Voltage Regulators


I saw a little device in Radio Shack's catalog on the page with all the $1000 oscilliscopes of a 400VA Line conditioner. Its an attractive little no-frills unit that looks very well built. Its on sale for $50 (quite cheap) and didn't know it this is of any value to audiophiles or if anyone had any experience with it. It doesn't specify about EMI/RFI filtering; however, its supposed to insure a constant voltage, no spikes or brownouts. The product # is 910-5122 and its built by Samlex America. It seems like it may be promising considering it isn't aimed at the audio community, so I feel safer that someone hasn't ridiculously marked the product up. Any knowledge of this thank you.
ezmeralda11

Showing 1 response by bob_bundus

Sounds similar to a Sola line-regulation transformer with a tertiary buck/boost winding. I have one in my shop, which I use for line isolation/saftey purposes only. The limited power available would likely constrain current-transients, but that may be alright for source components only. A number of the original audio-grade power-conditioners employed line regulation; dunno if that technique is still in-vogue, excepting such devices as PS Audio, but they do far more than that of course. I wouldn't expect the device to improve your audio, but the only way to know for sure is to try it. Bear in mind that most audio component's power supplys are already regulated though. It also might offer some protection from AC line-transients, although there are more effective methods of accomplishing that.