Must have more power. Cranking up the juice!

panomaniac · « **Reply #60 on:** 3 Jul 2009, 01:00 pm »

Hmmm... good question, Welborne. I don't know.
Mostly I hear a difference in the lower mid with the bigger PSU, but there does seem to be an overall change. But as we all know, change on part of the spectrum and it subjectively changes other parts.

So I guess that you will have to tell us!

neutralos · « **Reply #61 on:** 30 Jul 2009, 01:28 pm »

Quote from: virtue on 15 Jun 2009, 06:13 am

$14.95 - you must be joking Great find. A huge win for customers if you can buy them fast enough and don't mind welding your screw-driver to the enclosure if things go awry.

I doubt that this is an serious offer. Either you get no SMPS for your money or you will be delivered with another. Nearly 88 % discount ... please be realistic

virtue · « **Reply #62 on:** 30 Jul 2009, 03:09 pm »

We ordered several; it's legit. When a factory can no longer use a product, it's liquidation value is often close to zero. For instance, we bought thousands of Solen capacitors for the early production runs. We found them scratchy sounding and decided to make our own (the VirtuCap). I paid almost $3 each for the Solens and will be lucky to get $0.30 on liquidation, plus there is shipping from Asia, etc. Many orders have custom specs and the manufacturer would rather sell new product than broker the trade of old product. Aura was very cool about helping to sell speaker drivers we decided we couldn't use (they make great drivers); Solen told us to scratch (we have no love for Solen). Liquidation happens.

neutralos · « **Reply #63 on:** 31 Jul 2009, 12:12 am »

Didn?t know that this unit was a customs product. But however it?s a cosel - well named manufacturer and many diy people seem to be able to use them. I am not the techniqian at all. You recommended another cosel: the ADA600F.
O.K. this unit has more than double power - but it costs nearly 18 times of the cheaper unit.
For me in germany the cheaper one isn?t a must grab thing because I would pay 3 times of the price for shiping and eventually customs.

I still don?t know definitely which way to go to get better power supply. I trend meanwhile to
build up an battery unit with simultaneous charging and playing. But on the other hand I Don?t know exactly who said it here that Roger Sheker (??) is not a friend of battery units ...Was it you or Panomaniac ?

virtue · « **Reply #64 on:** 31 Jul 2009, 01:51 am »

Hehe... Roger admits that batteries are the cheapest way to get clean power and good current. But they don't provide good voltage regulation... which is why he doesn't prefer them. If you can spend a fortune on clean power, don't bother with batteries

Yeah, buy that PSU. It's a bargain and our amp loves the current.

neutralos · « **Reply #65 on:** 31 Jul 2009, 01:42 pm »

Now I am more confused than ever before ...

One techniqian told me that only batteries were able to deliver clean power and usually the SMPS (maybe the cheaper ones) would deliver more dirt.
On the other hand you have with a SMPS something like a current ocean already to flood your amp. The story is not finished ...

dvenardos · « **Reply #66 on:** 31 Jul 2009, 08:08 pm »

I don't think you can say that one is categorically better than the other, it depends on the implementation. Cheap (quality not price) batteries would be just as bad as a cheap smps or linear ps. Hence there is no one way to go.

Jason T · « **Reply #67 on:** 7 Aug 2009, 02:10 am »

I got my power supply today ! !
I'll be hooking it up this weekend and will post my first impressions Monday or so.
I took some pics of it and set the phone by it to show you guys it's size.

rhing · « **Reply #68 on:** 7 Aug 2009, 03:18 am »

Jason T,

24V and 11A! You better make sure your Virtue Two's fuse is ready for this one.

I am really interested in your listening impressions. I have the 130W, 30V Virtue Audio SMPS, but more current can't be a bad thing. Just looking at some of the caps on the Cosel SMPS, I would be tempted to replace those black rectangular X2-rated film caps with Wima MP3-X2 metallized paper caps and some of those second stage electrolytic caps with some Panasonic FM and/or FC electrolytic caps.

For the DC power cable going to the Virtue Two, what are you planning to use? For other DIY T-amp SMPS projects, I've used a twisted pair of Mil-Spec 18AWG stranded Silver-plated Copper with Teflon insulation and a Switchcraft 2.1mm/5.5mm DC power connector. It seems to do a good job.

Rich

dweekie · « **Reply #69 on:** 7 Aug 2009, 03:56 am »

Quote from: rhing on 7 Aug 2009, 03:18 am

24V and 11A! You better make sure your Virtue Two's fuse is ready for this one.

The fuses survived my 24V/27A Cosel, so who knows?

panomaniac · « **Reply #70 on:** 7 Aug 2009, 04:20 pm »

PLEASE...... Keep these open frame PSUs out of reach of children, pets and idle fingers! Too easy to get zapped!

virtue · « **Reply #71 on:** 7 Aug 2009, 04:26 pm »

Ditto!

PS - Jason, you are a naughty, naughty boy.

Jason T · « **Reply #72 on:** 8 Aug 2009, 04:46 am »

dweekie

I'll let you know what happens tomorrow.

I think your right about the caps. if I like it from the beginning I don't see any reason not to make it better

Pano I'll let you know what happens the first time my Maltipoo sticks his nose in it

panomaniac · « **Reply #73 on:** 8 Aug 2009, 01:35 pm »

Shockingly cute!

Jason T · « **Reply #74 on:** 8 Aug 2009, 06:37 pm »

isn't he though

he's a cool little dog

ok so at first listen I'm not hearing much difference.
I do notice the extra current seems to keep my volume knob lower to achieve the same volume.

I do kind of feel like there is more bass on certain songs but not on others. . . not sure yet.
I just replaced all of my cables in this system with Virtue Nirvana stuff and got my new Xindak cd player last night so everything is new for the next 100 hours except for the speakers.

here are some pics. I went a little overboard and did 12awg to and from the power supply

the power cable to the supply has my diy Felix in it.

the power supply also has 2 sets of outputs which will allow for the easy hookup of 2 amps (like I need that kind of power) aa

I'll post more as things change and hopefully I'll have a box of some sort built for the PS with the next update

panomaniac · « **Reply #75 on:** 9 Aug 2009, 02:09 am »

Quote from: Jason T on 8 Aug 2009, 06:37 pm

I do kind of feel like there is more bass on certain songs but not on others. . .

That's exactly as it should be.

virtue · « **Reply #76 on:** 9 Aug 2009, 04:44 am »

Remember, loudness is related to voltage, bass will too... but current seems to affect base more than voltage (ie. 24v -> 30v)

tubesound · « **Reply #77 on:** 9 Aug 2009, 06:33 pm »

Jason:

Why you try another switching power supply? I wouldn't expect too much of a difference. I'm gonna have an old transformer type power supply ready in 2 weeks time. Will let you guys know whether it's an improvement over Virtue's 30V/130W PSU.

Roc

Jason T · « **Reply #78 on:** 9 Aug 2009, 07:24 pm »

I did another switching PS because I didn't want to risk anything or stray off the path too far

not to mention i got the Cosel power supply for $35 on ebay brand new.

listening a little more today and I really think the changes are starting to show themselves.
not sure if I like it better then the 30V 130watt supply but time will tell.

I'm still working on a battery setup but my wife and I haven't even settled in to our new place yet so it might be a while before that is completed.

droht · « **Reply #79 on:** 10 Aug 2009, 02:49 pm »

I have been

my head with all this power talk. I am under the impression that switching power supplies tend to provide lowest quality (vs linear or batteries). Seems odd to me that emphasis is mostly on bigger SPS and not something different. Maybe I have that all wrong? I am just trying to assimilate the variety of info I have read.

One thing I do know from first hand experience came with the King Rex t-amp. I purchased one new for maybe $269. I really didn't want to drop the extra $179 or so on the linear PSU, but I did, because after reading lots of reviews I knew I'd be wanting one badly if I didn't get one. I set up the amp with the full expectation that I would be completely underwhelmed by the PSU, and that I'd be sending it back for a refund. The King Rex sans PSU sounded pretty good to me. With it the sound was amazing. I still don't necessarily believe it, as I can't fathom how the power running into the amp can make that much difference.

So, I wonder if maybe the King Rex was just poorly designed in terms of use with SPS? That would make sense to me. But with all the discussion around power supplies and t-amps I am stuck on the idea that I am missing an improvement with Virtue amps that might be in the same ballpark as what I experienced with the King Rex. Considering that I find the ONE with 90w PSU to be better than the King Rex with linear PSU, a significant improvement would be almost beyond belief. I don't mind experimenting a little, but I'm really looking for some clear logic as to what should sound better.