tones
compulsive cantater
"White Noise" PSU for turntable
First of all, let me say that, no matter what anyone says, I don't believe that external PSUs make any great difference to the sound of a turntable. To me, this is just another example of the hi-fi mythology that has built up around other bits, most notoriously cables and ICs. However, there are hi-fi brands whose upgrade path is through allegedly superior power supplies. Why they couldn't simply have put in a half-decent one in the first place and have done is beyond me, but it clearly works, at least from the point of view of sales figures.
So, why then did I buy a PSU for my LP12? And why this one? Firstly and most importantly, my LP12 (Valhalla-powered) had developed the annoying habit of switching itself on when the computer was switched on (they share the same power outlet). When the younger ladies were on the computer, I would come in to find the LP12 spinning merrily away. This, as far as they were concerned, was MY affair. In addition, there was the element of curiosity; could a PSU make a difference as to how a thing sounded? The cry of the believer is always, ââ'¬Å"Ah, but you haven't tried it!ââ'¬Â Given that I've now been through Mana stands, various other equipment supports, various ICs, power leads and cables and the Densen DeMagic demagnetising tea mug coaster, without any perceptible improvement whatsoever, you'd think I'd have learned, wouldn't you?
The obvious choices for the LP12 are Linn's own Lingo and the Naim Armageddon. And the obvious reason for avoiding these is the outrageous price demanded for these. Even second-hand on E-Bay they are not cheap. So I looked at alternatives. There are several small British companies that make LP12-suitable PSUs. I went so far as to order one from one, but after 12 months I concluded that I wasn't going ever to see that one. And then I came across Dr. David White of White Noise, here:
http://www.wnaudio.com/
The technical justification for the particular unit was beyond my ken (I am a competent handyperson, but my knowledge of electronics stops at the occasional correct spelling of the word) but the price was reasonable (OK, not too unreasonable), and it came in kit form, which made it even less unreasonable (£230 or thereabouts). David White was the very model of helpfulness and a well-packed box soon arrived chez Tones. Within was a smallish simple black box, comprising a cover, a chassis with three round black transformers of varying size and considerable weight attached thereto, and two largish capacitors fixed to a large and particularly evil-looking finned heatsink. Within also came an electronics module (presumably the crystal thingummy) and a package of components and hardware. I opened this and my heart sank ââ'¬â€œ perhaps, I thought, I should have bought a built-up one. There were strange little bits, such as a curious little white plastic thingie with three prongs. It transpired later that this was a potentiometer. To someone who last saw a potentiometer in the form of a Wheatstone Bridge in school physics class in the early 1960s, this came as somewhat of a shock.
Total assembly time was around 3 hours. Be warned! To folk not used to this sort of thing, much of the work is fiddly and finicky, demanding the possession of three hands, all having long, slender fingers with universal joints at the ends. You will also need more wire than that supplied. My solder joints were messy in the extreme. Moreover, for someone such as myself, the instructions were poor to the point of non-existence, which means that folk with zero knowledge of things electrical and electronic should think twice about attempting this. So, finally it was assembled and I switched it on ââ'¬â€œ and nothing. Well, not actually nothing, just completely the wrong sort of something ââ'¬â€œ a feeling in a cold garage of a source of heat. One of the transformers had become too hot to touch. David White said it was shorted out and pinpointed the probable problem, so we were in action.
Well, sort of. There then arose a further hurdle. David had said that I should take the LP12 ââ'¬Å"back to Basikââ'¬Â, which I interpreted as tossing away the Valhalla and connecting the PSU in its place. Not quiteââ'¬Â¦ When I gazed for the first time on the Valhalla board, I saw that there were two wires going in, but four coming out. What went where? I posed the question to the ever-patient, ever-helpful Dr. White. Aha, he said, he'd assumed I knew that the Basik has, between power line and motor, a little circuit that looks like this (courtesy, The Vinyl Engine):
Suggested values are (given a motor resistance of 8k8 ohms and inductance of 10H). For 240V, 50Hz :
C1
--------+----||---------------- Blue
| R1
+--/\/\/\---+---------- Red
240VAC |
= C2
--------------------+--+------- Grey
|
+------- Grey
R1 = 20k ohms C1 = 0.1uF, C2= 0.1uF, Vout is about 75V
(Sorry, doesn't come over correctly, but at least you'll recognise the real thing in The Vinyl Engine)
He suggested that I get an old Basik circuit. However, these are very rare (I saw only one on eBay, at an outrageous price) and Linn doesn't make them any more (in fact, LP12s now come only with the Lingo, which makes new LP12s even worse value than was previously the case). So, an exercise in circuit building was needed. The instrument group of my employer tacked my little order on to the end of one of their big ones and gave me an old bit of circuit board. So, some messy work with a soldering iron later, I had my circuit and I installed it in the LP12.
And the result? Surprisingly, when I turned it on, it worked, that is, neither it nor I exploded or expired in a puff of smoke or anything like that. However, it did make the turntable rotate in the wrong direction, which is fine if you want to play Led Zeppelin and the like (where it is impossible to make it sound any worse), but not if you have proper music. So, with the advice of David White, I connected the blue and red wires shown above in the ââ'¬Å"wrongââ'¬Â way and it worked fine. It also gives the LP12 the ability to work at 45 rpm, a rotation speed for which I have no use whatsoever. But did it SOUND any different? To me, no, but at least it stays off when I want it to. It appears to confirm what I said above, that PSUs have little or no effect on the sound of a turntable (to his credit, David White doesn't claim any such thing, so clearly is someone trustworthy). However, for believers in such things with a bit more electronic nous than yours truly, this could be worthwhile.
First of all, let me say that, no matter what anyone says, I don't believe that external PSUs make any great difference to the sound of a turntable. To me, this is just another example of the hi-fi mythology that has built up around other bits, most notoriously cables and ICs. However, there are hi-fi brands whose upgrade path is through allegedly superior power supplies. Why they couldn't simply have put in a half-decent one in the first place and have done is beyond me, but it clearly works, at least from the point of view of sales figures.
So, why then did I buy a PSU for my LP12? And why this one? Firstly and most importantly, my LP12 (Valhalla-powered) had developed the annoying habit of switching itself on when the computer was switched on (they share the same power outlet). When the younger ladies were on the computer, I would come in to find the LP12 spinning merrily away. This, as far as they were concerned, was MY affair. In addition, there was the element of curiosity; could a PSU make a difference as to how a thing sounded? The cry of the believer is always, ââ'¬Å"Ah, but you haven't tried it!ââ'¬Â Given that I've now been through Mana stands, various other equipment supports, various ICs, power leads and cables and the Densen DeMagic demagnetising tea mug coaster, without any perceptible improvement whatsoever, you'd think I'd have learned, wouldn't you?
The obvious choices for the LP12 are Linn's own Lingo and the Naim Armageddon. And the obvious reason for avoiding these is the outrageous price demanded for these. Even second-hand on E-Bay they are not cheap. So I looked at alternatives. There are several small British companies that make LP12-suitable PSUs. I went so far as to order one from one, but after 12 months I concluded that I wasn't going ever to see that one. And then I came across Dr. David White of White Noise, here:
http://www.wnaudio.com/
The technical justification for the particular unit was beyond my ken (I am a competent handyperson, but my knowledge of electronics stops at the occasional correct spelling of the word) but the price was reasonable (OK, not too unreasonable), and it came in kit form, which made it even less unreasonable (£230 or thereabouts). David White was the very model of helpfulness and a well-packed box soon arrived chez Tones. Within was a smallish simple black box, comprising a cover, a chassis with three round black transformers of varying size and considerable weight attached thereto, and two largish capacitors fixed to a large and particularly evil-looking finned heatsink. Within also came an electronics module (presumably the crystal thingummy) and a package of components and hardware. I opened this and my heart sank ââ'¬â€œ perhaps, I thought, I should have bought a built-up one. There were strange little bits, such as a curious little white plastic thingie with three prongs. It transpired later that this was a potentiometer. To someone who last saw a potentiometer in the form of a Wheatstone Bridge in school physics class in the early 1960s, this came as somewhat of a shock.
Total assembly time was around 3 hours. Be warned! To folk not used to this sort of thing, much of the work is fiddly and finicky, demanding the possession of three hands, all having long, slender fingers with universal joints at the ends. You will also need more wire than that supplied. My solder joints were messy in the extreme. Moreover, for someone such as myself, the instructions were poor to the point of non-existence, which means that folk with zero knowledge of things electrical and electronic should think twice about attempting this. So, finally it was assembled and I switched it on ââ'¬â€œ and nothing. Well, not actually nothing, just completely the wrong sort of something ââ'¬â€œ a feeling in a cold garage of a source of heat. One of the transformers had become too hot to touch. David White said it was shorted out and pinpointed the probable problem, so we were in action.
Well, sort of. There then arose a further hurdle. David had said that I should take the LP12 ââ'¬Å"back to Basikââ'¬Â, which I interpreted as tossing away the Valhalla and connecting the PSU in its place. Not quiteââ'¬Â¦ When I gazed for the first time on the Valhalla board, I saw that there were two wires going in, but four coming out. What went where? I posed the question to the ever-patient, ever-helpful Dr. White. Aha, he said, he'd assumed I knew that the Basik has, between power line and motor, a little circuit that looks like this (courtesy, The Vinyl Engine):
Suggested values are (given a motor resistance of 8k8 ohms and inductance of 10H). For 240V, 50Hz :
C1
--------+----||---------------- Blue
| R1
+--/\/\/\---+---------- Red
240VAC |
= C2
--------------------+--+------- Grey
|
+------- Grey
R1 = 20k ohms C1 = 0.1uF, C2= 0.1uF, Vout is about 75V
(Sorry, doesn't come over correctly, but at least you'll recognise the real thing in The Vinyl Engine)
He suggested that I get an old Basik circuit. However, these are very rare (I saw only one on eBay, at an outrageous price) and Linn doesn't make them any more (in fact, LP12s now come only with the Lingo, which makes new LP12s even worse value than was previously the case). So, an exercise in circuit building was needed. The instrument group of my employer tacked my little order on to the end of one of their big ones and gave me an old bit of circuit board. So, some messy work with a soldering iron later, I had my circuit and I installed it in the LP12.
And the result? Surprisingly, when I turned it on, it worked, that is, neither it nor I exploded or expired in a puff of smoke or anything like that. However, it did make the turntable rotate in the wrong direction, which is fine if you want to play Led Zeppelin and the like (where it is impossible to make it sound any worse), but not if you have proper music. So, with the advice of David White, I connected the blue and red wires shown above in the ââ'¬Å"wrongââ'¬Â way and it worked fine. It also gives the LP12 the ability to work at 45 rpm, a rotation speed for which I have no use whatsoever. But did it SOUND any different? To me, no, but at least it stays off when I want it to. It appears to confirm what I said above, that PSUs have little or no effect on the sound of a turntable (to his credit, David White doesn't claim any such thing, so clearly is someone trustworthy). However, for believers in such things with a bit more electronic nous than yours truly, this could be worthwhile.
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