2. misc-audio
  3. 1237833413

Power line frequency and possible equipment damage

I use a PS Audio P300 power plant as a turntable motor control, frequently setting it to 81hz, 118v for 45rpm records. Would playing a typical cd player, dac, or itransport with power coming in at 81hz rather than 60hz damage the unit? If so would there be risk of damage if the unit was not playing but still plugged in and consuming a modicum of power in standby mode?

I realize this is fairly equipment specific, but I am actually more interested in the general “am I an idiot if I do this” type question since I plan to make some significant changes to my digital front end in the next year or so.
wrtickle

Showing 2 responses by aball

aball
2,018 posts
 
Transformers don't really care whether they are getting 60 or 80 or 100 Hz. Now if you were talking 100,000 Hz, that is a different story, but 10s of Hz doesn't matter. The electronics downstream don't care either because they only see DC voltage coming off the rectifiers. All that changes is the ripple frequency, which if your power supply is properly designed, will be so low in level that nothing will notice. So no, there shouldn't be any problem.

As for motor control - now that can be a problem. Depends on the type of motor, but in some cases, changing the line frequency will change the motor speed...

Arthur
aball
2,018 posts
 
Ah - clever.

Arthur
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