dumb question: pump up the voltage?

So I picked up a little For.A field mixer cheap--a 4 channel stereo thing. Designed for an input of 12v which is then converted to +/-12v. So instead of going that route I just bypassed the dc-dc converter & used a +/-12v power one supply I had lying around.

The circuit's nothing fancy--input trafos feeding 5534's, discreet opamps feeding the output trafos on the left & right out. I'm liking the sound of it so far.

My question: am I risking anything if I toy with tweaking the voltage upward? I know there are some caps in there rated at 16v, so I wouldn't be going too high--maybe 13-14 volts. I just thought maybe I could gain a little extra headroom by upping the voltage, but I'm uncertain what problems (if any) this might cause.


Tom

Hodad, I would change those caps out to something like 25-30v if you are going to go much higher than 12v from 0v in either direction. There is a rule of thumb for how much higher a cap should be from the max voltage it will see, but i don't remember it off hand. generally I try at least 10v higher than the max rail voltage. the 5534 can take +-20v. we don't know what the discretes take though... maybe there is a model# on those that someone will recognize and can give you specs?

Cheers!

Yes,

And watch out for any "ancillary" circuitry which needs exactly 12V. Some VU/PPM driver boards will only take +/-12V and if there are any LEDs and signal-control relays you may have to keep a +/-12V supply for them. If so, you just split the rails (if possible!) to have a higher "Audio" rail purely for the audio signal path, and then a pair of linear regulators for a +/-12V "Ancillary" meters/relays/bulbs/LEDs supply.

Info on the types of discrete gain stages would be useful- someone may know the max specs.

I don't think that you'd get a massive increase in headroom by sligtly increasing the supply rails, and be careful not to push those discrete units- they may be difficult/expensive to repair/replace!

Mark

Well the discreet opamps are Ko-on model HM101--Ko-on, it turns out, is a Japanese concern, still around, and with a line of broadcast consoles. Not surprisingly, there was no info on their site about this or any other DOA's.
I emailed 'em to see if they'd be able to supply any info. If they do come through with some info, I'll post it up.

Tom