Do we believe that valves can be used in a power supply to improve sound quality compared to a lesser engineered PSU. Yes, why not?
A well designed Valve PSU will be better than a poorly designed Solid State unit just as a well designed Solid State PSU will be better than a poorly designed valve unit. In order to achieve the same performance the Valve unit will be a great deal larger and more expensive than a Solid State equivalent, as well as less reliable in the long term (power valves have a finite life).
To use valves for a turntable PSU these days is boutique lunacy.
Because valve rectifiers don`t have a sharp turn on/off characteristic they don`t generate switching noise to the extent that silicon diodes can, if not implemented properly with snubbers and the correct choice of diode. This is not going to be an issue on a turntable PSU however and of course valve rectifiers are spectacularly inefficient compared to SS - try grabbing hold of the GZ32 on a Quad II for instance - Silicon diodes doing the same job would be barely warm.For some reason I had it in my mind that valve rectifiers were good at not passing HF noise? Maybe just a myth I read once!
For some reason I had it in my mind that valve rectifiers were good at not passing HF noise? Maybe just a myth I read once!
It is not possible to produce ICs using valves.
Very OT, but:
Not so practical perhaps rather than not possible - there are all sorts of amusing exceptions out there. Loewe made a 5 or 6valve amplifier in a single tube IIRC; and here's something more extreme - 4096bit memory in a valve!
http://www.rcaselectron.com/
Because valve rectifiers don`t have a sharp turn on/off characteristic they don`t generate switching noise to the extent that silicon diodes can, if not implemented properly with snubbers and the correct choice of diode. This is not going to be an issue on a turntable PSU however and of course valve rectifiers are spectacularly inefficient compared to SS - try grabbing hold of the GZ32 on a Quad II for instance - Silicon diodes doing the same job would be barely warm.
I previously said that I didn't like wallwart power supplies for turntables as in my experience a better power supply improves the SQ of a turntable.