The Audiophoolery Thread.

[Chris55000]

Hi!

Anybody got three–phase and neutral 230/400V a.c. domestic supply?

Chris Williams

[tony brady]

The place we rent in Malaysia has 3 phase for the aircon. with 1.5HP units in each room it's essential.

[turretslug]

My sister's previous house (a biggish but hardly unusual five-bedroom place), clearly had a three-phase incomer under the stairs with only one phase connected and used but all three terminated in olde-worlde cast-iron fuse-holders so were certainly provided for and available. Perhaps when it was built in the late 'twenties, a brave new world was envisaged of clean, all-electric everything including heating and things with big motors. She maybe should have sold it as "having superb audiophile potential"....

[jjl]

Many houses in France, especially in rural areas have 3 phase mains supplies. This is because use of a large immersion heater known as a "cumulus" is common in areas where there is no mains gas supply. The cumulus uses a 3 phase supply to allow more power and hence fast water heating.
The house I used to own in the south west of France had this sort of supply and I believe that the supply to wall sockets may have been distributed between phases too on a room by room basis.

John

[mole42uk]

We have a three-phase incomer, many 30's houses in the UK had three-phase, each house in the street picked up the next phase along. If I needed a three-phase supply it would be quite simple to have a three-phase meter installed.

[Radio Wrangler]

After all the work beefing up turntable bearings and the mechanical loop out through the arm and to the cartridge, It seems wrong to have a gentle motor and a floppy rubber band.

If the arm and cartridge are being made more like a cutting lathe, then the turntable drive using the logic of similarity ought to be a 7HP 3-phase synchronous motor with gear drive.

We can have huge arguments over whether straight-cut, helical or worm gearing is U or non-U.

If you have to get the street dug up to get the other phases in, then it's going to be most reassuringly expensive, AND the neighbours will all see that they've got a true high-end audiophile living in their midst. They will be greatly impressed!

I remember that when the MUSE TV standard was being demonstrated from a lorry touring Britain, people asked whether they'd need a new aerial. They were told no, their existing one would be fine. The presenters were surprised that this generated disappointment. Joe public wanted a different aerial so that the rest of the street could see that they'd got the new TV system!

David

[Beobloke]

You're all daft. Batteries are where it's at...

https://www.livingvoice.co.uk/lv-bat...er-supply.html

[Malcolm G6ANZ]

This says it all. Copied from the site
All Living Voice loudspeakers are infused with a magical quality that elevates the listening experience.

[Radio Wrangler]

Can't argue with that.

Other religions are available, but may vary from region to region.

David

[Craig Sawyers]

Originally Posted by Beobloke

You're all daft. Batteries are where it's at...

https://www.livingvoice.co.uk/lv-bat...er-supply.html

Good heavens

[Radio Wrangler]

Oh... a nice battery bank, but then they convert the output to 50Hz AC for powering 'Normal' hifi stuff.

Talk about missing the boat.

It is going to get turned back into DC for real use. THey could have skipped the 50Hz bit and made a family of Hifi gear for, say, 48v DC supplies.

THe first photo of the battery with what looked like duplicated connections in parallel could get true aficionados a little excited "Look! They've bi-wired the batteries!"

David

[mark2collection]

Originally Posted by Craig Sawyers

Good heavens

The cynic in me see's an upmarket UPS?

My vague memory suggests Merlin Maxwell made a battery-pack, one which required one to 'stay on their toes' as it were, could be onto something ...

If batteries are the way to go, and with a pack like that in the link above, how would a Roberts R707 sound? On the 'plus' side, it'll cheerfully play for quite some hours on that lot!

Mark

[mark2collection]

Originally Posted by Radio Wrangler

They could have skipped the 50Hz bit and made a family of Hifi gear for, say, 48v DC supplies.

David

Indeed, they'd also need an audio grade/fast recovery 'wally' diode, audio grade fuse and, wait for it, audio grade fuse holder plus associated 99.99999% wire too …

The ship has wistfully sailed into the sunset ...

Mark

[Refugee]

All that system is missing is the solar panels to enhance the light entertainment.

[Craig Sawyers]

Originally Posted by Radio Wrangler

Oh... a nice battery bank, but then they convert the output to 50Hz AC for powering 'Normal' hifi stuff.

Talk about missing the boat.

It is going to get turned back into DC for real use. THey could have skipped the 50Hz bit and made a family of Hifi gear for, say, 48v DC supplies.

David

LFD did that with a moving coil cartridge phono stage ages ago. LFD is Dr Richard Bews, one of Malcolm Hawkesford's students back in the day. I met him back then when he was doing motional feedback on loudspeakers and active room correction for his PhD. Smart guy.

And quite a few have done home brew power amps with a crate of car batteries supplying the rails.

Craig

PS Even further back I also did this with a phono stage, late '70s. NiCd's at that point of course, and they went the way that they did with charging memory.

My vague memory suggests Merlin Maxwell made a battery-pack

And here https://www.vintage-radio.net/forum/...ad.php?t=66030 it is.

[julie_m]

If you are going to generate your own power to run your hi-fi equipment, surely you should aim to recreate as precisely as possible the conditions of the power supply when the recording was made?

[dglcomp]

Originally Posted by julie_m

If you are going to generate your own power to run your hi-fi equipment, surely you should aim to recreate as precisely as possible the conditions of the power supply when the recording was made?

Yes, new 2.1 sound where the .1 is a recording of the mains supply at the time or recording rather than being an LFE/SUB channel. The question is at what sample rate/bit depth should it be recorded at. Plus if the electricity in question came from a nuclear power station could the resulting playback lack some of the "glow"/"shine" of the original?

[Refugee]

Originally Posted by dglcomp

Yes, new 2.1 sound where the .1 is a recording of the mains supply at the time or recording rather than being an LFE/SUB channel. The question is at what sample rate/bit depth should it be recorded at. Plus if the electricity in question came from a nuclear power station could the resulting playback lack some of the "glow"/"shine" of the original?

Nuclear power would narrow the sound stage towards the nucleus.
Solar power would brighten the sound.
Wind turbines would make it sound cold.
You need a snapshot of this to get the energy mix for the country the recording was made in at the tome the recording was made.
Would a screen shot of this do
https://www.gridwatch.templar.co.uk/

[Radio Wrangler]

Record the mains at the place and time of the recording (drawing a veil over the issue of mixdown, master cutting etc) then replay the mains into a monster amplifier powering the hifi setup reproducing the music in the audiophile's home?

Neat! and reassuringly awkward and expensive.

David