[geofstro]

Hi Vinnie,

Just wondering if it would be feasible to offer all of your battery powered products with the option of using an external battery, instead of incorporating the battery in the chassis of the product concerned.

I noticed this is already the case with your modified SB2/3 to the extent that the battery power supply is in a separate enclosure.

It seems to me that if one of your customers, such as myself, had several Red Wine Audio products that require to be driven from a 12V battery power supply, we might be better off driving all these products from a single battery power supply, rather than each procudct requiring its own battery power supply and charger. This would involve each product, such as a Clari-T Reali-T SB2/3, etc being offered without the battery in the enclosure; but with simply the appropriate connector(s) for connecting up an appropriate external 12v battery supply.

I though of this as a result of my interest in the Charles Altmann attraction DAC, which he recommends using with a 12V car battery.

For those of us crazy enough to run our systems off a car battery, it seems to me the battery would have enough capacity to run an Attraction DAC as well as several Red Wine Audio products for far longer before needing recharge than the individual SLA batteries supplied with each RWA product today. A 2000ma car battery should also meet the power consumption requirements of several items at the same time. Perhaps the RWA products could be offered with a choice of connectors and leads depending on the power source the customer wanted to run them off.

This would also reduce the weight and shipping cost of RWA products offered without their own SLA batteries.

More interestingly some battery options may prove to have a different sound than others and it would be fun to compare.

I'll be very interested in any views you or anyone else may have on this.

geoff

[Vinnie R.]

Hi Geoff,

Thanks for your post.

The SB2/SB3s required an external battery enclosure due to their small size. 

As for allowing multiple RWA products to be connected to one master enclosure, I prefer not to do it this way for the following reasons:

1) Different RWA products have different power requirements.  The Signature 30 and modded Teac runs on 24V.  Others run on 12V.  Some Clari-Ts are true dual mono (separate battery for each channel).  They all draw different amounts of current (the Olive and SB2/3 drawing the most of the bunch).  Who knows what the next one will run off of 

2) I prefer my products to be ran off of their own power supply (Battery).  Sources will have their own power supply, the amps will have their own power supply, and this adds isolation between them. 

3) I like to have some piece of mind about what my products are feeding on.  In other words, if one decides to be 'naughty' and connect the external "battey cord" to an ac power supply, is that supply safe to use with my product.  Is it unregulated and really outputting 19V initially and then 12 volts under load?  What if it accidentally gets connected backwards?      

4) One big battery (big enough to power muliple devices) inside a large enclosure might not be attractive to those who want to keep their system simple and portable.  Also, if you want to sell one of the products, you'll need to sell the battery with it, but then if you do, what will power your other collection of RWA products 

Yes I know I am being a little silly and extreme with some of my comments, but these are some of the things I need to think of.

However.... for a custom situation (custom to your products), I could modify these products and run them off of one larger battery supply if that is what is wanted. 

Thanks again,

Vinnie

[geofstro]

Hi Vinnie,

Thanks for your considered reply. I suspected the issues may turn out to be more complex than I'd thought. It was really the Altmann DAC that got me thinking along these lines. I'm intrigued by this product and have decided I'll be ordering one along with the necessary car battery.

In his case, he also has an amp and both the DAC and the amp can be run off the same car battery, apparently without any problem. Obviously they must have the same power requirements. After reading your reply, I wonder though if they might also benefit from running from different power supplies for isolation. I can't imagine many people accomodatng two car batteries though  Anyway, I've always been keen to get off the mains as much as possible. That's why I jumped on your products so quickly. Many years ago a UK company made a battery powered DAC and it was supposed to be awseome. I couldn't afford it at the time, so I guess I'm indulging that fantasy now.

I completely appreciate why you prefer to integrate the battery power supplies within each individual product and why you have to consider those issues and I don't feel any of your comments are silly or extreme.

I love the sound of my modded Teac in the system where I'll be using the Altmann DAC, I was just wondering if there might be a way to cut down on the number of batteries and chargers an all battery driven system might require.

I also appreciate your being flexible and open to entertaining custom options as usual. 

Looking at this another way, a lot of people might be turned off the idea of the Altmann DAC if they have to accommodate a car battery (he also suggested a motorcycle battery as being sufficient for the DAC alone) and maybe the type of SLA battery used for some of your products might also suffice, if an appropriately rated one were available in a separate enclosure.

Thanks again

geoff


BTW Have a great 4th!