The Paul Hynes SR4 PSU

[paulhynes]

Hello yellowblue,

 

The £92 was for two SR4 that you initially requested. If you only want one SR4 the shipping cost would be £46 and £10 insurance for loss or damage in transit. Lower cost services are probably available if you are prepared to accept longer shipping time.

 

Regards

Paul

[paulhynes]

Hello Confused,

 

The SR4 is produced in batches of 10 each month by my assistant, with the production scheduled for the last week in each month. Shipping is usually the following week after the two-day soak test although the March batch was a few days behind due to the Easter Holidays. There are still a couple of units available on the April batch, which should ship the first week in May. Once these are allotted to customers the next batch available will be the end of May production.

 

Regards

Paul

[paulhynes]

Hi Jiffi32,

 

The sunshine has gone away again and now it is back to wall to wall grey skies with gales.

 

Hi Simon,

 

The SR4 uses a precision stepped attenuator with 4 settings to set the output voltage. These resistors can be specified for different voltage ranges which together with a mains transformer selected to suit the voltage range allows alternative voltage settings. The stepped attenuator voltage range span should be restricted to avoid over heating on the lowest voltage settings. A 7 volt span works well on the standard SR4-12.

 

I can change the mains transformer and fit resistors that will give output voltage settings of  9v, 12v, 15v and 18v for you but I would suggest limiting the load current to 1.5A continuous on the 9v setting due to the finite thermal capability of the SR4 chassis. 2A continuous will still be available on the 12v, 15v and 18v settings.

 

I can also provide an SR4 with voltage settings of 1v2, 1v5, 1v8 and 2v5 with a 3A continuous and 20A transient current rating for those wishing to experiment with separate power supplies for RAM.

 

Regards

Paul

[paulhynes]

Hi R1200L,

 

Thanks for the link to worldwide parcel services. I plugged in Sweden as the destination and there were indeed a number of lower rate services mainly by road and from providers I have never heard of. What is useful is that the providers I usually use were lower cost on this site than the one I use although the services offered were not directly comparable.

 

I have since sourced a strong carton that is slightly smaller than the ones I originally used for SR4 shipping and this brings the shipping weight to just below 2Kg, which now allows the use of the Royal Mail International Service with the following prices :-

 

Shipping costs for the SR4 power supply including insurance for loss or damage in transit :-

 

UK                       £12

Europe                 £20

Rest of the world £28

 

Hi rickca,

 

LTG2010 is correct, 1v2 is the posh way of saying 1.2v. It is also one less key stroke in line with the KISS principal.

 

R1200CL,

 

SR4 single rail power supply spec is the same as the other SR power supplies except for the available output current of the SR4, which is 2A continuous and 20A transient. The remaining specs are :-

 

Noise voltage < 0.5 nanovolts root Hz

Operating Bandwidth > 300 Mhz

Supply line rejection > 80 dB DC to 100 KHz

Output impedance < 3 milliohms DC to 100 KHz

Transient response and settling time < 100 nanoseconds

 

The SR4 has been designed as an “endpoint” regulated power supply without the need for add on’s on the output to “improve” performance. In other words it is designed to directly power equipment used for signal processing. It is not designed to charge batteries nor is it designed to charge ultracap banks.

 

The SR7 was part of the custom build range I was offering until recently. Custom build is no longer available. It is too time consuming and fraught with logistical issues, often causing delays which obviously leads to customers being disappointed. Alex (Crespi) was right when he said this road leads to madness, although I think I have extracted myself before succumbing to madness.

 

The main difference between the SR4 and the SR7 aside from the number of rails available with the SR7 Multirail was power rating. The specs for the discrete component voltage regulator used throughout the SR range of power supplies are the same.

 

 I have attached a photo of the SR4 with black chassis extrusion (optional extra)

 

Regards

Paul

[paulhynes]

Hi Frojo,

 

The SR4 power supply dimensions are W – 110mm, H – 55mm and D – 230mm.

 

Regards,

Paul

[paulhynes]

Hi bit01,

 

I would not recommend using the SR4 to charge Ultracap banks directly because, in the discharged state, the Ultracap bank would look like a short circuit to the SR4, or any other power supply.

 

I have no experience with the LPS-1.2 but I assume that there is a charge current limit applied within the Ultracap charger circuitry to limit stress to the charger and also to the energising supply used to provide the raw power for the LPS-1.2 charger to work with. Perhaps Alex or John can elaborate on the charge current limit if applicable.

 

You obviously have the SR4/LPS-1.2 working well together combining the best attributes of both power supplies to give a result that suits your requirements when listening to music.

 

The balanced mains isolation transformer I fit to the SR4 is capable of allowing DC current delivery of 2.5A continuous, which from your experience, appears adequate for powering the LPS-1.2

 

I have no objection to the SR4 being used to power the LPS-1.2 if the combination provides audible benefits.

 

Regards

                       

[paulhynes]

I am indeed negotiating with a CMC (contract manufacturing company) to take over production of key products. The company I have chosen can work to the highest standards. The first product will be the SR4. These are currently still being manufactured here in South Uist, but if the CMC can satisfy my build criteria, and maintain or exceed the current sound quality of the SR4, they will take over SR4 production.

 

I keep getting enquiries for SR7 products but I have closed the custom build service to new orders. However because of the interest in these SR7 products I have decided to reintroduce a limited range of SR7 with either standard construction or XL construction. The DR (double regulated) version will also be offered. These SR7 will be production engineered to suit automated assembly lines, but I am not planning to offer custom build options at this point in time.

 

Following on from successful SR4 production I will introduce the SR7 into CMC production later this year with a number of interesting products to follow.

[paulhynes]

At this point in time the SR7 configuration is not set in stone so some feedback from you folks about your needs would be help me configure the production range.

 

[paulhynes]

Bamber and Matthias

 

I was thinking along these lines but have not ruled out including a Multirail SR7 in the list.

[paulhynes]

Hi Matthias,

 

DR (double regulation) is a significant improvement in my system and so far everyone else who has tried it. The more transparent your system is, the more you will get out of the DR upgrade.

 

There are several areas of improvement.

 

1. The reduction of RFI breakthrough from the mains power system.
2. The reduction of rectification artefacts.
3. The reduction of supply inter-modulation by feeding the output voltage regulator (post regulator) from another voltage regulator (pre-regulator).

 

The result is an overall reduction in noise floor modulation and the reduced clutter reveals greater resolution of the low level information. The dynamic scale stability, image stability and timbre are also improved.

 

 

 

Hi BigGuy,

 

I have an Adnaco transmitter and receiver but I have been too busy to get it set up so I cannot advise you personally with this.

 

From experience every item of equipment can benefit from an improved power supply, some more than others. The only way to find out the best bang for your buck in your system is to try upgrading each power supply in turn.

 

The SR4 has 4 options on output voltage including 9v and 5v and can provide up to 2A of continuous current. Just check your equipment current requirement doesn’t exceed 2A and then select the required voltage and test each item in turn.

 

Regards,

Paul

[paulhynes]

Jay’s review of the SR4 and the LPS-1.2 was very thorough and actually quite informative about the relative differences between the two power supplies.

 

Of particular interest were the mains cord test results. It was obvious that the “never connected to the mains” technique of the LPS-1.2 was worthwhile as it was reducing the effect of mains cords to a very low level. Any residual differences he noticed were likely just due to stray coupling within and around the power supply. The energy required by the equipment the power supply energises, has the Ultracap bank as it’s ultimate energy source, and this would usually be much cleaner than the mains. This just left the overall performance of the power supply on display and this performance was certainly very good, even with a relatively low quality mains cord.

 

The reason I do not provide mains cords with the SR4 is that historically the vast majority of my customers have preferred to use their own favourite after market upgrade mains cords rather than a generic bog standard off the shelf mains lead. There would be no point in supplying a basic mains cord that would be unused. Jay was aware of this and it encouraged him to experiment with feeding the SR4 with different mains leads and he has reported his findings accordingly. He found that the performance of the SR4 using the low cost mains cord supplied with the LPS-1.2 was restricted by the mains cord quality. The fact that he was able to elevate the performance of the SR4 noticeably above that of the LPS-1.2 by selection of the mains cord is valuable and I see this as a useful upgrade path without having to purchase a new power supply. The overall cost is higher but so is the performance. This is a known upgrade path with mains connected equipment.

 

If customers are on a budget, and have no intention of further expenditure upgrading, then either of the two power supplies are valid choices, depending on personal presentation preferences. However for those wanting a relatively simple upgrade path via a mains cord upgrade, now or in the future, then the SR4 would allow this and Jay has provided some option information.

 

DC leads can also be upgraded to improve overall performance further.