I beg to differ with AI, if that is acceptable. The owners manual of the Sim Audio phono says it comes with an external AC supply, emphasis on "AC". The ifi LPS produces DC voltage. So AI cannot be correct about polarity of the iFi LPS being the cause of the problem, since DC has no polarity. Or to put it another way, if the Sim were equipped to receive DCV at its PS input, the sign of the DCV as determined by whether it is received on the ground plane or the B+ plane would probably not matter. The problem, I think, is that the LPS delivered DCV to the Sim that expects ACV. This means that the Sim must have rectifiers and filter capacitors built into it to convert incoming AC from its wall wart to DC. But if you feed that internal PS with DCV, that’s probably not good. Where many get in trouble is in thinking that all wall warts are the same. They are not. Some are just transformers (as in the case of the Sim, apparently) designed to step down the ACV coming from the wall and deliver it for rectification and filtering to a built in PS. Other wall warts contain complete LPSs to deliver DCV to a component.
Well I did It! I managed to damage my phono pre-am (sigh)
So, I managed to damage my SimAudio Moon 110lp v2!
I am embarrassed to even be posting all this but whatever, perhaps someone could learn from my mistakes.
Recently I had made a post asking for feedback on Tube Phono Stages as I have been pondering about upgrading.
But I also wanted to see if I could perhaps squeeze out more performance out of the SimAudio and hence I also inquire about SUT's and what they can do.
One other aspect that I thought may improve the performance was getting a LPS.
So, I purchased the Ifi LPS as I had read good reviews of it (that unit is fine by that way).
My SimAudio is 24vdc and I bought the Ifi 24v 2.5amp, thinking that would be the correct LPS.
It was delivered and I unplugged everything from the SimAudio.
The Ifi comes with different plug adapters but the default plug, plugged right in and I thought great, I won't have to use the adapters.
Plugged everything in and the SimAudio blue light came on but no sound!
Pugged the SimAudio back to its power adapter and all sounded fine.
Then I though, well maybe I do need to use one of the adapters and tried the correct one and same result, no sound.
Went back to the default plug and then the blue light was flashing on the Sim and just a few seconds later, a puff of white smoke!
Unplugged everything immediately but knew right away the Sim was done for.
No other damage, the Ifi is fine and I will be returning that.
But my little SimAudio is no more.
Damn! I really liked that unit and was going to keep that around for a 2ndary system.
I feel horrible. At least it's not a terribly expensive unit but I just feel like crap about the situation.
Now for sure, I am going to have to get a new Phono Stage.
I just don't understand what went wrong, power wise, I thought for sure I was getting the correct unit.
Well, I'm just ranting here and getting it out as only you guys will understand.
Thanks for listening.
Jay
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- 38 posts total
- 38 posts total