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Wednesday, February 25, 2015

Power supply capacitance myth

Hi guys,

Today, a customer asks us if we can increase the value of the class A tube rectified power supply capacitors for his custom made amplifier significantly so that he can get a better power supply with low ripple and deep excellent bass?

In his ordered design, we only chose values from 4UF to 100UF maximum for his 300B amplifier. He was questioning us why it is so low. He saw at least 220UF to 470UF in other designs, sometimes even 1000UF on some designs. If we use 100UF, will the bass be weaker compared to those with more capacitance?

What do you think? Do you use big capacitors and it equals to a great power supply?

We are sorry to tell you that it is a WRONG assumption. Huge capacitance does not equal to good power supply. Huge capacitance makes the bass weaker and looser due to the slow recovery time to charge the capacitors once the charge is used up.

What is important in class A tube amplifier power supply is to have a critically damped supply with excellent transient response with just sufficient capacitance to low the power supply ripple to an inaudible level.

Less is actually more! That's what we do with our power supplies. That's one of the things that separates us from others. You will find that our bass are taut, deep and fast! No woolieness!

J&K Audio Design
25/2/2015


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1 comment:

  1. This reflects the need for the truth - we feel the urge for orientation in a certain principle, but as soon as we discover some measurable parameter (our possible future representation), we're happy and just jump on that, mission accomplished.

    In fact most of the people connect the PSU contribution to sound with two phenomena and than act accordingly - obsessive fear of the ripple and low bass and not even knowing what is a real audible DC ripple from PSU, nor what is lacking bass caused by PSU. But in the first place, as you wrote, this is by far not just a function of a capacitance, even if many times we wish the things to be simple. Many companies use the capacitance for marketing though, which further deforms the image of PSU impact on sound.

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Level 3: depends on type, size and complexity. Email us for details.

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* Finished amplifiers, DACs, audio gadgets, upgrades and repairs - this is not our core business and we do it out of passion. We do not have fixed models, fixed price and we customize for each individuals. The sky is limit of creativity.

* Our product lines are always improving and increasing. If you do not see what you want, contact us!

* Please email for volume discounts, distributor and OEM pricing.