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Folks,
Do you guys run your vintage gear with bucking transformers or variacs to drop the voltage down from today's 120 v ac?
Thanks
Follow Ups:
I struggled for a few years with an Eico HF-60. I finally put it on variac and lowered the Voltage and re biased according to original spec. And viola!! all my troubles were over. Absolutely glorious sound ever since.
The problem was my house puting out 125V's and the Eico hated it, even with adjusted biasing. I have since built a bucking transformer that puts out 112V's and all is good.
BTW... beware of the cheapo Volt meter on Ebay. They are not accurate(see pic).
Edits: 09/30/24 09/30/24
I can't be bothered worrying about this. When I recap power supplies on my vintage stuff, I make sure the power supply caps are well over their necessary voltage ratings for their intended use.
not necessarily depends on unit but a variac is good option
I had a Scott tube tuner that I hadn't gotten around to aligning. It tuned better running it around 110 VAC.
thanks, that does make sense.
... while I'm doing a rebuild. My latest long-term project was a Sherwood S5000-1 (the earliest version) and I finally got to the point that I had to go with 115-17 VAC on the variac to get the measurements stable and consistent with the schematic. When I got there, I finished the project and slowly changed to modern voltage and watched it for a couple of hours, and it was fine up to the highest VAC I've ever seen, (123 at the wall). I've bought and built a few versions of "stepdown" transformers, but honestly, that amp maybe even sounds better with ~120. My Fisher 400 and a couple of Heathkits definitely seem to operate and sound better at a slightly lower VAC, which is why I still have the bucking transformers around the house. Mcs don't care at all, apparently. I don't even think about line voltage when using SS gear, vintage or otherwise.
FWIW, I live in intown ATL, about 1/2 mile from pretty major substation, I keep a couple of V and Hz meters plugged into the outlets, and the voltage is pretty tight throughout the day from 117-120 and the freq is also stable, never seen it below 59-point-something and do not recall it exceeding 60Hz, ever.
I don't worry about it. When I renovate my tube gear I try to use power supply caps with higher voltage ratings. I rarely see voltages higher than 122V.
Temperatures fluctuate between needing air conditioning and needing heat, surprisingly often in the same day. When there's a cool patch, the utility hasn't reduced production yet, as it will heat up again very soon, and I'll see as high as 132 at the outlet. They're pretty good in peak demand summer, might sag to 118 or occasionally 114, but it's unusual.
I use a Variac to knock down those autumn spikes. I could ignore, but it starts running some of those vintage components beyond their design limits. Usual 120v hasn't been an issue.
Back for a bit again. Ignore me if you like.
Its interesting how many folks see wide variations in their power at the wall. I've always lived in the South and now in a semi-rural community which I expect is one of the reasons my wall-power is so stable.
my power company has pretty lousy regulation of voltage at the wall. I have 2 power readouts, and of course during the summer the power was worse varying from 114 to 128 day/night. Depends on time of year also. A lot of people are re-charging their electric cars now (at 5-6pm?) and power companies are trying to compensate with the sub-station transformers. This is for my NJ PSEG.
I am presently using a variac for the front end of my rig only.
I would advise you to take a reading at different times a day/night and different times of year to be sure what the power company is serving up and logue the info.
Setting it lower for the high input voltage and raising it for the low input voltage times?
Guess we are really lucky. We went on a Smart Grid about five years ago. My power is consistently around 119.6-8 day and night. I suppose its possible there would be some fluctuations beyond that, but I have not seen it yet.
I do not-
from a rated or sticker voltage of 115 to 120 is less than 5%, if you use 117, the delta is 2.5%-
while I realize that the utilities do not hold the 120 VAC to tight tolerances - I have not heard any ill effects with the equipment I have-
Heathkit UA-1, WPA-1, FM-2
MC-30, MR-74
and a few others...
Happy Listening
Thanks much.
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