240v Any reason not to use?

Marty, I have been entertaining for quite some time to convert my McCormack DNA-2 LAE amp to 230v. I have the schematics and instructions and can perform the service panel work myself. But I'm just a bit nervous right now to do so. One day.

My eagerness to do this is not because of any weakness with the amp by any means. This amp offers me more than I ever imagined. My only reason for wanting to convert to 230v is simply to squeeze out the very last bit of what I consider a very good thing.

I can only speculate regarding your issue. However, I'm guessing that if you are not thrilled with your component's current performance, switching to 240 at most would ony offer very minute sonic improvements.

Again, I can only guess even though I am a strong advocate for electrical tweaks.

If you're not happy with your stuff, dump the ones giving you grief and get the ones you believe are right for you. Then after enjoying the new and improved components for a time, you can probably convert them to 230v only to get even more enjoyment out of them. If you still feel you need to.

I seriously doubt converting your current components to 230v right now is going to turn a frog into a price.

-IMO

Why don't you describe your system and room in detail? I'll bet we might discover a "slow" woofer due to room interface, poor design, or too-low damping factor....or even a PRaT-less CDP!

It can't be the electronics, unless they are functioning way out of their parameters. I just seem to be needing to turn the volume up way more than I thought I would need to. This is rather unscientific, but the system "maxs out" i.e. the woofers bottom out, or sound like it, at 105dbs. This is with a volume setting of -7 on the pre amp. Average volume listening is around -22 to -20, maybe this is just the way thing are. The speakers have a 90.5dB sensitivity. The "bottoming out" is very sudden on the volume control, -9 is fine with little or no compression. I am not trying to make my ears bleed, or kill the cat(well...) but I just thought the rig would play louder. 105db is loud, is this all this should do?

Before I had a Bryston 9b and could easily drive the amp to thermal shut down. I went round and round with Bryston, and their idea in the end was that I was under powered. I was reading through some old threads, and found one where Sean has having an amp that would shutdown due do thermal overload, and it seemed he concluded the amp was being starved for current. The amp was not clipping, and the speakers I had at the time seemed to be tough to drive. The impedance stayed around 3.1 to 3.3 ohms from 60hz to 650hz, or something like that. Stayed real low in the tough regions. I chalked the whole mess up to a huh.

Main speakers are about 33" from side walls, 4' from back wall, and 6' from back wall. The room is about 16' wide 24' long with ceiling 8'6" on one side and 12' on the other. The rig is running the long way, with the listening position about 9' back. Carpeting and basic sheetrock walls.

Current power- I am renting. The circuit breaker is an older "Push-matic" breaker. I installed two dedicated lines, a 30amp(yea I know, not exactly up to code) 10/3 line for the amp(currently has the amp/tv/2 HSU VFT-3 subs and a Richard Grey 400 on it) isolated ground into HP grade outlets. The second is a 20 amp 12/3 shielded line(Belden wire, extra wire I had, it has 3 stranded conductors with a braided shield) for the pre/cd and such. The pre and cd/dvd run through a PS audio OU. The circuit breaker is designed poorly, with the two rails spit 1/2 way down with a 100amp breaker. The top rails are always hot, my guess I would need to pull the meter to kill the juice, and this services all the 240 volts appliances(all 2 pole breakers). Below the 100amp breaker is the one pole breakers,120 volt. I installed new breakers. The service is 200amp.

All the previous performance info is using 2ch analog by-pass. The analog sensitivity has not been touched and is set a 0. I reset all the factory defaults in case I goofed something up, no difference.

If I ran a 240v line to the amp, would this truly eliminate and current limiting questions? Would this also have the effect of doubling and problems on the line, like when you bridge an amp?

Pre- Simaudio Attraction
Cd- Simaudio Stellar
Amp- Simaudio Titan
Mains- Meadowlark Heron-I

Thanks for your time

Marty

Marty, take everything off the 30 amp line except for the amp and the richard grey unit (the amp plugged into the Richard Grey).

I'm guessing you should notice an immediate improvement in loudness and basic dynamic headroom even at lower volume levels.

The tv and subs could and should be on other lines for several reasons. To get the best from the amp, never share it with ANY other component. Especially when you have a higher powered amp.

I removed my pre from the dedicated 20 amp line shared with my amp. Even though the pre only draws 36 watts of current/power, it made a tremendous difference for the amp just moving the pre to it's own dedicated 15 amp line.

-IMO

Wiring the amp for 240vac is a good idea.

It effectively makes the power supply in the amp larger and stiffer - which will help on creshendo and with complex passages, to whatever extent the amp circuitry can do the job. The power available from the amp will not change in any significant way.

I think you are playing things way too loud - 105 dB is way too loud for an average level. Way.

Average should be about 90 -92 at the listening position.