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At 5:19 PM +1000 6/17/97, David_Mitchell@HP-Australia-notes1.om.hp.com wrote: >Because they're pretty much universal these days, I can buy gear overseas >(usually in the US) at the cheapest possible price, ship it back home, >replace the wall wart with one for local power (240V, 50Hz) and be up and >going quickly and easily. This definitely beats either buying gear >locally >(I'm in Australia) for cost reasons, or buying gear with an integrated >power supply and going through the hell of getting it changed to 240V >50Hz. > >I've got a huge big 240V to 110V transformer sitting under my studio desk, >which powers all my gear that (a) I can't get converted for a reasonable >price coz it doesn't have a wall wart, and (b) doesn't mind running at >50Hz. The transformer weighs a ton, probably constitutes a fire risk and >is a huge pain to transport. > >If it was a totally wall wart world, I'd be much happier! > >To any of the equipment manufacturers listening out there: please don't >change! Well, a decently designed internal power supply can handle power conditions all over the world, with no trouble. You shouldn't have to be buying different wall warts and transformers and crap like that. We are talking about equipment designed for professional use, in fairly harsh conditions. Any manufacturer of music gear should expect that their equipment will travel around the world and endure a wide range of environmental conditions. If they respected the players using their equipment, they would design it to handle all these conditions reliably. It's not even hard! The echoplex supply was the first serious power supply design I did, and it works anywhere with pretty good reliability. It's not even that expensive. Believe me, it didn't take much skill to do that! The power supply is one of the most critical components in your gear, and most manufacturers give it the least amount of thought in the design process. The amazing thing is that musicians just accept it! Other professional industries would never allow the power supply to be such a weak link in the system. The music industry gets away with it because you let them! Do you really think the price is lower because it uses a wall wart? Don't be naive! They cut the parts cost, increase their profit margin, and charge you the same price they would have charged with an internal supply. Know why? Because most musicians don't pay attention to the power supply when buying gear! It's not a marketing issue, you'll buy it either way! If it needed 687 "C" batteries, you wouldn't know until you got it home! My cheap cd player has a decent internal supply, why should I accept that music gear costing hundreds or thousands of dollars more than that uses a wall wart? My rant for the week, kim ______________________________________________________________________ Kim Flint | Looper's Delight kflint@annihilist.com | http://www.annihilist.com/loop/loop.html http://www.annihilist.com/ | Loopers-Delight-request@annihilist.com