Dave Smith Instruments SYNTHESIZERS

2005/7/11, kmcdonaldk <kmmcdonald@...>:
> itself may be very well built, but wall warts are cheap commodity
> items which typically employ no strain relief (or, if it does, it
> will most likely be a flimsy plastic tab near the connector),

FWIW the PEK has a strain-relief hook near the power socket.  It's
plastic... but frankly, if enough force gets applied to the power
cable to break the tab, I _want_ the tab to break (and the connector
to pull out) rather than yanking my $$$ keyboard across the floor! 
[Though I assume that in practice, there'll probably be more keyboard
yanking than tab-breaking... :-( ]

> Generally, vendors (of which DSI may very well be an exception) will
> claim that using a wall wart in the design isolates the unit from AC
> noise, while never explaining how other manufacturers of professional
> equipment o=have overcome this deficiency. Or, they may claim that
> use of a wall wart makes it easier to pass electrical compliance
> testing in various foreign markets while having to support only one
> base design/unit.

As far as I know, the main factor is the cost of compliance testing,
especially of multiple designs (apparently you need to retest for
every new design) and multiple national standards, which apparently is
not a small deal for small manufacturers.  Big manufacturers can
swallow the cost; some small ones choose to do so as well, but using,
an external power supply seems a very reasonable thing to me,
especially if the maker cares about foreign markets (which DSI
obviously does).

Some things I actually like about external power supplies is that
they're (1) simple to replace whether for failure or for foreign
markets (though all of DSI's stuff uses universal supplies), and (2)
it removes a major heat source from the case!

> I interpret use of wall warts as a sign of contempt by a manufacturer
> for their customers. This reaction may be a little extreme, but wall
> warts certainly are not indicative of a desire to make their products
> convenient, sturdy, and easy to use.

Well now you're just spewing...

Go have a beer or something, it's hot.

-Miles
-- 
Do not taunt Happy Fun Ball.