way to go yet. I do have an external PS now which has made a huge difference. I can't stop listening to my vinyl these days... :D
Me too - that's what it's about!
The SR7 has certainly brought its prize to my consciousness over the last couple of days, a combination of a) having run-in for 48 hours and being thoroughly warmed through, and b) my listening to a goodly selection of great music, hearing much of it in a new way.
As I first stated, it seems to be the treble that reveals itself first, being ultra clean, pure and filigree detailed. Then comes the incredible punch to anything percussive. Just now I've been hearing more and more that my speakers simply disappear, there being no sense of two channels of sound, just a deep and wide stage in front of me. My insight into the music is the best I've heard, a very strong sense of presence in the best recordings and at the very least something interesting about the worst recordings always coming through.
I don't know how he does it or exactly what's different about the SR7 over the SR5 (I would guess tighter regulation and more instantaneous current capability, possibly lower noise), but Paul has created yet another great enhancement to the Technics turntable. The very fact that the Techie keeps responding to these upgrades by getting ever better is a real testimony to how good the basic design is. Perhaps the improvement in treble is down to a further reduction in flutter? I'll also lay more than a little of the quality of the overall sound at my Dynavector arm's door. More fool HFN who gave it a so-so review. It is simply in a different class from the various SMEs.
So thank you, Paul. I am extremely happy with the SR7 and consider it to have been money very well spent.
Sorry I'm late to this one, Martin. Well done!
It's amazing how Paul's internal reg mods and the SR-7 work together so symbiotically, isn't it? :)
Marco.
Hi Martin and Marco,
Both of you are well aware of the benefits of a larger power supply and Marco is right about the symbiosis of the whole power system.
This particular regulator circuitry responds well to cascading in series and using this technique provides enormous supply line rejection making the deck circuitry much less susceptible to mains borne interference. Cascading regulators can add the regulator sonic signatures but in this case the regulator signature is benign so the technique is beneficial. This is not true for all regulator circuits and cascading some of them can add sonically obnoxious characteristics.
The regulator modules and power supplies are very quiet so they are not introducing high levels of additional noise on the motor board. They also operate over a much wider bandwidth than the typical regulator circuits used in audio power supplies, so RFI rejection is good and the regulators are still effectively regulating the digital control circuitry in the SL 1200, where lesser regulators like the LM317, and it’s clones, have stopped regulating as they have run out of bandwidth.
Not only that, the internal regulator modules are closer than any external power supply can be to the load circuits, so the load regulation is more effective.
Most people would consider the SR7 to be grossly over-specified for the SL1200, however there are audible gains to be had by the improved regulation and lower impedance of the larger mains transformer, the reduction in output impedance by increasing the size of the output stage and up-rating the rectifier diodes. More power under the bonnet, so to speak. There are also a few little tweaks to the circuitry that I am not at liberty to disclose at present.
It all makes great sense, Paul, and explains exactly what I hear from the SR7 plus the internal regs.
More to come from the 1210 :eyebrows: Cant wait.Quote:
Originally Posted by Paul Hynes
Thought I'd reproduce the photo I took of the Jaeger connector used by Paul in the SR7-27 EHD, as it does indeed add to the quality of sound that the SR7 brings to the Technics turntable. I swapped to it recently from the standard 4-pin XLR. It's also a gorgeous connector and my macro photography is getting better :)
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8208/8...56df4bd9_b.jpg
Nice one, Martin - great pic... Defo *the* best way to connect an SR7 to the Techy! :exactly:
Marco.
+1 with that one, thats the connector I have. Probably the best piece of connective engineering you'll see :exactly:
Done some thinking. Done some reading. Ordered an sr7 for the pc to power my ssds and sotm usb output. Will be interesting to see what it does to the noise floor.