Relationship of amplifier sound to transformer quality?

Another factor in transformer selection....

• The transformer acts like a reservoir for electrical energy.
  
• When loud, dynamic music (very fast, like drums) is encountered, the energy required to realistically reproduce that instrument is provided initially from the transformer
• A small trasformer is unable to provide all the energy and as a result there is a tiny drop in the circuits internal voltage
• This is music, the the internal voltage is always changing - not good for an amp
• The voltage fluctuations degrade the amps output signal
• The Bigger the transformer, the better the amp is able to handle the demand for electrical energy, fluctuations are minimal and the result is better quality music

Naim is one company that has always followed this approach. They even build seperate power supplies for most of their gear and it pays dividends. Many other high end amps adopt the same philosophy.

I’ve made seperate power supplies with large transformers for a few components and each time the improvements were significant - well worth the investment. And that was simply increasing the size of the transformer.

Factor in the other advantages listed above and you can see why good designers consider transformers crucial to good design.

Regards

Bombaywalla - my apologies - the post was poorly worded.

I was attempting to use metaphors that people without detailed electrical backgrounds could relate too - I obviously failed.

My intention of using the "reservoir" metaphor was to communicate the fact that every transformer has a finite power delivery capability and not that it actually "stores" electrical energy like a battery or capacitor

But, just like a battery - If you exceed the delivery capability of a transformer, then things will happen at the output terminals of the transformer that then leads to degraded performance of the rest of the power supply and ultimately the entire component. 

Designers of quality components understand the transient nature of audio  and design sufficient "capability" into their transformers to deal with them, taking into account...

• winding materials
• insulations materials
• core materials
• Laminated vs. toroid 
• etc..

Components built to a "price point" often have power supplies that use a transformer conforming to a more "standard design" which are often less able to match the transient demand that the rest of the circuitry is actually capable of achieving and therefore results in the component operating at a reduced level of performance.

E.G. - I 've had a couple of components that used an AC Wal-Wart "power supply" and simply replacing the Wal-Wart supply with a "more capable" transformer elevated the performance of both components significantly.

For me - Good component design starts with the transformer.

I just hope I've redeemed myself - a Little at least :-)