[Basil]

Thanks for the welcoming an the answers Occam.

I have ordered a couple of transformers Prim:230V with centertap and Sek:2x18V and 150VA.
The basic capacitor between will be a SRC 22uF and I will bypassing with Jensen Capacitors, M-Cap Supreme, MIT, ERO and what else I have laying around.

It`s long time since I have english in school, so it could be better...
What does "betwixt" means???

Is it right that some have good result with placing a capacitor at the primaries after the fuse, and also in the other end after the primaries out?

Best Regards Basil
It`s raining, raining, raining here, so many old audio projects are going to be fixed at the moment in my holiday.

[TimS]

Hi

I'm thinking about buying a DVD player from the U.S. that uses 120 volts only. To use it here (in Australia) I would need to drop the voltage from 240 to 120 volts.
My query is: can I use the Felicia to drop the voltage to 120 volts (by reconfiguring the output transformer's [TR_Out] secondary from series to parallel??) and still  have the benefits of balanced power?
Or, would I need a another transformer after the Felicia to drop the voltage?  

cheers

Tim

[Gordy]

Thanks for the welcoming an the answers Occam.

It`s long time since I have english in school, so it could be better...
What does "betwixt" means???

Is it right that some have good result with placing a capacitor at the primaries after the fuse, and a ...

Hello Basil,

Your English is great, not to worry!  I'm just jumping in as Occam may be a bit getting back to you...

Betwixt is a Jolly Olde English word, usually only used these days in a light hearted or, um... poetic manner.  It simply means between...

Yes, the .47 caps can be used in any or all of the three locations.  I moved my .47 from the bypass location to the secondary output, leaving the .01 and .1 as bypasses for the main cap...   I have not a/b'd the locations though...

HTH's...

[Occam]

I'm back, relaxed, and a bit more sober.

Basil - Apologies for the "betwixt and between". I find the phrase alliterative and poetic, but 'betwixt' is archaic, and I should realize that English is not the native language of many readers. I'm always impressed by others fluency in English when I realize how few Americans can speak anything other than English.

Yes, placing additional caps accross the line at the output of Felicia can have substantial subjective effect. As Larry (Tianguis) has commented, putting a .47uf Auricap in that position removes a last bit of residual grit, and bypassing that Auricap with successively smaller values provides additional subjective benefits. This is equivalent to placing a cap accross the line on the fed component, which is often referred to as the "Auricap tweak". This is not specific to the Auricap, just more expensive.

Similarly, there are benefits to placing caps 'accross the line', but after the input fusing at the input of a Felicia. I'm unsure as to whether those benefits are actually delivered to the comoponent fed by the Felicia, or whether those benefits are to components plugged into the same mains line. As that capacitior is in parallel to other components on the same line, it may be that it is simply a convenient and safe place to put a non X2 rated cap, an 'Auricap tweak' for components not fed by a Felicia, such as poweramps.

TimS - That is an excellent question. Yes, reconfiguring the output transformers output windings would allow you to operated Felicia as a stepdown powerconditioner. But you'd forgoe her balancing capabilities. For a 2 pronged component, I'm unsure if it would be any loss at all. It would depend on whether the 2 pronged component connects its power ground to its signal ground internally and if that ground is ultimately connected to the mains ground via its interconnects. Regardless, the bulk of Felicia's benefits (IMO) are powerconditioning, with that last iota of benefits provided by balancing.

[Occam]

I was ordering some Solens from PartsExpress and noticed they had started carrying Jantzen metalized polypropolene 400vDC caps from Denmark (using Finnish polypropolene FWIW) spanning .1-100uf. They're about the same price as the 400v Solens.
As a flyer, I ordered a pair of both .47 & .1uf caps to try as bypass of the 20uf Solens. I gave one of each to Tianguis. We've both tried them in the bypass position, replacing our rather expensive combo of a .47, .1 & .01uf Auricaps. IMO they KICK ASS! Different from the Auricaps but subjectively I find them slightly prefferable. And given that the pair are about 10% of the previously preferred Auricap tripplet, they're obviously my 'cheap SOB's' choice.
I'm awaiting more of the Jantzens to try on the output as 'accross the line' caps [as well as some 18uf to try as the main caps], but need to caution all that these are not X2 rated caps and should only be used in that capacity after the output fusing.
As a side note, I've found that the caps used in Felicia subjectively mirror the charateristics of those same caps used in signal coupling capacity and might make excellent signal path (and maybe speaker crossover) caps. Dunno.

http://www.partsexpress.com/webpage.cfm?&DID=7&WebPage_ID=197#capacitors

Try them, you might like them.

PS- Solo, a maker of foil inductors, principally for crossover use is out of business. If you scroll up from the above URL, you'll find that Jantzen (thru PE) offers their own foil inductors.

Here is the Jantzen webpage -
http://www.jantzen-audio.com/
and there is a link to dealers throughout the world.

[JoshK]

I ordered up a bunch of Jantzens for Felicia, my Modula MTMs (speaker cap duties) and I even put them in the PSU of my UcD amps.  I also have a bunch of similar Solens and a couple of Auricaps.  Will do some testing sometime soon.  

I think I need to wire up my 5687 preamp as the outputs use a cap ( =>? dc coupled?).  The 5687 is a really transparent tube preamp so it might make an excellent place to listen to the different caps in coupling duties.  Thoersten extolls the virtues of a modified 5687 preamp that he does for its ultra transparency.

[andyr]

... PS- Solo, a maker of foil inductors, principally for crossover use is out of business. If you scroll up from the above URL, you'll find that Jantzen (thru PE) offers their own foil inductors.
...

Yes, Paul, however I think that Alphacore took them over.

At least, if you look at p9 of Michael Percy's web catalogue, he lists "Solo" and "Alphacore" on the same page.

Regards,

Andy

[Christopher Witmer]

Well, I finally got all the transformers and the big caps that I need for my balanced power conditioner projects. I still need to get some other goodies, especially the smaller bypass caps.

Here is what I have accumulated so far:

A) ONE Union Denki 2kVA "Noise Zero" isolation transformer. This is NOT capable of balanced output.

B) THREE Union Denki 4A "Noise Zero" isolation transformers that are basically like the above, except they ARE capable of balanced output (albeit derated to 2A).

C) ONE Union Denki 2KVA isolation transformer with ESS. This IS capable of balanced output (albeit derated to 1kVA).

D) ONE Signal HPI-20 2KVA dual bobbin isolation transformer with ESS. This IS capable of balanced output (albeit derated to 1kVA).

E) ONE BSW-1500 WB isolation transformer with ESS. (http://www.ttfmr.com/trans-e.html)

F) ONE Fuji Electric FFT-DA-1K 1kVA isolation transformer with ESS. This is NOT capable of balanced output.

G) 20 Pieces of Magnetek 10.5uF +/-3% 520VAC run caps.

And I have plenty of power cords that will be entirely adequate.

Here are the implementations I am thinking of trying --

1) 1kVA + 1kVA balanced power for a pair of subwoofer amplifiers:
Input power to A) above, output power from C) and D) above.

2) 2A + 2A + 2A balanced power for audio signal source equipment:
Input power to E) or F) above, output power from B) above.

OPINIONS & IDEAS ARE WELCOME!

QUESTION: I have NO small caps at the moment. I may try to pick up something locally in Akihabara, or perhaps get some Jantzen caps from Parts Express . . . I don't mind have some extras left over when the dust settles on these projects, but what VALUES and what QUANTITIES of small caps should I be looking for? It seems that PE does not offer the really tiny .01 caps . . . if go with Jantzen for .47 and .1, what should I do for .01 caps?

And as long as I'm being lazy and bumming advice, what sorts of fuses and GFCI, etc. should I be looking at?

MANY THANKS!

Christopher Witmer
Tokyo

[Occam]

Christopher,

Well dang! I opened a recent edition of 'Bartlett's Quotations' and under the entry for "in for a penny, in for a pound", I believe there is a picture of you   .

And those transformers are truly state of the art and appear ideal for power conditioning. But I've no 'hands on' experience with any of them. (I do have some R-Core transformers and some custom wound EIs that I've commissioned, but yours are absolutely gorgeous)
That being said, you are breaking new ground. Your intent is obviously to run the secondary-to-secondary connections at 100vAC+. Please remember that the whole Felicia project was based on the availability of inexpensive, surplus non-isolation transformers that were jury rigged via their cascading to provide balanced mains power. You and I have no idea what the appropriate 'betwixt and between' capacitor value will be. Yes, I do know how I'd initially approach your project, but I'm not about to write a 30 page missive on this thread. Please, please download (free) Skype -
http://www.skype.com/helloagain.html
and we'll be able to dicusss it mano a mano.....

My intent is to develop a Felix version of Felicia, but have decided to call it the 'Beguine' -
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Lake/3483/beguine.html
Sorry for the wretched fidelity, but I've not found an online copy of the versions by Frank, Ella or Artie Shaw.....

With regards to the Jantzen caps -
If PE is problematic for shipment directly to you in Japan, I can tranship them to you. But please note this caveat - I'm presently using them as bypass on the between caps @ 15vAC and obviously had no problems. I've also used them 'accross the line' with a net 125vac accross them and experienced no problems, yet. The 400vdc Solens are nominally rated 250vac, and, by extention (ALLWAYS a bad idea) the same rating Jantzens should be fine. But as I said in a previous post, they're not X2 rated, and you MUST use proper and adequate fusing in the event of a failure in 'short' (as opposed to 'open') mode. This admonition is the same I allways make on the 'Auricap tweak'-
http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=18443.msg177865#177865&highlight=auricap#177865
I've not even tried a .01uf cap to additionally bypass the present .47 and .1uf Jantzens (.1 is the lowest Jantzen makes), but I subjectively prefer this $1.50 duo to the $20 Auricap tripplet. YMMV

PM me, after you've downloaded and tested your Skype, with your Skype moniker, and I'll send you mine.....

[Christopher Witmer]

Thanks a million! BTW everything shown above is either used or "distressed" merchandise; I think I paid about $500 for everything . . . that's still a lot of clams for me, but the list pricing would be a good deal higher.

I'll try Skype next week . . . I have to spend the weekend up to my neck involved with some rush translation work for my company.

All the best,

Christopher Witmer
Tokyo

[Christopher Witmer]

I just picked up what looks to be a bifilar wound 2:1 transformer that ought to be okay for balanced power, but I am a bit confused as to how to connect it. The terminals are labeled as follows, left to right:

b a v u V U

Rather than try to explain any more, I think I will just refer you to the images below . . . any suggestions would be appreciated! Thanks!

[Gordy]

I finally received my backordered transformers from Billy G. Micro today, so if anybody else has been waiting... there's hope!!!

[mgalusha]

Good to hear that Gordy, I've been waiting for mine as well.

[Christopher Witmer]

I think I have more or less figured out the answer to my question above, but I'd be grateful for confirmation:

Because Japanese transformers, like most everybody's, generally have subtractive polarity, U and V are my primaries (hot = U), and the secondaries are u & v, and a & b, respectively. (Hot  = u and a). If I want to use it as a 1:1 transformer, I wire the secondaries in series, and if as a 2:1 transformer, wire the secondaries in parallel. For balanced power I would connect and ground the secondary side cold wires (v and b); summation of the two secondary side hot wires would give me the requisite voltage for balanced power.

And I had better go out and get a multitester to check all the above just in case . . .

Does that sound about right?

[JoshK]

Christopher,

The first part sounds logical but the balanced part doesn't.  When you say Summation, do you mean tying them together?  If so that would yield only two wires, which can't be balanced, you need 3, i.e. +, - and ground. Maybe I just misunderstood you.  

I refrained from commenting to your question earlier because I would just be speculating.  Occam should be able to confirm though if you measure the resistance of the primaries to secondaries. (or even better, google search inductors and resistance and see what the relationship is and then compare to your measured resistance.  I don't know the relationship, but I know there is one.)

[Christopher Witmer]

On the secondary side, v & b tied together are the third (ground) wire, while u & a are the first and second wires. (With the caveat that I'll still need to measure to confirm what is otherwise mere speculation.)

[JoshK]

Ok, I did misunderstand you then.  That sounds ok.

[Gordy]

Here are a few pictures of an updated 3 unit Felicia built into a $10.99 box available at A.C. Moore.  The unit on the left, facing front, has a .18uF Jansen as the main and is bypassed with a .1 Janzen and a .01 Auricap, the recepticle has .47 and .1 Janzen's.  The other 2 units both have .15uF Auricaps bypassed with .1 and .01 Auricaps.  The far right recepticle has a .47 Auricap, all others are Janzens.  Input fuses are all 1 amp fast blow...

It was completed and installed about a week ago, one day before I received my new speakers so... can't really comment yet on any differences between the units!









 

[Christopher Witmer]

I like the pic of the anchor on the box; it suggests to me that if you don't like the sound perhaps you intend to heave it into Davy Jones' locker?  

[Occam]

Gordy - Very nice job! I especially like the nautical theme