Aesthetix Io and Callisto Back to State-of-the-Art

[oldvinyl]

The new house wound transformers are a result of no longer being able to get the ones they where using before ! And some of the old to new swaps in this thread are made to old model Io's with malfunctioning transformers. No mention of this monumental "upgrade" on Aesthetix website ! You gotta love the internet !

The old transformers were Mercury Magnetics, which had a great reputation. Not much to fail in a transformer - any more info on these malfunctions?

My Io is 25+ years old. No transformer issues in my Io, but that’s a sample size of one.

There seems to be more info on their Facebook page about products, but I don’t follow Facebook.

 

[Lagonda]

The old transformers were Mercury Magnetics, which had a great reputation. Not much to fail in a transformer - any more info on these malfunctions?

My Io is 25+ years old. No transformer issues in my Io, but that’s a sample size of one.

There seems to be more info on their Facebook page about products, but I don’t follow Facebook.

No info on Facebook either. I think Kcin had problems with one of his power supplies and decided to have both sides swapped during repair/upgrade.

 

[OGH]

I have Mercury transformers, first in the original power supply ca 2002, later ca 2012 with the new power supply I bought with the P Eclipse upgrade. I dont think there has been any failure. A bit of hum, if you stand close by (from the box, not through the speakers). Not a problem from the listener position.

 

[oldvinyl]

No info on Facebook either. I think Kcin had problems with one of his power supplies and decided to have both sides swapped during repair/upgrade.

Found it:
Aesthetix transformer winding

 

[oldvinyl]

Just to clarify - many audio companies used transformers made by another company. Mercury Magnetics was/is a reputable and popular brand. Purchasing transformers for power supplies and output coupling would be a make/buy decision. In the quantities of high-end audio, it often makes sense to buy rather than make.

Things have changed since the 1990s when the Io was designed and those decisions were made. Mercury may have ceased production of the product; which is no fault of the buyer. Aesthetix has invested in the equipment to wind and pot the transformers. They also found the wire they wanted for the quality they expected. And, interestingly, Aesthetix devised techniques to shield the transformers from noise prevalent in homes that did not exist 25 years ago.

I am curious about the failure modes mentioned above - transformers don’t have moving parts or much in the way of parts that wear out or age. It is copper wire wrapped around a steel core, potted and sealed. The potting will eventually break down, that would take decades. Input voltage spikes can do damage, but probably more to the downstream circuits than the windings (unless it exceeds the rating of the insulator).

 

[Lagonda]

Found it:
Aesthetix transformer winding

Yes i saw that about winding transformers for the Atlas, but nothing about new transformers as a Io Eclipse upgrade anywhere. No problem or noise from my transformers when my Io is working. Just got notified this evening that my local repair guy has fixed the Io, should pick it up in a few days, looking forward to hearing it again.

 

[oldvinyl]

Yes i saw that about winding transformers for the Atlas, but nothing about new transformers as a Io Eclipse upgrade anywhere. No problem or noise from my transformers when my Io is working. Just got notified this evening that my local repair guy has fixed the Io, should pick it up in a few days, looking forward to hearing it again.

Agreed - for such a great upgrade, there is no description.

I only learned about it when I called in to ask about a repair to a failed IEC socket.

Jim and Glenn let me know that new capacitors and transformers were available for the power supply. My power supplies were due for replacement of the electrolytic capacitors since they were well over 20 years old.