[Vinnie R.]

Hi jtwrace,

Ok, here is your hint (but please do not hold me to this  ) - The larger Series 12 will be less than $1000.  The smaller Series 10 will be approx. a couple hundred dollars less than the Series 12.  Until pricing is finalized, this is all I can say about it.  Thanks for your patience and understanding regarding the price issue...

In the meantime, we'll be getting the detailed webpage (and press release) ready, and soon will be taking orders.  Just a couple more weeks, and thanks for all your patience and support.  Black Lightning will be well-worth the wait! 

As always, I'll keep you all posted.

The Black Lightning page is LIVE (with lots of details, including pricing):

http://www.redwineaudio.com/products/black-lightning

          

Formal press release will be out in the next day or two...

We are currently taking orders, but are patiently waiting for the custom packing material (essential to make sure that your Black Lightning and charger arrives safely, and we use some nice packaging  ).

Should be able to begin shipping in early December (depending on when your order is placed).  Perfect timing - right before the holidays 

Thanks again for all your interest, patience and support!

Vinnie

[Boybees]

Sorry if this has already been asked and answered - but my amplifier is AC powered and does the conversion to DC inside the box. Can Black Lightning be used with components of this kind?

[Vinnie R.]

Sorry if this has already been asked and answered - but my amplifier takes is AC powered and does the conversion to DC inside the box. Can Black Lightning be used with components of this kind?

Hi Boybees,

It really depends on the amplifier and its internal voltage rails.  Currently, the highest voltage split supply we can do is +/- 24Vdc (or 48Vdc single supply) from the Black Lightning Series 12.   

Doing something like this would also require modding your amp (to bypass the stock power supply and feed in the Black Lightning high current SLA power feed).

For "plug-and-play" use, Black Lightning is ideal to replace the stock wall adapters that come with components such as dacs, phonostages, preamps, headphone amps, sources (e.g. squeezeboxes, iTransports, Off-ramps, and many others) and amplifiers that have DC input voltage jacks (e.g. T-amps like Virtue, Trends, Kingrex and others). 

But yes, in certain cases we can feed Black Lightning into components that have internal power supplies.  For example, I know that Dayen's Ampino internally runs on +/- 24Vdc - I bet it could really SING with a Black Lightning Series 12 directly feeding it 

Best regards,

Vinnie

[Boybees]

Hi Vinnie here's what Plinius has to say about the power supply for this amp:

Driver/output supply rails are +/-50V, relay rail +24V, Lineamp Rails +/-18V, opamp supply rails +/-15V and a micro rail of +5V.

It seems like the +/- 50v on the output rails would disqualify it from a Black Lightening mod.

[Vinnie R.]

Hi Vinnie here's what Plinius has to say about the power supply for this amp:

Driver/output supply rails are +/-50V, relay rail +24V, Lineamp Rails +/-18V, opamp supply rails +/-15V and a micro rail of +5V.

It seems like the +/- 50v on the output rails would disqualify it from a Black Lightening mod.

Hi Boybees,

Correct - we currently can deliver a max split supply of +/- 24Vdc. 

In general, modding high power amplifiers for Black Lightning is not going to be very common.

But as mentioned above - amps like Virtue Audio (which have models that can take 24Vdc or 36Vdc) will work very well on Black Lightning, as would other lower power amps (e.g. various T-amps, Altmann BYOB amp/dac, Dayens Ampino, etc.). 

Best regards,

Vinnie

[jtwrace]

So I was here http://www.tonepublications.com/blog/red-wine-audios-black-lightening-redefines-quiet/ and noticed the use of a Lemo connector.  Is this your normal connector of choice or was it just used for the Nagra?  Just curious..

[Vinnie R.]

So I was here http://www.tonepublications.com/blog/red-wine-audios-black-lightening-redefines-quiet/ and noticed the use of a Lemo connector.  Is this your normal connector of choice or was it just used for the Nagra?  Just curious..

Hi jtwrace,

That cable was custom made for the Nagra gear, which requires the Lemo connector. 

Best regards,

Vinnie

[jtwrace]

So I was here http://www.tonepublications.com/blog/red-wine-audios-black-lightening-redefines-quiet/ and noticed the use of a Lemo connector.  Is this your normal connector of choice or was it just used for the Nagra?  Just curious..

Hi jtwrace,

That cable was custom made for the Nagra gear, which requires the Lemo connector. 

Best regards,

Vinnie

Gotcha!  Do you sell the chargers for us DIY guys?  Is the "smart circuit" part of the charger or something that you do?  I would like to build my own unit as it's easy for me to do so but I would like a "smart charger".

[Vinnie R.]

Hi jtwrace,

Good question!

There are two separate items - the SLA battery charger (external to our products), and the Red Wine Audio SMART board (internal to our products):

-- The battery charger is an SLA, 2-stage charger (Bulk charge, and float charge).  It can be left plugged into the product indefinitely, as the float charge (or "trickle charge"). This is something you can buy off the shelf (not designed or built by Red Wine Audio).

-- The Red Wine Audio SMART board is a circuit board that we install in our components.  Our new SMART board can be configured for our 12V and 24 products (and we also have a larger one that can do 3 or 4 batteries for 36V or 48V).  The SMART board continuously monitors the battery voltage, and if it falls to low, it automatically switches off the unit and beings the charge process (so you will never accidentally deep-cycle your SLA battery or batteries, and don't have to monitor their voltage).  You can keep the charger plugged in at all times, but when the unit turns ON, the SMART board internally disconnects both the positive and negative leads of the charger from the battery (so the unit completely runs on battery and is isolated), and when the unit turns OFF, the SMART board removes battery power from the (the circuitry of the audio component)  and automatically connects the battery to the charger.  Besides that, our new SMART board has in-rush current limiting, high-current latching relays, and when ON or OFF, it consumes negligible power from the battery.  It's "brain" is a PIC micro-controller with our own firmware that we flash program into here at the factory.

However - we do not sell this SMART board for the DIY community....

All the best,

Vinnie

[Vinnie R.]

We are currently taking orders, but are patiently waiting for the custom packing material (essential to make sure that your Black Lightning and charger arrives safely, and we use some nice packaging  ).

Should be able to begin shipping in early December (depending on when your order is placed).  Perfect timing - right before the holidays 

Vinnie

All,

Packaging material is finally coming tomorrow!  So Black Lightning orders will start shipping tomorrow 

Thanks again for all your patience,

Best regards,

Vinnie

PS: A customer called up today and asked it is possible to use a Black Lightning Series 12 (with 24Vdc output) to power two Virtue Amps (acting as monoblocks) and a tube preamp like the Trends PA-10 (which also runs on 24Vdc) - all powered from one Black Lightning with 3 power output jacks.  The answer is YES - absolutely and that would be a kick-butt little rig for the money and will play for many hours on a full charge.     Just sounded like a cool application. 

[Paul_Bui]

Hi Vinnie,

I'd like to take my AudioSector Patek amp and SinglePower MPX3 head-amp (being used as tube pre) off the grid.  Could you please advise which Series should I purchase?

Thanks and wishing you best success!

[Vinnie R.]

Hi Vinnie,

I'd like to take my AudioSector Patek amp and SinglePower MPX3 head-amp (being used as tube pre) off the grid.  Could you please advise which Series should I purchase?

Thanks and wishing you best success!

Hi Paul,

Thank you!

I believe the Patek can run on +/- 24Vdc, that should be easy to convert.  We would completely skip the AC transformer and diode (rectifier board) and feed high-current SLA battery power directly to the power amp boards.  This will sound awesome!  It will require the Black Lightning Series 12 with the custom +/- 24V output.  I would also need to install a "DC-direct" input jack to feed in +24Vdc, GND, and -24Vdc and make a cable to connect between the BL and your modded Patek. 

If it is a Patek V2 (http://www.audiosector.com/chassis_patek2_amp.shtml), it looks like it already takes DC input voltages and is fed from an external AC to DC power supply - so in this case, it will be even easier because I won't have to mod your Patek with an input jack and won't have to bypass the internal AC transformer and rectification board... 

As for the tube headphone amp - it probably runs on high voltage DC (probably well over 200V for the tube B+), so this is not something that can be easily done (unless we use custom DC-DC converters, but I rather not get into that.) 

Please feel free to call or email me to discuss:

vinnie@redwineaudio.com
(203) 440-4944

Best regards,

Vinnie

[Paul_Bui]

Thanks Vinnie for researching before giving me the answer.  Mine is a Patek SE, the same type that Srajan reviewed in 6moons (http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/audiosector/patek_2.html), so functionally it's similar to a Patek V2.

[Vinnie R.]

Thanks Vinnie for researching before giving me the answer.  Mine is a Patek SE, the same type that Srajan reviewed in 6moons (http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/audiosector/patek_2.html), so functionally it's similar to a Patek V2.

Hi Paul,

I apologize for the delayed response... been really busy! 

Looks like your Patek is fed from an external power supply - which is great because we wouldn't have to mod your Patek - we would just need to know the pin-out (what voltage goes to what pin) of the cable that feeds into your Patek and make you a cable adapter so you can plug directly
into a +/- 24V Black Lightning Series 12 unit.

Feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

All the best,

Vinnie

[TONEPUB]

Hey, to all of you that have Black Lightenings on the way, you are going to be in for a good surprise!  Even after a few weeks, I can't get over how much my system has been improved!

[Vinnie R.]

The Black Lightning review is now live on the Tone Audio website (in the "Gear" section):

http://www.tonepublications.com/gear/the-red-wine-audio-black-lightning-dc-power-supply/

I want to thank Jeff at Tone Audio for all his interest and time spent in reviewing the Black Lightning.  Jeff contacted me about a 12V SLA battery power supply for his Nagra a while back, and I thank him for giving me the nudge to make this idea a reality! 

Best regards,

Vinnie