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Gerry Gerry is offline
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Default Voltage conversion on a Hafler P3000

Being in Australia, I'm wondering whether it's worth me getting a
Hafler Transnova P3000. The only question is the voltage - in
Australia, it's 240v.

How easy is it to convert this to 240v? Is it just a question of
getting a step-down transformer?

Gerry

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William Sommerwerck William Sommerwerck is offline
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Default Voltage conversion on a Hafler P3000

How easy is it to convert this to 240V? Is it just a question
of getting a step-down transformer?


Yes, but it'll be a rather large and expensive transformer.

I owned the original TransNova amp, and after about a year or so, decided I
didn't like its tonal balance.


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Geoff Geoff is offline
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Default Voltage conversion on a Hafler P3000

Gerry wrote:
Being in Australia, I'm wondering whether it's worth me getting a
Hafler Transnova P3000. The only question is the voltage - in
Australia, it's 240v.

How easy is it to convert this to 240v? Is it just a question of
getting a step-down transformer?


No. A step-up transformer, which will double your radiated fields.

Better bet is to replace the internal power transformer. Some gear (not
usually gear made for the US market) may have a transformer with 110 and
220/240v taps already inside.

geoff


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Geoff Geoff is offline
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Default Voltage conversion on a Hafler P3000

William Sommerwerck wrote:
How easy is it to convert this to 240V? Is it just a question
of getting a step-down transformer?


Yes, but it'll be a rather large and expensive transformer.

I owned the original TransNova amp, and after about a year or so,
decided I didn't like its tonal balance.


Did it have some odd frequency response slope ?

geoff


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Scott Dorsey Scott Dorsey is offline
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Default Voltage conversion on a Hafler P3000

Gerry wrote:
Being in Australia, I'm wondering whether it's worth me getting a
Hafler Transnova P3000. The only question is the voltage - in
Australia, it's 240v.

How easy is it to convert this to 240v? Is it just a question of
getting a step-down transformer?


There are three possibilities:

1. You get an external step-down transformer

2. You replace the internal power transformer with a 240V one.

3. You restrap the internal power transformer for 240V.

Which of the three of these you want to do depends on the particular
piece of equipment. I don't have a P3000 service manual onhand, but
if you write to Hafler and ask them what is involved (ie. does the
transformer have dual primaries and if not how much is one with a 240V
primary?) they should tell you.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."


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William Sommerwerck William Sommerwerck is offline
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Default Voltage conversion on a Hafler P3000

I owned the original TransNova amp, and after about
a year or so, decided I didn't like its tonal balance.


Did it have some odd frequency response slope?


It sounded slightly up in the bass and treble, slightly down in the
midrange. I switched to a Hafler XL-280, which was subjectively more
neutral.


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Gerry Gerry is offline
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Default Voltage conversion on a Hafler P3000

On Mar 16, 9:47 am, (Scott Dorsey) wrote:
snipped
if you write to Hafler and ask them what is involved (ie. does the
transformer have dual primaries and if not how much is one with a 240V
primary?) they should tell you.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."


Thanks, Scott. I've just done that (and should have done that at the
start!).


Kind Regards,
Gerry.

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Geoff Geoff is offline
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Default Voltage conversion on a Hafler P3000

Geoff wrote:
Gerry wrote:
Being in Australia, I'm wondering whether it's worth me getting a
Hafler Transnova P3000. The only question is the voltage - in
Australia, it's 240v.

How easy is it to convert this to 240v? Is it just a question of
getting a step-down transformer?


No. A step-up transformer, which will double your radiated fields.


Ooops, you are right 'step-down' - I wuz thinking the other way around !

geoff


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Arny Krueger Arny Krueger is offline
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Default Voltage conversion on a Hafler P3000

"Geoff" wrote in message


William Sommerwerck wrote:


How easy is it to convert this to 240V? Is it just a
question of getting a step-down transformer?


Yes, but it'll be a rather large and expensive
transformer.


I owned the original TransNova amp, and after about a
year or so, decided I didn't like its tonal balance.


Did it have some odd frequency response slope ?


Consider the source of the comment - someone whose self-identity is highly
dependent on hearing vast differences between all sorts of things. Later on
he essentially says that all hard dome tweeters interact with amps one way,
and all soft dome tweeters interact with amps in some other way. In
reality, nothing is that simple except expectations and prejudices.


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William Sommerwerck William Sommerwerck is offline
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Default Voltage conversion on a Hafler P3000

William Sommerwerck wrote:

How easy is it to convert this to 240V? Is it just a
question of getting a step-down transformer?


Yes, but it'll be a rather large and expensive
transformer.


I owned the original TransNova amp, and after about
a year or so, decided I didn't like its tonal balance.


Did it have some odd frequency response slope ?


Consider the source of the comment -- someone whose
self-identity is highly dependent on hearing vast differences
between all sorts of things. Later on he essentially says that
all hard dome tweeters interact with amps one way, and all
soft dome tweeters interact with amps in some other way.


Actually, he was referring to a particular amp, not all amps.


In reality, nothing is that simple except expectations and prejudices.


Let us briefly return to what is supposed to have been a closed can of
worms.

Back in the early 80s, I bought a complete Acoustat system -- four Six
speakers, two TNP preamps, two TNT power amps. After a year or so I decided
I didn't like the system's overall balance (which, as described above, was
pretty consistent across all recordings) and switched to Denon preamps and
Hafler XL-280 power amps, which I found much more satisfactory.

Over the years I gradually came to the conclusion that, whether or not there
were significant audible differences among electronics, I could not reliably
describe them. This was one of the two principal reasons I quit reviewing
(the other being the relatively low pay).

Now... I've owned a number of "good" systems over the past 35 years. The one
thing they had in common -- regardless of the room, speakers, or
electronics -- was that they all sounded somewhat veiled and lacking in
detail (at least with commercial recordings). I often could not easily hear
the things record reviewers described. My systems also sounded a bit distant
and lacking in the "presence" of live sound.

For reasons I won't go into, I was obliged to divest myself of the expensive
amplifiers that drove my Apogee speakers. As (I think) I reported here, my
first attempt was with Crown K1 amplifiers. They sounded horrible, and Dr.
Clay Barclay, who used to be one of Crown's honcho, actually apologized to
me that, had he still been at Crown, the K1 would never have been
manufactured.

I didn't know where to go next. With some trepidation, I ordered two
Parasound A21 amplifiers. (Disclaimer -- their designer, John Curl, an audio
legend in his own time, is a friend.) They're not spec'd below 4 ohms, and
the Apogee Divas are a little more than 3 ohms.

Well...

I got one of the biggest shocks of my audio life when I turned them on. The
sound of the system was completely transformed. I finally had the detail and
presence I'd been looking for 35 years. (When I discussed this with JGH, he
remarked that he'd always found my previous amps to be rather backed-off in
the midrange.)

I've never enjoyed listening to recorded music as much, and I'm gleefully
rediscovering my record collection. (When I get another three A21s, I'll be
able to experience full surround.)

Caveats? The overall sound is a bit "vivid". This isn't a problem with
simply miked "audiophile" recordings, but with most others, you're a little
too aware that the top end isn't as smooth or clean as it might be.

Look... I'm not suggesting you should rush right out in a buying frenzy --
or buy an A21 without auditioning it. But it you're buying a new system, or
aren't happy with your current amplifier, you should give the A21 a listen.

End of shameless promotion.




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Arny Krueger Arny Krueger is offline
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Default Voltage conversion on a Hafler P3000

"William Sommerwerck" wrote in
message
William Sommerwerck wrote:


How easy is it to convert this to 240V? Is it just a
question of getting a step-down transformer?


Yes, but it'll be a rather large and expensive
transformer.


I owned the original TransNova amp, and after about
a year or so, decided I didn't like its tonal balance.


Did it have some odd frequency response slope ?


Consider the source of the comment -- someone whose
self-identity is highly dependent on hearing vast
differences
between all sorts of things. Later on he essentially
says that
all hard dome tweeters interact with amps one way, and
all
soft dome tweeters interact with amps in some other way.


Actually, he was referring to a particular amp, not all
amps.


In your apparent rush to judgment William, you've missed a highly important
point and my main point, which is that all hard dome tweeters won't react
the same to any amp or all amps, and in a way that is consistently and
significantly different from how all soft dome tweeters react to any amp or
all amps.

IOW, there are important differences among tweeters aside from how the
manufacturer characterizes the material the domes are made.

For example tweeters have significant construction differences like whether
or not they use ferrofluid, and which of the many kinds of ferrofluid they
use, for just one tiny example of the manifold differences among tweeters

There is even a possibility that one manufacturer may characterize a given
material as hard, and another may characterize the identically same material
as being soft. For example, polycarbonate is hard compared to silk, but
soft compared to beryllium. If a manufacturer's stiffest dome is made of
polycarbonate, than this may be his "hard dome" tweeter. But, if another
manufacturer's stiffest dome is made of beryllium, then the polycarbonate
dome may be his "soft dome" tweeter.

Yet we have a listener who said that his amp works one way with *all* hard
dome tweeters and a characteristically different way with *all* soft dome
tweeters.

Given all the other possible differences among tweeters, this is simply
impossible. Either the amp works the same with all tweeters (highly unlikely
because "works the same" can mean so many different things), or it works a
little differently with every tweeter, aside from just one of the many
features of how tweeters are constructed.

In reality, nothing is that simple except expectations
and prejudices.


Now that I've clarified what was supposed to be the main issue all along
William, please comment again.


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William Sommerwerck William Sommerwerck is offline
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Default Voltage conversion on a Hafler P3000

Now that I've clarified what was supposed to be the
main issue all along William, please comment again.


Yes. I read what you posted "backwards".

Other than my remarks about the A21, I have no other comments.


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William Sommerwerck William Sommerwerck is offline
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Default Voltage conversion on a Hafler P3000

William, for what it's worth, my observations about the TNT-200
and XL-280 are very similar to yours. Ironically, while I found the
TNT-200 less than optimal driving my Acoustat 2+2's, they bring
a tremendous amount of detail out of soft dome speakers such
as the original KEF Reference IIIs.


Their seeming slight high-end rise might explain part of that.


I use a Parasound HCA-2200ii to drive the Acoustats, with better
tonal balance.


I'll tell John Curl. He'll be pleased.


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