switch mode PSU's for audio.. pro's & cons, please discuss..

[millzners]

The first thing I would do is take over a couple variable bench supplies and plug them in to the unit and watch the current draw on the supply as you do certain things. 

At work I've found that when we use our switchers I'm missing half the story of what is going on with our units.  When we use the bench supplies things become much more clear.  This may not be feasible but you may be surprised how often simple current draw illuminates a much more complicated problem.

 

[Rob Flinn]

Millzners

Thanks for the advice.  Unfortunately, I don't have any 4A bench supplies sitting around I can take over there, & I don't have the budget to buy them specifically to test out someone elses console. 

If this was my console & it was sitting here for me to experiment with then, I'm sure I would probably have got frustrated enough to have just built a linear supply by now, as other people keep suggesting.  But I can't play with my firends money in the frivolous way that I spend my own !!

 

[JohnRoberts]

I bet we could guess whether he leaves it powered up, or not, if he ever gets it running.  8)

JR

 

[user 37518]

Maybe im a little bit too late for this but here we go. Long ago i bought something from Velvet Audio, Jurgen is a good guy, but i was also amazed when I recieved a couple of his modules with a SMPS, looked like one of those used by laptops. To be fair the power supply worked properly, but i had several noise floor isuess and the wiring had some grounding issues too... I fixed the ground issues and i replaced the power supply with a linear Power One, and suddenly everything was dead silent.

I might be wrong, but what ive noticed is that he is like an e-bay dealer who obviously specializes in german gear (Telefunken, Siemens, Lawo, etc...) however all the gear he sells on e-bay has one of those SMPS, which leads me to think that most of the stuff is not even tested for compatibility as he might just add the PSU for some extra bucks...

Rob, i know you have mentioned its not your money and such, but a linear Power supply on e-bay is dirty cheap, im talking  you can find a 5 amp bipolar +-15V Power one such as this for 50 dolars and just get over with... http://www.ebay.com/itm/POWER-ONE-POWER-SUPPLY-INTERNATIONAL-SERIES-HDD15-5-A-/290582733467?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item43a814a29b

 

[jhulk]

i have the full schematics for the c4

and for the 3 psu

also all the schems for the 50db centronic connectors for making looms for the 4 aux outs theres no returns but there are inputs to the group channels and also the summing master channels so that the aux returns can come back via that way

on these centronic connectors there are outs for every channel outs for the groups

i am going to be making some looms up shortly

 

[jonny guitar]

Hello,

Have you got the schematics in english?
I have just bought a C4 from ebay that needs some work and a new power supply or custom the one (made by Velvet Audio i believe) fixing/revamping. I probably won't do it myself  but at least i would like to read up on it so i know what im talking about when it comes to getting it repaired. im guessing it might be helpful if i can turn up with the schematics in the right language too. So that would be really useful jhulk and much appriciated.

user 37518, im sure im getting this wrong but are you saying those Linear PSU work as a direct replacement to the original PSU..

Anyway, admittedly its a bit beyond me. Anyone know any good techs in London that could sort this out for me.

many thanks

jonny