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Smart power supplies for turntable

I've read a number of threads on Audiogon that address the importance of having an appropriate power source to maintain turntable speed. I live in an area with terrible power stability, at the end of a utility company's service area. We have lots of little blips, evidenced by audio equipment, tv's, etc. shutting off. I have a power conditioner (Niagra 1000) to deal with noise in the dedicated circuit for my turntable and other audio gear and a conditioner/UPS for my computer equipment.

My question is whether devices like the Clearaudio Smart Power 12v and 24v battery power supplies are a good approach to maintain turntable speed stability. Are there other conditioners or devices that can be used for a broader range of brands that perform a similar function?

Your feedback is sincerely appreciated.

sameyers1
millercarbon's avatar
millercarbon
12,531 posts
 

Battery power supplies are great for turntables, phono stages, and all kinds of low power components. They all run on DC anyway. The trick is to get the right voltage to the right place, something they don't tend to make very easy. But it is worth doing even if you do have pretty good AC. Simply because the battery supply is disconnected from and eliminates all the RFI and noise riding on the AC.

Sbooster and Farad both make very high quality power supplies. Sbooster is AC, essentially just a higher grade power supply. Farad is virtually a big super cap battery supply. Going with batteries you could just buy litium ion batteries in the right voltage and figure out how to hook em up. Use a charger with a relay designed to stop charging so the unit is disconnected from AC when playing music.

I had a battery supply just like this for my Teres turntable motor. It was a nice improvement over AC, and consisted of little more than a motorcycle battery and a charger on a circuit board. 

The trick isn't really the power supply. Those are easy. The trick is getting the power supply connected. Not that hard, it can be done, but usually not plug and play. 

lewm
13,070 posts
 

If your local AC is truly "dirty" and unstable as to line voltage, then you might consider a power regenerator, like any of several made by PS Audio.  These devices are like amplifiers; they run off your line AC, convert it to DC, and then put out a pure sine wave at 60Hz.  The PS Audio P3, which makes 300W of pure AC, is probably sufficient for your TT.  DC supplies made from batteries are fine also, if your TT uses a DC motor. You fail to specify what kind of motor is in your TT and what DC voltage it requires, if in fact it is a DC motor.  Meantime, your Nagra conditioner ought to be at least helping the situation, although conditioners and filters cannot control the magnitude of the AC voltage; they can only clean it up.

lewm
13,070 posts
 

Forgot to mention the key fact that AC power regenerators deliver a rock stable clean 120V, as well as pure 60Hz. 

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