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Is reducing mains voltage a sensible idea?

33RPM

33RPM

Hifi bug resistant
I heard that there are audible benefits in reducing mains voltage to 225 volts. Any opinions ? And if it were a good idea, how to make it work without breaking the bank?
 
33RPM said:
I heard that there are audible benefits in reducing mains voltage to 225 volts. Any opinions ? And if it were a good idea, how to make it work without breaking the bank?
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What would the supposed benefit be, and what would it be based on? Some stuff might run a bit cooler, but power amps might have slightly lower peak power/headroom.
 
33RPM said:
I heard that there are audible benefits in reducing mains voltage to 225 volts. Any opinions ? And if it were a good idea, how to make it work without breaking the bank?
Click to expand...

A very bad idea! Items with regulated supplies could well drop out of regulation causing at least mains hum and, the possibility, of all sorts of weird effects.
 
Nominal is now 230 anyway, so reducing it to 225 is a waste of time.
The only case where it works is for Chinese valve amps designed around 220V but used in the UK on nominal 230/240V. In this case a "bucking" transformer is applied in series to the primary of the mains transformer, it is inexpensive (cost of a smallish trafo) but only works on the one component.
 
It's still 240V. 230V is the nominal EU wide standard but all they did was word things so that 240V came within the tolerance! I can assure folks that gear specifically designed for UK 240V mains can (not will, but can) play up if powered from as low as 225V. It all depends on how much voltage overhead has been allowed in the design of the equipment.
If designed to run on 240V but to also still be ok down at 220 then voltage regs will run on the warm side from 240V.
If SMPSU is used then a wide range of mains voltages will make no difference.
 
My voltage in Hertfordshire averages around 233.

A power regenerator could change and stabilise the voltage. This one got good reports from some hi-fi users a while ago:

http://www.powerinspired.com/store/ag1500-ac-regenerator-1500w-psu-p-1742.html

This fixes it at 230 volts.

Much more expensive ones like the PS5 or PS10 from PS Audio can change it to what you want.

The general impression I get is that stabilising the voltage (at around 230 volts in the UK perhaps) is what improves the sound as it gives smooth sine waves that benefits electrical gear. I'm no electrician but this stereophile review of the PS10 tries to explain it:

https://www.stereophile.com/content/ps-audio-perfectwave-p10-power-plant-ac-regenerator

Where did you hear that 225 volts was the best voltage? I've never heard of that.
 
Any half decent kit will be designed to work correctly over the normal range of mains voltage so there is little point in reducing it.
Should you be using an SMPS anywhere in your system it will actually get slightly warmer as you reduce the mains voltage since the switching losses will be increased.
 
Arkless Repairs said:
A very bad idea! Items with regulated supplies could well drop out of regulation causing at least mains hum and, the possibility, of all sorts of weird effects.
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UK mains voltage is specified as 230V +10/-6% giving a maximum range of 216 to 253V. Any competently designed and properly certification tested piece of equipment (i.e. not some dodgy Chinese import!) should meet its full operating parameters at all times between these voltages.

Therefore reducing the mains to 225V shouldn't actually cause any problems; it's merely a pointless exercise.
 
Vinny said:
Where on earth do all you people measuring mains voltage, get your calibrated meters from?
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Calibration, schmalibration. A £10 Maplin multimeter is accurate enough for these purposes without calibration, +/- 1V or so at 230V, just as my tyre pressure gauge has no calibration but is still accurate enough to ensure my car's tyres are safely inflated and my tape measure doesn't go to the NPL before I use it to measure a bit of wood. It's easy enough to poke the tester in a socket. I don't need to measure mains to +/- 0.1V, as stated above it's +10%/-6% anyway.

DVMs are very reliable and accurate. Ask your electrician if he calibrates his tester, he doesn't because it's not necessary except for specialist work. Measuring a house supply is hardly specialist.
 
Hipper said:
The general impression I get is that stabilising the voltage (at around 230 volts in the UK perhaps) is what improves the sound as it gives smooth sine waves that benefits electrical gear.
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Those two are not related. Many voltage converters/"stabilizers" actually produce a pretty ugly waveform, while a simple mains filter gives you a very nice, clean sine wave but no regulation.
 
Audible benefits? I get the feeling Audiophiles would drink bleach if it was said to confer audible benefits...so no, reducing your mains voltage like that is a terrible idea, not only would it mess with kit expecting more but the output would likely be a comparatively hideous mess unless you bought a very skookum converter.

248V here last I checked.
 
I suggest any benefit of running at 225v comes from having some sort of device that produces that voltage at a constant rate, whereas we all know (?!) that UK mains fluctuates wildly.
Except of course for those of us with regenerators, as Hipper suggests, who enjoy a steady 230v.
 
Originally Posted by Arkless Repairs View Post
A very bad idea! Items with regulated supplies could well drop out of regulation causing at least mains hum and, the possibility, of all sorts of weird effects.

Beobloke said:
UK mains voltage is specified as 230V +10/-6% giving a maximum range of 216 to 253V. Any competently designed and properly certification tested piece of equipment (i.e. not some dodgy Chinese import!) should meet its full operating parameters at all times between these voltages.

Therefore reducing the mains to 225V shouldn't actually cause any problems; it's merely a pointless exercise.
Click to expand...

I've seen it happen;) (at a NEBO!) It all depends on there being enough voltage headroom for the regulator to not drop out even at 216V. This can mean it getting rather warm at 240V and sometimes a compromise where it works fine down to say 225, just, is required.
 
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