{"id":99,"date":"2008-06-09T08:28:20","date_gmt":"2008-06-09T08:28:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/127.0.0.1\/wordpress63\/?p=99"},"modified":"2013-03-28T18:58:57","modified_gmt":"2013-03-28T10:58:57","slug":"building-your-own-power-supply","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/diyparadise.com\/w\/building-your-own-power-supply\/","title":{"rendered":"Building your own Power Supply"},"content":{"rendered":"

“Yeo, I want to build the circuits on your
\nprojects<\/a> page but you only show signal circuitry but
\nno power supply circuitry.”<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

Err, you are right.<\/span><\/p>\n

An amplifier is basically a modulated power
\nsupply, so the power supply circuitry should get your utmost attention, then
\nonly followed by the signal circuitry, not the other way round. I have built a
\nfew different versions so I could tell you more about each of them, with some
\nexample circuits you could try yourselves. As always, take everything you read
\nwith many grains of audiophile salt, me included. The circuits shown on this
\npage has been simulated using the excellent Power Supply Designer.<\/span><\/p>\n

Okay, here goes.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/h3>\n

Cheap, cheap, cheap.<\/span><\/h3>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

The above is a basic “brute force”
\nmethod. Least in cost and bulk. For the diode, use whatever super-fast,
\nsoft-recovery, hexfred blah blah blah as see fit. To improve on it without
\nspending too much, sandwich a snubber circuit in. Snubber circuit courtesy of
\nJohn Camille from Bottlehead.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

To make it even better, you could opt to swap the
\n220ohm resistor with a choke. Any choke with DCR (DC resistance) ~200 ohm would
\ndo.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Less cheap, more mojo.<\/span><\/h3>\n

Use a tube rectifier! Kinder to tubes, they don’t
\nleap to full B+ at turn on, but I don’t welcome the added expense, and the
\nvoltage drop.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

The above uses tube rectifier and is 2-stage
\nfiltering. If you prefer to remove one stage, remember to compensate with more
\ncapacitance. If you replace one choke with a resistor, you need to increase the
\ncapacitance too. The above uses 5U4G but if you wish to try something else, go
\nahead. Just simulate it with the Power Supply Designer.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

If you don’t want to spend too much on tube
\nrectifiers, since NOS versions could cost a bomb, use TV damper diode like I
\ndid! They are BIG, they can handle lots of voltage and lots of current and they
\nare CHEAP. Read this<\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

You could play around with the sound by adding
\nmore capacitance, say use 100uf instead of 50uf but be careful with the first
\ncap right after the tube rectifiers. Lots of them don’t like high capacitance.
\nThe 5U4G don’t like more than 20uF.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

My take for what it’s worth…<\/span><\/h3>\n

I could think of 2 conventional power supply
\nfilters. Choke input and capacitor input. I find that choke input is quieter,
\nbut capacitor input seems to be more dynamic, albeit noisier. Choose whichever
\nyou are comfortable with.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

You could hear what you put in the power supply
\ncircuitry. I like chokes. Presence of chokes smoothen the mids and highs, deepen
\nthe lows but at a loss of speed. The Presentation seems to be more relaxed,
\nslower. Kenneth once told me he likes the bass of cap input but prefers the mids\/highs
\nof choke input. There you go.<\/span><\/p>\n

Electrolytic capacitors get a lot of flak for its
\nsonic characteristics. Well, we live in a real world where, unfortunately, cost
\nper micro-farad is the lowest for electrolytics. Elna Cerafine and Black Gates
\nare raved as the best sounding electrolytics but the prices is too high for a
\ncheapskate like me.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Okay, my approach to good sounding, not too
\nexpensive power supply circuitry is this. I like lots of chokes and very little
\ncapacitance. When you don’t have lots of capacitance, you really need lots of
\nchokes. Unfortunately, this makes your amp really heavy. Chokes are cheaper than
\nquality capacitors.<\/span><\/p>\n

Unfortunately as well, you don’t see lots of
\nchokes in commercial designs. This makes the amp too heavy. Nor do you see the
\nusage of oil capacitors in the power supply. The combination of chokes and oil
\ncapacitors make a VERY heavy power supply. My power supply is heavier than my
\nsignal circuitry.<\/span><\/p>\n

Okay, how important is the power supply?<\/span><\/h3>\n

Alright, consider this. My Darling amp originally
\nuses “cheap, cheap, cheap” as shown above. Diodes, resistors and 2
\nvery high capacitance capacitors. RCA tubes sound musical but thin and
\ncompressed. The GE 5 star beats it by a mile.<\/span><\/p>\n

Then I rebuilt<\/a>
\nmy Darling with an extra-mojo power supply. Lots of chokes and lots of oil caps.
\nThis time, the difference between the RCA and the GE 5 star is subtle. Not day
\nand night like before. Huh? I couldn’t believe it!\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

So, before you pay expensive moolah for NOS tubes,
\nconsider uprading your power supply. You may be in for a treat.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Yeo, I want to build the circuits on your projects page but you only show signal circuitry but no power supply circuitry.” Err, you are right. An amplifier is basically a modulated power supply, so the power supply circuitry should get your utmost attention, then only followed by the signal circuitry, not the other way round. I have built a few different versions so I could tell you more about each of them, with some example circuits you could try yourselves. As always, take everything you read with many grains of audiophile salt, me included. The circuits shown on this <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":575,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[1413,1478],"class_list":["post-99","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-projects","tag-power-supply","tag-power-supply-circuitry","has_thumb"],"yoast_head":"\nBuilding your own Power Supply - diyparadise<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/diyparadise.com\/w\/building-your-own-power-supply\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Building your own Power Supply - diyparadise\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"“Yeo, I want to build the circuits on your projects page but you only show signal circuitry but no power supply circuitry.” Err, you are right. An amplifier is basically a modulated power supply, so the power supply circuitry should get your utmost attention, then only followed by the signal circuitry, not the other way round. I have built a few different versions so I could tell you more about each of them, with some example circuits you could try yourselves. As always, take everything you read with many grains of audiophile salt, me included. 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