Fidelity Audio SPower HC regulator in a Technics SL1210 M3D

[Frankyc2003]

A few weeks ago I am across this one in a mag.

http://fidelityaudio.co.uk/spower.html

These small modules are basically plug and play for most CD players. But having the capability to output 21V, they tickled my curiosity, so I got in touch Fidelity Audio to ask him a few questions about implementing the SPower within Techie.

Brent (a true gent BTW) was my point of contact, and he explained me that they do build PSUs for Inspire HIFI using these small regulator boards. The Monarch and the Monarch Baby being their flagship designs based on our trusted techie, I felt in safe hands…

But before any confusion arises, a few quick disclaimers, I will at some point get a Paul Hynes PSU with all Regulation Modules, but while I am saving money towards it, I had the urge to play around…

Second disclaimer: Electricity and electronics are NOT toys, and YOU should NOT attempt to replicate what I did in this thread. You DON’T want to harm yourself or your equipment! So, please DON’T follow my example…

Swiftly the SPower HC 21V was ordered and received. £50 later, here we are…



What a nifty design, compact and neatly laid out. The Pin out being clearly labeled, all I was left to do is to upgrade a few caps within the techie and remove the existing regulator.

First, I upgraded C1 to a Nichicon 2200uF rated at 50V. Because the cap is way too big to fit within the main PCB, I had to hard wire it and lodge it on the left hand side of the PCB.



Next on the list, C3. I removed the existing one and hard wired a Nichicon 33uF rated at 350V (a bit of an overkill I know)…



And finally, all left to do is to wire the SPower with the existing cabling left in place. So the ‘I’ pin gets wired to the cable coming from J1, the cable that was going to J2 now gets to the ‘G’ pin of the regulator and at the other hand to the ‘G’ pole on the PCB on the right hand side from the motor. The ‘O’ pin gets connected to J3.



So with minimal fuss, we have it, an upgraded regulator in the techie.



Not the neatest of all jobs, but some more tidying to come up soon.

So obviously, now the BIG question is HOW DOES IT SOUNDS?
Well, in comparison to the bog standard regulator, this modest upgrade feels just more natural. Somehow the music feels just more together, if that makes any sense. The top is less shouty, and the bass less boomy, giving a more even presentation I feel…
One thing for sure is, the platter gets up to a solid (iron tight!) speed in no time…
The strobe gives a rock solid speed reading.

So, here we have it, for a very modest outlay, a subtle but noticeable sound upgrade for the techie.

I am curious to see if anyone has tried before and what their findings are…

[Canetoad]

I use an Spower 5v regulator in the DIY PSU for my 2nd Touch. It does a fine job.

[Frankyc2003]

Good stuff,
I was actually thinking of making one of these for my SBT.
What design did you use?

[Canetoad]

I think I used an 80VA 2 x 9v toroid, Schottky rectifier diodes and Panasonic FC smoothing caps. 4 times 2700uF from memory. Put it all in a case and away I went.

[Frankyc2003]

Neat.
If you have pics of the build I would love to see what it looks like.
Cheers

[lovejoy]

I realise that I am resurrecting a very old thread here and that I am extremely late to the SL1200 party, but, just out of curiosity really, I picked up an old MKII a few weeks ago and have been working my way through the pages of modifications on here. Apart from changing over to an Achromat, this is the first mod I have attempted, but now I have a bit of a problem which I wonder whether anyone may be able to point a finger towards a cause...

I've done the mod pretty much as Franky described. The only difference being that I used a 33uf cap at 25v rather than the 350v rating described in the first post as the original cap is a 25v cap too.

Everything worked perfectly first time having fitted the S-power reg and putting everything back together and I settled down for an evening of great sounding tunes - This mod is most definitely worth it, and I haven't even got to externalising the main transformer yet.. I came back a second night for some more - Still sounding excellent - It's getting quite addictive is this.. Then on the third night, I put the stylus on the first record of the evening and noticed things sounding rather wonky.. Looked at the strobe light and realised that the steady solid dots as they had been for the last few nights were now wavering back and forth, moving backwards by about the length of one dot and then forward by about the same amount, twice per rotation. I've opened the case up again, checked everything out and it all looks fine - I've also disabled the pitch controller by jumpering the two central pins, but no difference.

Not entirely sure where to start looking - Whether to reverse the mods first, or look for another component failure elsewhere. I also wonder whether it could possibly be down to the spindle bearing as having taken a look under the thrust plate, the bearing is obviously worn, so I wonder whether this could cause the problem..

Any pointers much appreciated..

Otherwise, what started out as merely a hankering for a new project and a bit of curiosity is quickly finding its home as my favourite turntable of all time.

[lovejoy]

Panic over.. Sussed it... Well, it was either the 33uf cap that died or it's the bearing... I replaced one and put a bit more oil on the other and all is well. If it suddenly goes in the same way again then I know I'll need a higher voltage cap. Otherwise I think the bearing is going to be the next thing that gets replaced.