[Big Bad Bob]

On 01/25/11 06:18, Patrick Turner so witilly quipped:
My point is that one should not have to buy any additional mains
tranny nor do any mods. The ARC amps should be ableto be set for all
countries and mains voltages.


It might make a lot of sense if amp makers were to use switching power
supplies in these high end tube amps, and avoid the power transformer
altogether. Chances are it would significantly lower the cost of the
unit at the same time (and not affect the sound). You could even have a
tube rectifier and LC filter on the output side of the switcher, if
people demand it. I would guess it would cost about the same as a
typical computer power supply to make something like that. And it
wouldn't weigh as much as a boat anchor. And you wouldn't get 'heater
hum' in the cathode circuits (assuming regulated DC heater supply).