Posted by Ivan303 (A) on February 21, 2003 at 17:59:18

In Reply to: MV Rectifiers - Ugh! posted by Lance on February 21, 2003 at 11:34:16:

All very good points that should be kept in mind when working with MV rectifiers.

My experience with the reliability of MV rectifiers is a bit different than yours. Most of my experience is in using them WAY below their ratings limit. We should be careful of that kind of thinking or we might all be back listening to Sand Amps, before we know it:-)

I have a good friend who is in his mid 80's and still at his bench every day including Saturdays. He uses an old High Voltage Power Supply on his bench and claims he has had the same 866's running in it for about 40 years. Uses it every day.

Quite a number of tube testers use the 83 without problems.

I have a collection of 816's and 866's; both US types and the slim Amperex 866AX's. Also have a few of the ST shaped 866 Taylor JR's. Would love to get my hands on a few Taylor Globes and especially the Taylor Globe JR's, as they have no top cap, the only real legitimate risk I can think of, especially to pets and children.

I understand that physical placement can be a bit of an issue as it relates to other components in the system. Note the location of the 816's in Terry Cain's great sounding 2A3 amps pictured above. Also note the 83 located out of the way in the rear. Yep, a separate power supply for the 801A driver!

As for the Mercury itself, not near the problem as the organic form that we are adding to our food chain daily from mining and chemical processing. Millions of tons a year from the US alone.

"If it measures good and sounds bad, -- it is bad. If it sounds good and measures bad, -- you've measured the wrong thing."
Daniel R. von Recklinghausen

• Daniel R. von Recklinghausen