Regarding power transformers, real audio engineers/designers like Tim de Paravicini (EAR-Yoshino) and Roger Modjeski (Music Reference) have much to say on the subject, not just silly things like smaller is better. Roger winds his own for some of his amplifiers, and Tim says he can predict how an amp sounds by looking at it’s transformer (he is of the opinion that, generally speaking, bigger is better). Everyone knows that the trade-off (good engineering is all about balancing trade-offs) with a larger transformer (for better low frequency reproduction) is the tendency to limit high frequency extension. There is no free lunch. Anyone offering glib, easy answers is most likely and almost certainly a charlatan.
Preamplifier power supply
Hi folks, should a preamplifier have a BIG (that is: an overkill power supply) to sound dynamic and authoritative? I'm asking this because some experts would say "yes" while others would say "no". Recently a well known audio journalist (Anthony Cordesmann?) said that the preamplifier doesn't have to have a big power supply because it doesn't have to deliver lots of energy (in the form of current). A preamplifier can sound "dynamic" even with very modest power supply --> for example the built in preamplifier in the Benchmark DAC. But some manufacturers rely on a truly overkill power supply in their reference preamplifiers: MBL, First Sound Audio, BAT, VTL, LAMM, Mark Levinson. So who is right?
Chris
Chris
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