Voltage regulation for Joule amps

Sean- As noted, the Joule amps outboard power supply module IS a variac and 85-90 v is the recommended power as per the manual. Thanks for the tip, Sean, I did not know that the AVS 2000 produces a clicking sound; that does not seem to be what I want! I will contact Judd at Joule after the weekend, but just wanted to see if any of 'youse guys' had any ideas for me.

Brian: Thanks for the clarification.

"Swampy": There's an easy way to get around this. It is called a regulated power supply and would work with ANY voltage that was above appr 95 volts or so. This approach may be more costly than a high current variac with the need to disippate more heat, but it would have surely been a FAR less clumsy and more convenient way to do things. That is, as far as the end user is concerned.

As far as the AVS2000 goes, the clicking is audible, but not real loud. The more that the voltage or current draw varies, the more clicking that you would hear. Sean
>

I read the review when this avs2000 came out. I have never heard a tiny peep out of mine.(even if my head were on top of it) But it did emit the odor;at first.

I know that they commented about this in Stereophile during the review. I've seen these units many times since the review and i've always heard the "clicking" that they spoke of. I was also just looking at these units in a local dealer December 17th. The clicking was easily audible several feet away. Given that all of my experiences match those of the comments made in Stereophile, i assumed that all of these units made that noise. Maybe some are quieter than others, i don't know. Sean
>

Sean, I know that I am not technically knowledgeable to go around making changes in this unit, if what you are saying is that a "regulated power supply" would be a replacement for the variac. esp. since the variac is connected to the main amplifier by two different power cords with different terminations (one male and one female, IIRC). That is the reason I was looking for something like the the Monster AVS 2000 of the Exactpower since I think what I need is something that would supply a constant voltage. The fluctuation at the amp (downstream of the variac) is about+1, -5 volts. I just double checked the manual and the indicated range is about 83-87 volts. It generally seems to sag more than go up, both in the magnitude of the change and the frequency of the change (i.e., it most frequently reads below the initial nominal setting). This causes the bias on the output tubes (6C33C-Bs) to drop from 27/28 to 23/24, and compromises the sound. The variac is near a warm air outlet and the amp itself is on an outside wall. Of course, it runs quite hot and I am sure alters the ambient temp around itself by several degrees. The variac is about 2-3' away and slightly lower down, but as I said, close to a warm air duct. Could these temperature fluctuations be having an effect on the voltage the variac delivers? As you can see, my knowledge of things electrical is quite limited. TIA. I will, of course, contact Judd at Joule tomorrow.