[spaceace1014]

I just bought a 212 off of a member here. I have a Rigol Programmable Linear Power supply just sitting in my garage. Aside from the fact that it's massive, more expensive than the 212 and normally intended for projects... is there any reason why I shouldn't use that instead?

It seems like it would be vastly superior to whatever is coming with the 212.

 

[Tjj226 Angel]

I just bought a 212 off of a member here. I have a Rigol Programmable Linear Power supply just sitting in my garage. Aside from the fact that it's massive, more expensive than the 212 and normally intended for projects... is there any reason why I shouldn't use that instead?

It seems like it would be vastly superior to whatever is coming with the 212.

It probably wont work.

I believe the 212 is a pro bias energizer which means that it outputs both +580v and -580v. I am willing to bet your psu probably can't put out that kind of voltage.

 

[spaceace1014]

It probably wont work.

I believe the 212 is a pro bias energizer which means that it outputs both +580v and -580v. I am willing to bet your psu probably can't put out that kind of voltage.

Sorry my fault... I wasn't super clear. I'm not going to try and use an external power supply to try and directly power the bias of my headphones.

The 212 takes 12VDC from a wallwart. Generally speaking it comes with a switching power supply. The one I have on the way has an aftermarket supply but it looks like its a pretty cheap made device by facmogu one so it's probably also a switching power supply it certainly is not marked as being linear.

I absolutely can program the RIGOL to be within spec and it would have amperage overhead to spare but I've never seen ayone do this or talk about it and maybe thats because it's cheaper smaller and easier to just use a pre-made device with a set voltage in which case I'm fine with the overkill. It could also be the case that these devices aren't meant to be left on or they do something strange that makes them completely unsuitable.

 

[AudioCats]

make sure the polarity is correct when you hook it up to the rigol. The 212 has a center-minus power jack. The only protection inside is the power-input fuse and a zener diode, if the polarity is reversed the zener will short it to ground which will pop the fuse, hopefully that happens fast enough to save the rest of the circuit.

The high current power supply will help clean up the sound by quite a bit. One "standard" upgrade for ESP950 is to use a beefy desktop power supply to drive the 950's amp.

I will still recommend making a dedicated high current supply to drive the 212 after trying the rigol (since this is the DIY forum, after all

 

[spaceace1014]

Thanks audiocats!

 

[AudioCats]

If you like what you hear with the rigol, try a 12v battery next, it should sound even better.

 

[spaceace1014]

Ehhh I have the Rigol on hand and it sounds like there is no downside to using it. A battery would require a charging setup and a process where I'd switch from charging to listening manually or otherwise. If this wasn't a 212... I'd probably be into it... but It is and I'm going to be using it with a pair of 007 Mk2.9's which is such a bad match that I shudder to think about it. This is really just an interim setup until I order a KGSSHV and then it'll probably be a guest system. If there are simple things I can do that don't require constant attention like for example a re-cap I'll probably do it. Actually I'm definitely doing a re-cap. That's just old Stax 101. You get the idea.

 

[AudioCats]

using a battery box make it semi-(trans)portable.