[valiant66]

... And yes i forgot to ask (again), next generation Vidar dedicated MONO only with minimum 250W or more please. I backed out of 2x Vidar for the scare of use them in Bridged mono (my own schiit theory of not to operate in bridged mono whatever ... )

To the best of my knowledge Schiit designed Vidar from the ground up to operate equally well in mono or stereo. No need for audio nervous there.
.

 

[Jnan]

To, er, "contribute," we recently had a discussion about "power regeneration" for the smaller AC-powered products (you know, Magni, Modi Uber, stuff that uses wall-warts.) It's technically feasible to do something like feed a 60Hz sinewave into a Jotunheim and use it to output a perfect 60 Hz, 14VAC wave to power our smaller products.

And yeah, sure, youbetcha that this $399 cluster**** will make your $99 amp sound better. Or at least that's what some would say.

Hell, you could even use different AC frequencies to see if that made it better. And different output levels. I could look forward to emails about how 16.34VAC at 75.64Hz produces the most sublime sound from Magni 3. I could also look forward to emails about how using Mjolnir as an AC regenerator sounded even better, especially when using adapters and WE396A tubes. And, of course, the emails about how using a Vidar for each product in a stack (say, Eitr, Magni 3, and Modi Multibit, with 3 bridged mono Vidars--no big deal, just a $2100 power supply, right?)

(For those of you with a technical bent wondering about the math behind this, consider that V(p-p) = 2.83Vrms. So, if you want to swing 14VAC, you need about 40V of output swing. That's why you'd need something bigger than Magni 3--it only has 17V rails. If you want to swing 115VAC, you're looking at 325V output swing. That's a BIGGGGGG amplifier, with 170-ish volt rails minimum, plus tons of paralleled output devices if you want it to do 1KW continuously. Unless you're going Class D. Which would be a fine application for this technology, given good filtering. That is, if something inexpensive, convenient, and sonically transparent like the ugly-ass AcuPwr transformers didn't exist—and go up to 5kW.)

Or, to clarify: please DON'T do this. Get a step-up or step-down transformer if you need it, and call it a day.

Yesterday (my time) after you shared AcuPwr link, I spent lot of time on the site literally scrambling to check which one to buy ( and how many) One big Step-down or small rating few qty? etc. Thank you very much for sharing the link and clarification on Vidar Mono-Connectivity.

My inputs are from those who re-located/expats/temp assingments from US to India with their refrigerators and other equipment "with motors" in them and it did not work. Obviously they used wrong Step-Down transformer. For electronics devices the freq does not matter. Clarified completely and now i can buy electronics from US without fear of power supply. Obviously AcuPwr is a buy for me.

 

[sublime9]

Yesterday (my time) after you shared AcuPwr link, I spent lot of time on the site literally scrambling to check which one to buy ( and how many) One big Step-down or small rating few qty? etc. Thank you very much for sharing the link and clarification on Vidar Mono-Connectivity.

My inputs are from those who re-located/expats/temp assingments from US to India with their refrigerators and other equipment "with motors" in them and it did not work. Obviously they used wrong Step-Down transformer. For electronics devices the freq does not matter. Clarified completely and now i can buy electronics from US without fear of power supply. Obviously AcuPwr is a buy for me.

Frequency does matter for electronic devices. If a power transformer is HOT at 60 Hz, it will be hotter, perhaps fatally so at 50 Hz. One of my other hobbies is antique radios. Back in the day, the Niagara power station was at 25 Hz. Those power transformers in the 30's radios were monstrous. "Export" radios that could be shipped overseas had much larger multi-tapped transformers for 50 Hz operation. Schiit specs their transformers for both 50 and 60 HZ, but that requires a bit of over build on the 60 Hz to make 50 Hz ok. Do not assume every manufacturer does the same due diligence. Your distance from the transformer can affect AC amplitude. If you are close, it will be higher to avoid browning out the end of the line - see next paragraph. I often install a 12V bucking transformer in equipment stuff designed for 115VAC and getting 125VAC.

Motors are a whole different story. Low voltage burns out AC motors and a lot of modern electrical engineers do not even understand "back EMF" dropping as the square of voltage drop causing excessive current through the windings. Modern appliances can withstand a certain level of brownout. After that, the power company will drop the grid rather than replace a million refrigerators and AC compressors. It's counter intuitive that low voltage can causes excessive heat, but it is true in AC motors.

 

[OldRoadToad]

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[Jnan]

Frequency does matter for electronic devices. If a power transformer is HOT at 60 Hz, it will be hotter, perhaps fatally so at 50 Hz. One of my other hobbies is antique radios. Back in the day, the Niagara power station was at 25 Hz. Those power transformers in the 30's radios were monstrous. "Export" radios that could be shipped overseas had much larger multi-tapped transformers for 50 Hz operation. Schiit specs their transformers for both 50 and 60 HZ, but that requires a bit of over build on the 60 Hz to make 50 Hz ok. Do not assume every manufacturer does the same due diligence. Your distance from the transformer can affect AC amplitude. If you are close, it will be higher to avoid browning out the end of the line - see next paragraph. I often install a 12V bucking transformer in equipment stuff designed for 115VAC and getting 125VAC.

Motors are a whole different story. Low voltage burns out AC motors and a lot of modern electrical engineers do not even understand "back EMF" dropping as the square of voltage drop causing excessive current through the windings. Modern appliances can withstand a certain level of brownout. After that, the power company will drop the grid rather than replace a million refrigerators and AC compressors. It's counter intuitive that low voltage can causes excessive heat, but it is true in AC motors.

https://acupwr.com/ transformers look good to me. I had some reads and also had conversation with them. There is good read under FAQ section too. Use case of the electronics is important. I would pick up something with good (add another 20% more these dont cost a tonne) headroom of power rating. Yes Step up/down could heat up the transformer but not necessarily affect SQ.

 

[sublime9]

https://acupwr.com/ transformers look good to me. I had some reads and also had conversation with them. There is good read under FAQ section too. Use case of the electronics is important. I would pick up something with good (add another 20% more these dont cost a tonne) headroom of power rating. Yes Step up/down could heat up the transformer but not necessarily affect SQ.

I think you missed my point about 50Hz having increased core saturation and higher temperature and currents, lower impedance (jwL), but no matter, I didn't explain that well. Those acupwr devices will work fine for you.

 

[Pietro Cozzi Tinin]

I dunno...Just because some thing is "new" does not mean it is not the same old crap. And by "crap" I mean the line of BS that frAudiophiles espouse. I doubt any here (hear?) could hear a difference with any reliability if they were DBT'd. Yup. The Kryptohypnotical threat to all frAudiophiles...The Double Blind Test.


If some thing works, it works. You can reinvent the mouse trap but it is still a...wait for it....p a t I e n c e....a mouse trap. I am speaking about the connector conundrum going on here.



ORT

Yeah... No matter where Freud puts it.... a cigar is still a cigar.

 

[Pietro Cozzi Tinin]

My big regal friend Sir Richard was kind enough to order a 2000W/220-240 acupwr for me and send it to me the coming week.
Large enough to power two Schiit stacks like mine.
Yes I have a dedicated powerline for the audio but still... it always could be better.
One never knows what kind of electrical appliances the neighbor missus puts where.
So ,@HumanFly, you have to look at it when you come for that coffee.

 

[barondla]

Most of the dirty ac talk here has been about neighbors, motors, etc. These are all "accidental" pollution. Aren't the electric companies researching providing internet service over the ac lines? Would that be a bigger noise problem than components deal with now?

 

[FrivolsListener]

Most of the dirty ac talk here has been about neighbors, motors, etc. These are all "accidental" pollution. Aren't the electric companies researching providing internet service over the ac lines? Would that be a bigger noise problem than components deal with now?

They do low data rate PLC (power line communication) for control systems. Higher speed PLC is a very RF-noisy proposition and therefore has a lot of opponents. I personally wouldn't trust it.

 

[Rowethren]

I use power line adapters to get Internet into my room... They inject loads of noise into the lines but with filters I think I have managed to remove most of it.

How would you guys compare one of these acupwr transformer to something like https://mcru.co.uk/product/isotek-evo3-corvus-mains-conditioning-block/

Also I can't see measurements on their website so I dread to think how big the 2kW transformers are, any ideas?

 

[rlow]

To the best of my knowledge Schiit designed Vidar from the ground up to operate equally well in mono or stereo. No need for audio nervous there.
.

I don't believe this review from today has been posted yet, but this reviewer agrees that the worries over dual Vidar monoblocks being able to drive difficult loads to acceptable (in some cases very high) volumes is unfounded.

The rest of the review (which is only part 1) is very favorable as well:

https://www.computeraudiophile.com/ca/reviews/schiit-audio-reference-system-review-part-1-r676/

 

[Left Channel]

Most of the dirty ac talk here has been about neighbors, motors, etc. These are all "accidental" pollution. Aren't the electric companies researching providing internet service over the ac lines? Would that be a bigger noise problem than components deal with now?

They mostly gave up on Broadband over Power Lines (BPL) over 10 years ago. And not just because a range of groups — including police, military, and ham radio operators — organized against it. The technology also performed poorly, and cost more than expected. In the US it peaked during the Bush administration, when the FCC was led by Michael Powell (yes, Colin Powell's son, now a telecom lobbyist) and his successor. Powell had no problem privatizing or otherwise damaging public resources like the frequency spectrum, even if the police and military were against it, not to mention ham radio operators involved in volunteer public service...which he couldn't understand at all. Under Obama's FCC this business got no sympathy or special treatment, but it seems to me it just died a slow death due to its own limitations. It may yet be revived, but I hope not.

 

[Left Channel]

I don't believe this review from today has been posted yet, but this reviewer agrees that the worries over dual Vidar monoblocks being able to drive difficult loads to acceptable (in some cases very high) volumes is unfounded.

The rest of the review (which is only part 1) is very favorable as well:

https://www.computeraudiophile.com/ca/reviews/schiit-audio-reference-system-review-part-1-r676/

Hmmmm... That's @Odin412 's photo of the remotes.

 

[yonson]

I don't believe this review from today has been posted yet, but this reviewer agrees that the worries over dual Vidar monoblocks being able to drive difficult loads to acceptable (in some cases very high) volumes is unfounded.

The rest of the review (which is only part 1) is very favorable as well:

https://www.computeraudiophile.com/ca/reviews/schiit-audio-reference-system-review-part-1-r676/

Vidar + Dynaudio = WIN!

My 3 Vidar are running 4 ohm mono loads with 0 issues at high volumes, I've tried pushing them to thermal cut off a few times, and I've given up before they did each time...