[konut]

I have been following the Redwine Audio story since it's inception. I had seen battery solutions for high end audio before involving circuitry going from AC to battery to DC and back to AC before feeding the component in use. All this to get clean, regulated, pristine power. These devices were not cheap, and its no wonder why. Then, to top it off, there have been companies modding the power supplies to any and all components to achieve the kind of power delivery required for superior sound. A bit of digression is required.
        My interest in audio began as a volunteer in the college coffee house at Ohio University. I graduated from setting up chairs to running the sound board. As we proggresively improved our equipment, I noticed that the better the components got, the more dynamic the presentation. Transient attacks of cymbal strikes, kick drum, vocal ennunciation of Ps and Bs would send the VU meter flying into the red if a too hot level was dialed in. Of course this differed significantly from the kind of sound that we were used to hearing on our stereos in the dorms. It became evident to me that some kind of limiting was being used to keep the music from becoming distorted when being fit on an LP. After college I had my own sound company for a couple of years. I bought a Crown DC300A amp which was the standard for sound reinforcement at the time. It was known for its ruggedness and being able to supply increasing amounts of power down to 1 ohm loads, due to its massive transformer and supply caps the size of soda cans. While not the best sounding amp by todays standards, it taught me the importance of a robust power supply to deliver instantaneous power for the reproduction of live music.
        I don't think that most people interested in this hobby are aware of the importance of instantaneous power delivery to the proper reproduction of transients in music. The first few micro-seconds of the transient attack  call upon the circuitry to be fast and furious. Most people underestimate the need for massive reserves of power to keep this transient behavior from becoming distorted.
        The  low resistance of the SLA battery make Vinnie's approach unique. The elimination of the filter stage and conversion to DC circuitry allows more instantaneous delivery of the current for usage by the component(s) in use. It is no surprise to me of the glowing reports of Vinnie's mods.

[Paul_Bui]

konut,

What a nice informative way to express your rationale of supporting a good product.

My RW mod SB2 should arrive in 2 days.  I think within a week we will hear lots of comments.

[konut]

Thank you Paul. I will be looking forward to your observations.

[Vinnie R.]

The low resistance of the SLA battery make Vinnie's approach unique. The elimination of the filter stage and conversion to DC circuitry allows more instantaneous delivery of the current for usage by the component(s) in use. It is no surprise to me of the glowing reports of Vinnie's mods....

Hi konut,

Thanks for your kind words and support!  

All,

I recently received a few emails asking about the current delivery speed of and SLA, and how it compares to an AC/DC supply.    

First, currently delivery speed is a constant.  Electrons flow at the speed of light no matter if they come from a battery or an ac/dc power supply. This is elementary physics.  

Second, SLA batteries can put out A LOT of current. I use the example of shorting an SLA battery with a wire (not recommended, but I'm just proving a point), the wire will glow red hot because of the large amount of current that would be sent through it. A small ac/dc power supply would either blow a fuse, blow a component, or if it designed to back off the current, it wil go into current-limit protect mode if you were to short the outputs (ie, it cannot output nearly as much current).  The SLA battery will output all the current it can until it discharges.  In other words, the internal resistance of an SLA is very small (a few milliohms).  There is a reason why a lead-acid battery is used to crank over the engine in an automobile....LARGE CURRENT!  

Using a low ESR capacitor for power supply decoupling (battery or ac/dc power supply), and bypassing it with a smaller cap, is always good practice.  In my products, I don't use them across the battery ternimals.  Instead, I use them on the circuit board as close to the device that is consuming the power.  For example, I solder them directly to the 12V pins of the TA2024 in the Clari-T-Amp.  This provides the shortest path of least resistance.  Remember, the speed of electron flow is constant, but the current will be reduced with more series resistance in the path.

I just wanted to clear the air about SLA batteries. I use them on many of my products, and they are very easy to use and are as clean of a power source as can be....totally removing your system off of the AC line.  No need to purchase exotic power cords, no need to purchase power filters, surge protectors, upgrading diodes, etc.  For applications where only low voltage is needed, they are a very good solution.  Sure, a little extra care is needed with SLA.  You don't want to deep discharge them, so you need to have good charging habbits.  ON/Charge operation is done with the flip of a switch, and by using automatic chargers, is really a piece of cake, but I can see that it is probably not for everyone.  

Ok, enough rambling on and on about batteries  

Thanks for your time,

[miklorsmith]

Here's another great reason:  price to performance ratio.  I'm about to be a third time Red Wine customer (Monica 2 due tomorrow).  Guess how much my total bill will be for three pieces of high-end kit?  Under $2k.  This represents two amplifiers, both exceptional Especially at the price, and a (I hope) kick-butt DAC.

The batteries are great.  I don't have any charging issues.  I am a purely subjective end-user and don't care exactly how pristine sonics are achieved.  I've played with flavor du jour speakers, spendy cables, isolation stuff and none of it comes close to the realism I'm getting with Vinnie's amp in my rig.  I feel like I've been released from the painful trudge up Mount Audio where every change brings diminishing performance advantage for huge capital outlay, which depreciates faster than a Cadillac.

Kudos, Wineman, for bringing real high end to the common man!

[Verne M.]

Interesting information!  I've been very impressed with the dynamics and detail with my dual mono amp driving my Lowthers.  High current delivery + high sensitivity speakers = awesome sound.

I never would've believed it just a few years ago - tubes were the be-all and end-all for high sensitivity speakers.  I suppose I had to go thru the "upgrade-itis" and explore different gear before I could wrap my head around the concept of a battery powered chip amp.

I'm really happy with my Red Wine amp and preamp, and I'm glad more and more folks are learning about Vinnie's products.  Great sound at a reasonable price.  Pretty good combo in my book!

[konut]

I predict that Vinnie will be changing the paradigm(which up until a few years ago I thought was 20 cents   ). The cost/benifit ratio of properly implimented SLA is set to reinvigerate the high end. What I'm most excited about is the SB2 mods. Imagine a listening room with, instead of a monolithic rack of machined metal, little devices no bigger than a couple of shoeboxes powering efficient speakers to REALISTIC SOUND PRESSURE LEVELS!!     Vinnie.....you da man!  

[Vinnie R.]

Hi Guys,

Thanks for all your continued support!  As always, I really appreciate all my customers who post their impressions here on the circle, and I also enjoy posts from those of you who are interested in RWA products and have questions, feedback, or are just dropping in to say hello  

Hope to meet many of you at RMAF!