Connecting SMPS devices to Hi-Fi

I know where you are coming from, especially when the bpl diva has a line out to be connected to your hi-fi.

A lot of people do connect these deviced to their hi-fi. A friend of mine connects it to his classe/EAD combo. Scary huh ? another one has bought a separate entry level amp and speakers for it so that his expensive system stays safe :-)

If you are apprehensive about using the diva or any other similar deivce, just ask around first if the deivce itself is a reliable one with not too many SMPS related problems.

manek.

Yes, its a very unsafe combination, scared the hell out of me.

One way to reduce this risk is to "float" all the equipment - ie; nothing should have a third pin connected to earth. Mostly the SMPS equipment failure mode is such that both the signal and shield (ground wire) would be driven to high voltage. If there is no other earth reference at the AVR end, there would be no damage per se (although the situation still needs to be rectified quickly due to risk of electrocution etc). I removed the third pin from my powered sub mains cord to achieve the above floating.

However in the other failure mode it could fail such that there is a high voltage between signal and shield (although much less likely) - God help us in this case. Somebody should make inline surge suppressors for audio interconnects!

I would be interested if any of you know a better way of protection or if such surge suppressors are already available anywhere.