Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Systems Power supply upgrade

In case anyone should want to be foolish enough to follow in my footsteps, perhaps after they see how I get on, I compiled a table of possible linear power supplies. The likely candidates are colour coded - the 40W, 70W and 90W supplies - and show that much the same model is made by several different manufacturers. They don't all come out the same Chinese factory though - they are all different, even when they have the same part number (very convenient, that).

I think there are three key parameters to look out for.

1) Supplies are conveniently named by their overall power output, so I highlighted that column. Although the SMPS has a 55W capacity, I think 40W units would be sufficient, though a safety margin is probably desirable. I used a bit of peotic license to give comparable models the same designation.

2) From what I measured, The +12V output current needs to be at least 1.0A, but other equipment may be different - the HD621 certainly is. Although many of them are described as having +/-12V outputs, these are often adjustable to +/-15V

3) These power supplies really need to sit on their base. The rear face has the transformer and several regulators sticking out, so it won't bolt into the base of the unit without cutting holes or using stand-offs. That means at least 102mm is needed for the 20W & 40W supplies, or at least 124mm for the 50W to 150W LPS.

The space inside of the 861 measures 433 x 184 x 140 mm, so filter board permitting, pretty much anything will fit. The G68 is somewhat smaller, and I think the critical dimension is the internal height. It measures 132mm on the outside, and though the feet aren't as deep as the 861, I doubt the 124 mm supplies will fit (which is most of them). The weights and dimensions are mostly the same for equivalent models, though the dimensions for all but the R3 Technology units are those of the frame, not the overall dimensions

Other equipment such as the 808, G61, G98 or HD621 will be more difficult, as there's less length or height available. If anyone else can help out with the dimensions of the internal spaces, that would be great. I assume, for example, that the players loose half the width to the transport?

Actually finding an LPS isn't that easy, as distributors and sellers classify and describe them in different ways. I found that searching by part no was the most effective - just search for HBAA40W or CP498A for example, and you get loads of returns wherever you look, and very few spurious returns. There are a huge number of Condor and Power-One supplies out there, though its worth looking for the others, too.

Nick