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What are the benefits of relocating the power supply from inside a piece of gear and into it's own external box? Electrical interference reduction maybe? I've notice a number of really high-end preamps having this feature.

When I get my new Trident S40 preamp I'm wondering if it would make any difference at all to attempt a modification to it by making an external box any moving the power supply out of the rack enclosure? If so, would you just use an XLR for the power transfer cable between the supply and the preamp? Is it difficult?

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Boswell Thu, 02/17/2011 - 11:21

No, don't strip the PSU out of an existing piece of gear hoping for an improvement. That equipment will have been designed, tested and been approved for EMC and electrical safety with the supply mounted inside.

It's usually cheaper for a manufacturer to use external power supplies, especially if a standard one can be used that are made in their millions in the Far East. For transistor and IC based gear, it also takes the high-voltage electrical safety aspects out of the equipment and deposits them in a separate envirnment.