Battery Powered Klipschorns

[edwinr]

Recently, my wife and I were discussing the feasibility of building our own house in the country. We've been looking at small farms, and all are over priced because they have pre-existing homes on them.

If we did build, we would consider a self sufficient home that would not need to rely on external power or water. Water of course would be supplied from rain water tanks collected from the roof. Hot water would be courtsey of a solar powered heating system. Cooking would be provided by bottled gas or a wood fired stove - increasingly popular in the Australian bush.

Now, there will still be a need for electricity. We will need to run the essentials (we like our comfort), like a washing machine, television, computer, and lighting. I guess we could could consider solar power, charging up a bank of batteries, backed up by a high efficiency petrol or diesel powered generator for heavier demands. Such a setup would mean that we could save many thousands of dollars, because we don't have to connect to the national grid. In Australia, the power pole transformer alone, costs around $12,000. Each power pole after that costs around $3500 per pole. You could easily spend $40,000 to $50,000 for the convenience of electricity on demand.

The dilemma for me, is of course, HOW AM I GOING TO RUN MY NEW KLIPSCHORNS???

I reckon we could do this, but I would need to purchase a high quality amplifier that could run from 12 volts. I know some turntables, like the Rega Planar P5, can run from a 12 volt supply. A CD player shouldn't be too hard to find. So maybe I COULD assemble a battery powered, Klipschorn based hi-fi system, that wouldn't give anything away to the big boys.

There is a possibility, of course, that I could run a separate line directly from the generator, and run my hi-fi system from this. I could use a standard voltage then - 240 volts in Australia.

Uh Oh. I just had a thought. Maybe the SET fraternity will read this and have a field day with this thread. Maybe not... [:-*]

Any thoughts? [^o)]

[BEC]

A little 12 volt powered Class T amp and Khorns. Should sound great.

Bob

[thebes]

Find a place with a tall hill, put a windmill on it store the

electtricity in batteries. Also, a class "T" runs fine off of

batteries. Anotehr thought, how about the back-up power

supplies for computers. You could use a couple of them and

recharge at your leisure.

[WMcD]

I was thiniking about a small McIntosh system for the office. Just thinking, mind you. It is like women looking at Paris Vogue. Since you'll never actually own the things, you can window shop all you want. I bought a little Sony mini-system.

It occurred to me that a McIntosh automobile system would fill the bill.

In any event, if you need a receiver and CD unit which runs off 12 volts, there are many available at the auto stereo showroom. There is no need to modify home audio units.

Gil

[3dzapper]

Wait a minute....

"The dilemma for me, is of course, HOW AM I GOING TO RUN MY NEW KLIPSCHORNS???"

[sunnysal]

a top line auto system (like Mcintosh) would be perfect as would the SI or other class T amp...I like the auto components best for this aplllication. regards, tony

[edwinr]

A little 12 volt powered Class T amp and Khorns. Should sound great. Bob

These amps have had a lot of publicity lately. I haven't heard one yet. The re-release of the Ultrapath battery preamp (in the other thread) looks interesting as well - although you have to charge it via the mains.

[ricktate]

Well to run all the things you want to run you will need wind,,solar..and alot of batteries plus a inverter...There is a company called outback that makes whole inverter systems but you need to know your power requirments first.Front loading washing machine will use less power and water.The cost is going to be on how much power you need and how you use it.Like my last electric bill i used 45 KWH per day so you need to know what you use ,the fridge is going to be high but most of your lights can be 12 volt DC which will save some electric for the big stuff.Going off grid is not easy but can be done.Rick

[edwinr]

Thanks, Rick. There are lots of people in my part of the country that have gone off the grid. But they have opted for a more simple lifestyle - kind of a return to nature philosophy. I'm not prepared to do that. If we found a house and land package that was cheap enough, and hooked up to the grid, we'd buy it. But we're looking at options.

Also for 3dzapper. I haven't bought the new Klipschorns yet. I decided to buy a pair the other day when I saw the leaked picture of the Heresy, La Scala and the Klipschorn. I knew there was going to be a cosmetic change to the Klipschorn, and I was wary that it wouldn't appeal. But it looks okay. So very soon. all things financial going my way, I'll put my order in.

[colterphoto1]

you could buy a mandolin and just roll your own music.

[ChrisK]

One of the best sounding systems I've ever heard was battery powered. It's owned by Tom Port. He also owns and operates a audiophile record/cd business. While Tom is a little bit on the evangelical side of audiophilia, he is quite knowledgeable. He runs his system on battery by choice. Although I haven't seen Tom in more than a year (note to self, need to buy more vinyl), I recall his system had so many wires and cables running everywhere, you could have sworn you were at Mission Control for a Shuttle launch.

Good Luck,

Chris

BTW, this is Tom's website http://www.dccblowout.com/index.asp. Not necessarily the cheapest dealer around, but he does have some good stuff.

[TEXASRONANDTRISH]

In Australia, the power pole transformer alone, costs around $12,000. Each power pole after that costs around $3500 per pole. You could easily spend $40,000 to $50,000 for the convenience of electricity on demand.

EDWINR,

I'm a slaesman for electical distribution equipment here in the states. Those pole top transformers sell for $250-$400/ea here, depending om configuration. Nice mark-up there in Austrailia, I need to move.

How far off the grid is your place going to be?

Ron

[edwinr]

Hi, Ron. That's an incredible mark-up! When I saw the transformers, I just couldn't see $10-12,000 value. The local electricity board has the market all to themselves, so they've obviously taken advantage of it.

With all the terrible disasters that have occurred recently, it's not such a bad idea to consider that our current remote control operated lifestyle is a luxury that could be taken away from us very easily. For example, last Christmas, our supermarketss began to run out of certain foodlines. Those that didn't stock up well before Christmas, were caught out. Additionally, our local electricity supply is unreliable. We have had several outages recently. Our kids got very upset when the television didn't work and we couldn't use the microwave.

Thanks, ChrisK, for that link. He's got some great stuff. I've added it to my favorites.

[Duke Spinner]

Recently, my wife and I were discussing the

feasibility of building our own house in the country. We've

been looking at small farms, and all are over priced because they have

pre-existing homes on them.

If we did build, we would consider a

self sufficient home that would not need to rely on external power or

water. Water of course would be supplied from rain water tanks

collected from the roof. Hot water would be courtsey of a solar

powered heating system. Cooking would be provided by bottled gas

or a wood fired stove - increasingly popular in the Australian bush.

Now,

there will still be a need for electricity. We will need to run

the essentials (we like our comfort), like a washing machine,

television, computer, and lighting. I guess we could could

consider solar power, charging up a bank of batteries, backed up by a

high efficiency petrol or diesel powered generator for heavier

demands. Such a setup would mean that we could save many

thousands of dollars, because we don't have to connect to the national

grid. In Australia, the power pole transformer alone, costs

around $12,000. Each power pole after that costs around $3500 per

pole. You could easily spend $40,000 to $50,000 for the

convenience of electricity on demand.

The dilemma for me, is of course, HOW AM I GOING TO RUN MY NEW KLIPSCHORNS???

I

reckon we could do this, but I would need to purchase a high quality

amplifier that could run from 12 volts. I know some turntables,

like the Rega Planar P5, can run from a 12 volt supply. A CD player

shouldn't be too hard to find. So maybe I COULD assemble a

battery powered, Klipschorn based hi-fi system, that wouldn't give

anything away to the big boys.

There is a possibility, of

course, that I could run a separate line directly from the generator,

and run my hi-fi system from this. I could use a standard voltage

then - 240 volts in Australia.

Uh Oh. I just had a

thought. Maybe the SET fraternity will read this and have a field

day with this thread. Maybe not... [:-*]

Any thoughts? [^o)]

WOW ....!

here, the first 100' is free

if you have an unusual distance request, its $800 at the Pole, $800 at

the house, and $600 each additional utility pole, or ... $2 ft

underground ...

the $800 at the house buys your own pad mount transformer ...

is the power co, a goverment entrprise ..???

[sfogg]

"The re-release of the Ultrapath battery preamp (in the other thread)

looks interesting as well - although you have to charge it via the

mains."

Nahh, that is just what the charger included with it uses. All the

charger is doing is taking the AC and converting it to DC to charge the

batteries.

You could use another battery charger with a DC source (solar, wind

generator...etc..etc...) and recharge the batteries that way. You can

pick up solar battery chargers all over the internet that would work

with 12v batteries.

If you want to have good run time you are going to need either large

battery capacity or efficient equipment. Efficient equipment is the

better choice as it makes the job of recharging the batteries

easier/quicker.

Shawn

[edwinr]

Hi, Duke spinner. The power company is a state government authority. They have total monopoly on the whole power thing. Compare $3500 for each pole to $600. I love my country, but man, you pay through the nose sometimes to live here.

Thanks for those observations, Shawn. I'm kinda thinking that if I buy a home already connected to the grid, I'll still need battery powered backup. As I said before, the electricity supply is not very reliable. Actually I withdraw that comment. There is one thing you can rely on with the electricity - and that's the bill you receive every month. It's like clockwork. It never fails!

[Colin]

are you going to power the amps the same way you power your washing machine and PC?