I would like to see a switchable multi-voltage power supply in the new KN7000. My KN6000 has a 230 Vac power supply. I cannot take it to some European countries or North America where voltages are lower unless I buy a step-down transformer. That is ridiculous and unnecessary in my opinion. Panasonic has multi-voltage power supplies in its audio products so why not keyboards.

Hi Chuck,
there is no reason why not, since the transformers usually have the required taps on the primary to facilitate world voltages internally. If you look at the rear of the 6500 there is the cutout for the traditional screwdriver voltage adjustmnent slot, but blanked off internally. Maybe a marketing decision to disuade grey imports?

Might be even better if they fitted a Universal switched mode power supply - as is supplied with a laptop PC - which is generally 100v to 240v AC 50/60Hz. (I don't mean an External Unit)
Plug it in almost anywhere!

------------------
Willum

[This message has been edited by Bill Norrie (edited 03-09-2002).]

Back to the original topic!

I had a look at the source for the web page mentioned at the top of this thread. It contined the following which I have edited by changing <> characters to ! characters to stop it being interprted as HTML by this site:

!head!
!meta name="vs_targetSchema" content="http://schemas.microsoft.com/intellisense/ie5"!
!title!Technics KN7000!/title!
!meta name="GENERATOR" content="Microsoft Visual Studio.NET 7.0"!
!/head!

Official confirmation of keyboard name?!!!! Do I see a smoking hole in someone's foot?

Regards, Peter

[This message has been edited by Peter Simpson (edited 03-09-2002).]

true Bill, and a lot lighter and compact. I have power supplies for cameras and external burners and hard drives that are the size of matchboxes supplying 1.5 and 2.5 amps... incredible performance.

The problem is that these have no transformer as such, they switch the mains at high frequency, and filter the result for dc power. The filtering has to be very, very good indeed to get a low noise floor on the dc supply, otherwise that will cause audible problems with the audio signal.

Virtually all home pcs also have these switching supplies and they also contribute 'grunge' to spoil the audio from home pcs and laptops. you need very careful design in layout and filtering to minimise the problems, but it is the way to go, and the problems are not without remedies, only cost constraints

sorry Peter, I don't understand your point...

First thing I looked at was the source code too... it just describes the software the page was created with, does it really signify anything else at all?

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Peter Simpson:
[B]Back to the original topic!

Do I see a smoking hole in someone's foot?
-------------------------------------------
I guess anybody registered at Technote would have received this email as did I on Friday 8th so there are no socks with holes in here
----------
If you want to know all about the forthcoming Technics KN7000, be sure to
register at www.technicsKN7000.com

Hi Alec and Bill,

Appreciated your collective comments regarding the power supply. I dare say the transformer in the KN series does have multiple taps because it would not be cost effective (I wouldn't think, anyway) to manufacture a transformer limited to a single voltage input. To do so would require a range of transformers to meet all voltages around the world. There is too much thought, engineering, and sophistication in the KNs to believe Panasonic would go that route.

I wish I had a schematic of the power supply. It would tell us if there are multiple taps. With that information I might be tempted to take the back off and change taps. Used to disassemble radar and laser systems down to the last diode and rebuild them using schematics years ago.

Bill, your suggestion to have a universal power supply like those in laptops would be the ideal solution. It would be interesting to know Panasonic's rationale for their power supply design. Perhaps it is as you suggest, Alec, to deter the grey market. On the other hand, grey market products have a power supply anyway, so perhaps Panasonic's design is for other reasons? Let's hope the KN7000 is multi-voltage. If it is I would likely buy one. If it isn't, there is no way I would buy one because my KN6000/6500 does it all already - for me at least.

Thanks again, guys, for your comments.

Chuck

Hi Alec, First I realise that this is a bit off topic but still relevant.(Apologies)
As you probably know, I design electronic instruments for a living and all our devices include a built-in universal switched mode supply, or, if portable and battery driven, a switched mode DC-DC converter. Ok, we do use quite a bit of filtering, but these instruments work with sensors which produce sometimes just a few microvolts of signal and we still manage to produce perfectly good noise free results.
We are only a small firm but we export all over the world, as Matsush*ta do, and have to cope with the varying available supply voltages (sometimes as low as 95Volts AC in Japan!). I don't think it would be too much trouble for them to incorporate a suitable universal power supply, considering the resources at their disposal.

------------------
Willum

Hi Chuck,
if you are a really brave man, you could take the top off and have a look. The primary should be easy to recognise because the leads will go to the mains input plug. if there is another tag, measure the resistance between the 3 tags. if one value is about half the value of the total, existing wires, this must be the 110 v tag?

I know this measurement will be influenced by inductance etc and is not precise, but I too find it difficult to believe they would build with different transformers for different markets.

but this is NOT something I would recommend, if you are in your guarantee period, or if you do not want the possibility of a mini mushroom cloud when you switch on !