A Green Power Supply For Naim?
Posted by: u5227470736789439 on 16 October 2006
A Green Power Supply For Naim Kit
Dear Friends,
I am always one to consider an idea, and ponder it at length.
A few years ago the wind-up transistor radio was ‘invented,’ which worked on a hand wound clockwork spring to provide the small amount of energy required to use the radio in territories where batteries were scarce, and mains electricity scarcer.
Would it not be possible to do something similar for Naim pieces, which are after all not notoriously power hungry, but are certainly sensitive enough to respond well to an excellent and clean mains supply. I imagine the very cleanest generation would be possible under these circumstances.
My thought is something along the idea of a manually wound weight driven machine to generate a continuous supply of electricity, which naturally would not be connected to anything else other than the gramophone. Maybe it would be unsuitable for Active 500s or Six-packs, but say a Nait 5i would be an easier proposition.
It might require ten minutes a day to crank a mangle sized handle, but this would be both good exercise and a complete argument against the green brigade who resent any waste except their own when they travel abroad on a plane for example!
It would possibly require a new idea for power supplies, if the voltage generated was other than 110 or 230 volts, but surely a small very high quality generator is all that would be needed.
Any thoughts? I would be keen to experiment with this idea if any more technically minded people thought that it could work. I wonder how transient demands might fair. But again I doubt if a Nait 5i or any power amp up to say the NAP 200 would pose too much of a problem. Presumably the NAP 500 would require a rather high capacity generator (in the domestic scale I am considering) to cope.
All the best from Fredrik
Dear Friends,
I am always one to consider an idea, and ponder it at length.
A few years ago the wind-up transistor radio was ‘invented,’ which worked on a hand wound clockwork spring to provide the small amount of energy required to use the radio in territories where batteries were scarce, and mains electricity scarcer.
Would it not be possible to do something similar for Naim pieces, which are after all not notoriously power hungry, but are certainly sensitive enough to respond well to an excellent and clean mains supply. I imagine the very cleanest generation would be possible under these circumstances.
My thought is something along the idea of a manually wound weight driven machine to generate a continuous supply of electricity, which naturally would not be connected to anything else other than the gramophone. Maybe it would be unsuitable for Active 500s or Six-packs, but say a Nait 5i would be an easier proposition.
It might require ten minutes a day to crank a mangle sized handle, but this would be both good exercise and a complete argument against the green brigade who resent any waste except their own when they travel abroad on a plane for example!
It would possibly require a new idea for power supplies, if the voltage generated was other than 110 or 230 volts, but surely a small very high quality generator is all that would be needed.
Any thoughts? I would be keen to experiment with this idea if any more technically minded people thought that it could work. I wonder how transient demands might fair. But again I doubt if a Nait 5i or any power amp up to say the NAP 200 would pose too much of a problem. Presumably the NAP 500 would require a rather high capacity generator (in the domestic scale I am considering) to cope.
All the best from Fredrik
o.k. enough. This is a very silly idea.
Battery storage would be the only practical way, and we know from previous manufacturers' experiments that the sound from battery-powered pre-amps is disappointing. Any mechanical method of storage would be noisy, both mechanical and electrical. The efficiency of conversion would be about ten percent in the real world, so the prospect of supplying a proper hi-fi power amp adequately by solo human power is not on.
The only real "green" solution would be a windmill or water-wheel generator with battery storage, and putting up with the sound degradation from the battery and inverter powering your Nait. Perhaps you would prefer it
I have friends who have tried these options and they all returned to basic mains electricity supply for hi-fi power amps.
Battery storage would be the only practical way, and we know from previous manufacturers' experiments that the sound from battery-powered pre-amps is disappointing. Any mechanical method of storage would be noisy, both mechanical and electrical. The efficiency of conversion would be about ten percent in the real world, so the prospect of supplying a proper hi-fi power amp adequately by solo human power is not on.
The only real "green" solution would be a windmill or water-wheel generator with battery storage, and putting up with the sound degradation from the battery and inverter powering your Nait. Perhaps you would prefer it
I have friends who have tried these options and they all returned to basic mains electricity supply for hi-fi power amps.