I've started running the turntable off a 12V battery. What prompted me to do this is the bad AC in my building.
When things are really bad you can hear speed fluctuations and the table sounds slow. You can also see the fluctuations in the built-in strobe.
Here are a couple of videos that I shot:
Unlistenable:
http://youtu.be/mpvtv7ZaEUM
3am (You'll notice the huge difference in speed control):
http://youtu.be/21TV89xkefE
To combat this I first bought a linear power supply from MCRU. It didn't make a big difference in sound generally but it did do a good job in that the stereo was never unlistenable because of bad AC.
Still, I wanted to see if I could push the performance further so I acquired the 12V battery. The difference is significant.
It puts the performers out into the room and lets the music flow out and fill the room. Everything has a better sense of ease and freedom. Everything is more real, more human and more emotionally satisfying. The presentation is more three-dimensional and immersive. Images that used to "stick" to the speakers or to the speaker plane are now freely hanging in space and they have moved a way from a somewhat flat 2D plane and into a holographic space.
The battery is also measures better than the linear power supply. I downloaded a free app called "platterspeed". You play any test record with a 3150Hz signal and it tells you how much the turntable deviates from that frequency.
With the linear power supply, over a 3 minute period:
mean frequency: 3149.8Hz
max deviation (raw): -0.22% / +0.20%
max deviation (notch): -0.23% / +0.25%
With the battery power supply, over a 3 minute period:
mean frequency: 3150.1Hz
max deviation (raw): -0.19% / +0.16%
max deviation (notch): -0.21% / +0.17%
When doing the recording of the 3150Hz singal you see a read-out of the RPMs. With the linear power supply you see it quickly jumping around with a different number flashing every second but with the battery you see it holding a given RPM for much, much longer and the numbers calmly changing.
When things are really bad you can hear speed fluctuations and the table sounds slow. You can also see the fluctuations in the built-in strobe.
Here are a couple of videos that I shot:
Unlistenable:
http://youtu.be/mpvtv7ZaEUM
3am (You'll notice the huge difference in speed control):
http://youtu.be/21TV89xkefE
To combat this I first bought a linear power supply from MCRU. It didn't make a big difference in sound generally but it did do a good job in that the stereo was never unlistenable because of bad AC.
Still, I wanted to see if I could push the performance further so I acquired the 12V battery. The difference is significant.
It puts the performers out into the room and lets the music flow out and fill the room. Everything has a better sense of ease and freedom. Everything is more real, more human and more emotionally satisfying. The presentation is more three-dimensional and immersive. Images that used to "stick" to the speakers or to the speaker plane are now freely hanging in space and they have moved a way from a somewhat flat 2D plane and into a holographic space.
The battery is also measures better than the linear power supply. I downloaded a free app called "platterspeed". You play any test record with a 3150Hz signal and it tells you how much the turntable deviates from that frequency.
With the linear power supply, over a 3 minute period:
mean frequency: 3149.8Hz
max deviation (raw): -0.22% / +0.20%
max deviation (notch): -0.23% / +0.25%
With the battery power supply, over a 3 minute period:
mean frequency: 3150.1Hz
max deviation (raw): -0.19% / +0.16%
max deviation (notch): -0.21% / +0.17%
When doing the recording of the 3150Hz singal you see a read-out of the RPMs. With the linear power supply you see it quickly jumping around with a different number flashing every second but with the battery you see it holding a given RPM for much, much longer and the numbers calmly changing.