|
Audio Asylum Thread Printer Get a view of an entire thread on one page |
For Sale Ads |
71.222.209.205
In Reply to: "supplying their components with pure DC " ... Point me to the market for components that run on DC, ... posted by bjh on February 12, 2007 at 18:23:26:
Not sure what you're asking. Perhaps you already know this so I apologize if this is redundant, but once you get past the power supply rectifiers and filters, ALL audio components - that is, their audio circuitry - run off DC. That's what a power supply does - it converts AC from the wall socket into DC. Way back in the old days, when the triode was the newest device on the block, that power supply often WAS a battery, which of course, supplies DC. Look at a schematic some time, B+ on the diagram is historic, it refers to the positive terminal of the BATTERY when the terminology was invented.Nowadays is B+ is mostly suplied by an AC power supply that uses rectifiers, capacitors, and sometimes chokes and active devices to approximate an ideal battery. There are a few components out there that actually use batteries to supply power because the designer feels they bypass the problems of making a clean, stable DC power supply from household AC, for example the Sutherland PhD phono preamp. The AST Emitter II Exclusive has a battery power supply option for its front end. There are probably a few others but those are a couple I thought of off the top of my head.
Follow Ups:
the energy equirements of running a Sutherland PhD or the front end of the AST Emitter II Exclusive compared to the requirements of running the output stage of an even moderately powered amplifier!But that's hardly the point, after all spending $5,000 for a separte battery supply for the Sutherland PhD would be simply absurd (how many lifetimes worth of replacement batteries could you purchase for $5,000?... Sutherland says the batteries should last for more than 800 listening hours!), and who's to say the $5,000 battery supply would make sense for the AST Emitter II Exclusive, i.e. I asume those AST boys already know a thing or two about building the required battery supply, no?
But even that misses the point even large point, and I find it nearly incredible to have to state this (actually reiterate since mentioned in my other post), but there is no ready supply of off the shelf components that could utilize the $5,000 battery supply!
No Guru, No Method, No Teacher
you said components that run on DC and of course they all do. But it's true that there aren't very many components for sale that run on batteries. That's another matter entirely. However, if an audiophile is willing to pay $5000 for a power cord, I don't see why, as a matter of reason, they wouldn't be willing to pay a like sum for a battery supply, which would recharge itself when the system was "off", that could be hooked up to a component or series of components that would run off batteries. The advantage, of course, is total freedom from the noise, hum, RF, etc. of the power line. It's just that nobody so far, except possibly a few fringe Japanese companies (those ultra fi nuts! :-D) have done so. And of course, you would be limited to components from that company, or those few companies - assuming that they would cooperate enough to agree to a common battery supply, which is doubtful - BluRay, anyone? But conceptually, it's a much more attractive idea than a $5000 power cord, isn't it?
"but there is no ready supply of off the shelf components that could utilize the $5,000 battery supply!"So... we'll just use AC cords as thick as fire hoses and call it good then?
Sounds kind of lazy if you ask me.
I thought audiophiles would go to any length...
Hmmmmmmmm....
Too bad no one make a $100,000 power cord, now that would be something too really spark your creative juices.
No Guru, No Method, No Teacher
nt
This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors: