This SR3 (Series 2) has been used very successfully to power two different mid-2009 Mac Minis used as music servers, and with Paul’s agreement I’m posting the sale here. It has a 3-way XLR (f) output connector, and includes the necessary “i-Sense” resistor for the Mini on one of the contacts, but if you want to use the SR3 for something else, just don’t connect to this.
The only mark I can find on it is a 4mm hairline scratch on the top, which I can’t get to show in a photograph. There is a set of pictures at Photobucket. I’m not sure that this site will take them, so here is my attempt at pasting the first one, and if successful, I’ll enter the others in a later post.
I have been delighted with this supply, and it finally convinced me that computer music could beat a good CD transport. I am only getting rid of it now because I have replaced it with the SR 5. The SR 5 is better, but the differences are fairly small compared with the effect of replacing the original Apple supply.* For anyone who might worry about using 15v rather than Apple’s 18v5, my SR5 is the 12v version, and that’s working perfectly!
The SR3 is set for European 230 v input, but it is easy to change to 110v, and I have done this, and changed back. It should drive any (Intel) Mini before the mid 2010 version, when Apple changed to an internal 12v power supply instead of their “white brick” external supply. (For anybody who might be thinking of using it with later (12v) Minis, and can take the nervous strain of the necessary micro-surgery, I have started a separate thread on what might be possible, but this is unknown territory.)
I have described my experiments with this supply on this site, since there are claims on the web that a larger supply is essential for running a Mini. This is not true, certainly not if what you want is a dedicated music server, and don’t intend to run several other programs at once; see:
http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=108737.0I am asking £180.
I am also offering two connection leads which I have used with this. One is a 3-way XLR (m) to Mini input connection. This is made up from a Carnetix cable, which has no shield, but I have added a dummy USB which can make the ground connection if required (in practice it made no difference on my system).
The other is a 1m 3-way XLR extension lead made up by Paul. I have inserted an 0.1ohm resistor in the (+) line for checking current draw.
I suggest £20 each or £30 for the pair.
* As an indication of the change in my listening habits which this supply produced, the best sound from my system used to be from SACDs, played on an Oppo 980H. The HDMI output fed a de-mixer sending 88.2 PCM into my Audiolab M-DAC.
Since I got the SR3, I have given up playing SACDs. Using the SR3/Mini combination, not only are normal CD rips better than a good CD transport, but the 44.1 rips from the CD layer of an SACD are better than 88.2 SACD via Oppo.
