So to clarify the above statement, if your amp needs more instantaneous current that what the wall receptacle can supply and the Power Factor Correction (tm) which is essentially a stiffening capacitor is present to provide that instantaneous current, the amp's own power supply treat that as noise and filters it? So the amplifiers own power supply current limits itself?
Due to the inherent averaging nature of amplifier power supplies (energy storage in bulk charge caps), the talk of 2mSec peak current reserve is complete and utter nonsense. The time constants in all power amps on the market are tens or hundreds of times longer than 2mSec. This is a solution to a problem that does not exist in power amplifiers, and can not be corrected in any remotely meaningful way by 2mSec of any kind of energy storage. This is engineering-speak, not marketing-speak. There really is a difference
"At the center of the Elite-15 PF i is our unique transient Power Factor Technology circuit. For the first time, low-level analog,
digital, and video components are not modulated or distorted via the power amplifiers extreme AC current demands. Further,
the power amplifier sees a highly filtered, extremely low-impedance supply of AC power. The Elite-15 PF i, in fact, has in
excess of 3 Amps of continuous current reserve (over 45 amps peak charge) for the most extreme peak power demands. This
technology enables power amplifiers and powered subwoofers to operate at peak efficiency, reaching levels of performance
previously unattainable."
That statement is from the manual from the Furman Elite 15 PFi which is in their home theater series of conditioners. Garth Powell is the senior engineer at Furman who designed it and wrote the manual. Would the amplifier disagree with what is being sent to it from the conditioner to allow it to operate better because of noise?
The amplifier can not and will not benefit from something that is so tiny (if it even exists) and in fact my engineering background tells me that the amplifier is likely to suffer in performance due to ANY added series resistance/reactance that the series filter componenets introduce. One look at the transfer curve will tell what the LOSSES are at any range of load currents. There will be losses as there can be no resistance less than zero (the resistance of an IDEAL device) in between the source and the load.
In another post you told us what your engineering lab's power supply situation is and for you it's controlled and controllable so that you can develop new amplifiers and then publish the specs of them based on your controlled situation. As if the rest of us could be so lucky to have those kinds of controlled power in a house, garage, bar, or outdoor festival! Inconsistent power and conditions yield inconsistent results, so the specs on amplifiers are really only best case scenario under controlled conditions. Having your gear plugged into a good power conditioner or regulator gives you a chance to try to control the uncontrollable and unknown.
The reason for using controlled and controllable power nis to determine exactly what the results of different circuit design choices are without any changes introduced due to other outside factors. Otherwise, making a change is a component may result in an erroneous conclusion if there was also a change in line conditions. This is (and should be) standard operating procedure in any design lab. It also allows me to determine any negative and positive effects of various power differences and faults, improving sound quality and reliability. There's a lot of areas that we investigate when developing amplifier products. Plugging into a power conditioner offers no advantage if it doesn't do what you are led to think it does. Unfortunately, most dont, and some can do considerable harm.
Certifications from UL, CE, etc. to my knowledge are to prove that the device won't kill someone or burst into flame when plugged into the wall, but how do those organizations measure and certify performance and sound quality?
Safety is part of the certification, but there are many components to certification process and each certificating agency looks at different things depending on the standard they are certifying to, and the country.
CE encompases many elements, including safety, immunity to received RFI/EMI, AC line disturbance performance, limits of permissable transmitted EMI/RFI, mechanical aspects, thermal aspects etc. These standards do not address sound quality but some do indeed contain some performance criteria.
It should be noted that all of these agencies test a wide variety of products to many different types of tests, mechanical, chemical and structural depending on the type of product is is. For example, tires are tested to and carry agency ratings for completely different things than your bass amp would be tested to, for example.
Thanks for your response.
You are most welcome.
