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Hi all,

Thinking of creating a balanced power supply for a project studio under construction.

i.e.

Phase and Neutral of grid goes to primary winding of a 1:1 transformer with centre tapped secondary winding. Centre tap of secondary winding becomes ground reference for every power point wired in a star configuration and also wired to an earth stake.

Is this how the isolation transformer at Electrical Audio is wired?

Is there any tangible benefit in doing this?

Thanks

Matt

Not sure what it would accomplish really. Any "noise" from the outside world would probably induce through the transformer as easily as any other AC. It would block any DC, but I'm not sure how much of a problem that ever is. All the ground in your studio space should already have a common to true ground, if not that is cheaper to fix than a balance transformer. I'm AM NOT an electrician at all but I'm just not really seeing much advantage. I'd love for someone not talking out of their ass (like me) to explain it better though.

Isolation transformers would help attenuate some noise, as transformers cannot pass very high frequencies due to their parasitic inductance and capacitance. It acts as a LPF. It's not going to solve improper grounding or wiring inside your gear though.

That being said, I think you're much better off spending that money on individual supply runs to each outlet, i.e. star wiring, especially the grounds, and using a dedicated ground rod. Use the money you save on more room treatment.

scrotescape 4 real wrote: Mon Jun 10, 2024 3:39 pm https://equitech.com/

That's exactly what I'm talking about, does anyone have any first hand experience with these products?

I believe the power system at Electrical Audio follows this idea but I would need confirmation from Greg Norman.

The guy from Terry Audio/Shadow Hills sells something like that for entry level preamp money ($3150)

https://static1.squarespace.com/static/ ... mer+v1.pdf

There’s a ground stake rig coming from my house right outside of my garage I’ve wondered about.

I just found this post and remembered that I had some notes for a project I did about…24 years ago? hah.

These are some diagrams that were either drawn by Steve or Bob that help explain the wiring/grounding at the studio:
I hope that helps. If Steve were here, he would have loved to write a ten paragraph explanation.