Buzzzzzing Transformers


My solid state monoblock transformers buzz. I use a CJ tubed preamp (PV9a) and a modified TNT Turntable. I use an SDS for motor stability and a PS audio 300 power conditioner which I set in to the very basic mode without upping the frequency. Could this conditioner be the source of the problem?
tphalieros

Showing 4 responses by tphalieros

Thank you all for the thoughtful and very informative answers. I am currious, and maybe I should be posting a new thread for the following: I recall having read some years ago about a tweak that a reviewer of "positive feedback" performed on his amp's toroidal transformers. He removed the top holding plates and the screws that hold them to the chassis and just let the tranformers stand in place without any fasteners. He reported that the music was sort of liberated and that detail and inner resolution etc, etc, increased dramatically. Of course he warned that the transformers were loose now and any attempt to move the amps should be done very carefully! or disaster could ensue.
How do you like that?
Ted
Gs5556, You guessed it right, my transformers are toroidal. Their maker is obscure and out of business now, so I did not mention the name. They are "Acoustic- Electronics" "photons" One currious modification, that I think was added later by their first owner, was that they have a second smaller toroidal transformer sitting on top of the main one. I think this gave additional power to the amps.
Ted
I am answering in sequencial order:
asdf...I will probably let the transformers loose with the first opportunity I get.

Jsawhitlock, Thank you for the PS audio info. I will check the connections as they suggest, with the first brake I get.

Chriskeating, Roger Paul serviced my amps about 2 years ago. He took out 70% of the circuits and installed a completely homemade H-cat system, housed in... plumber's pipes and held together with tape, but it works! the amps became a model of neutrality and transparency. I pray that nothing happens to them because Roger is in the computer business now and unlikely to have time to fix them. How did you know about the "Photons"? Also, Roger's patented preamp that featured the new technology was reviewed by Anna Log who gave it glowing remarks.

zaikesman, My amps are not plugged in to the PS 300. They draw about 350 watts each and the PS 300 would have fried long time ago.

Thanks to all of you.
Great story Chris, I love it!, Now I've got to tell you more about that stuff. Back in 1990 I met 2 guys that I became friends with. They had Photon monoblocks but also stereo units. Roger Paul was selling his amps through Victor Goldstein who was importing then the "Jadis" line. Victor knew my friends and had them audition the Photons side by side with a Krell, the Photons won hands down and even though they cost $6000 for the monoblocks My 2 friends bought them. Later they also bought one of the stereo units. The interesting, and a little unsettling thing
was that Roger kept experimenting, and each of his amps had different wiring or power cords, even different make caps. He never provided schematics and no one could repair the amps except him.
One fine day, one of my friends called me and said that he saw an ad for Photon monoblocks selling for $1.500. I bought the units immediately, they were heavily modified by a Techie tweaker and had a plethora of expensive parts added to them, their interior looked like a plummer's nightmare! In addition, UPS damaged BOTH packages dropping each one down and managing to bent each unit's faceplate at the point where the handles emerge. I got $1,200 insurance compensation and Roger suggested that he would install his newly patented H-Cat circuit which was inspired by his work on goverment computers, for just about the amount I got from the insurance. At that time Roger had closed his company and changed his profession. He never advertised, believing that word of mouth from satisfied customers, would be enough to sell his amps, a mistake, which backfired and he had to go out of business and in to debt.
My 2 friends still own the Photons but have since moved to tubed amps. I have stuck with them since mine are one of a kind and no one, that I know, has this tech in his Photons.
The only problem is that should anything happened to them, unless Roger accepts to repair them, I am out of luck!
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