Audio Application For Toshiba's Nuclear Reactor.
At Last ! - a power supply big enough to power my Tube Amplifiers with all the energy needed to warm the house and more. With massive transmitter ceramic planar industrial triodes readily available biased in Audio Class A and maybe even with plate dissipations in excess of 10kw, or more, being readily available - the purist Hi end nutter can now guild the lilly of the ultimate SET Amplifiers with multi track tube sound. Or better still, bias up a pair of Industrial or Military power tubes for AB2 Heavy Metal applications. Imagine Pantera, Judas Priest or Rammstein at 50,000 watts RMS in your living room, driving the tube anodes cherry red as would be in rows of 833a triodes. Totally Insane !!! To run 50 kw of tube audio, you would need a 200kw nuclear reactor in the garage to power the system.
And if the reactor core burns out, or strikes out with with a high energy EMP pulse - your Tubes will still survive, where semiconductors Hifi systems will die. Even if you die, your tube amp will still run like new, being immune to any malignant radiation and high energy nuclear pulses, high voltage zapps and electrical abuse you might give your system. Now you can have an audio amp with power and audio pressure level capabilites exceeding that of most car engines and more reving out at their ultimate "sweet" spot. Effectively you would hae an audio engine driving massive pistons at audio rate. Just like a super charged drag car engine so too, a Super charged Audio Engine/Amplifier.
Tubes running off an independant nuclear reactor power supply in ones garage will allow you to run those massive plate voltages over 10 kv and above, despite those lethal gamma and x-rays being emmitted from the anodes anyway and in so doing, extend the Hifi arena to explore super high power amplifiers with out any damage to the environement.
Nuclear power and tubes go together like a hand in a glove. Rdaiation detectors generally have been vacuum tuibe devcices, because of the resistance to abusive Electro Magnetic , Gamma and High Voltage Pulses.
Both technologies ( Nuclear and Vacuum Tube ) are leathal power hungry systems which work together well.
Vacuum Tube Bass Amplifiers in excess of 50KW-100KW RMS will be "the norm" in the next generation of Literal Heavy Metal Audio Systems. To drive sub woofers with cone diameters ranging around 36"-48" inches or more, would require serious power outputs. Imaging 120+ DB at 10 hertz - inaudible frequencies that cause the heart to jump a beat or two. Output Transfomers so big you have to crane them in onto a concrete slab just like substation power transformers. This is lethal stuff for hifi.
You might even discover your neighbour's brown note in the process.
Presently this is all limited with what is readily available from one's wall socket and also what the electric supply will sell you.
In Australia at home, 2.4 KW is all you can have at a power point without special applications and house inlet line is limited to 80 amps (MAX) single phase at 240 volts.
But with a nuclear reactor in ones garage in the ordser of 200kw or so, the sky is the limit with one's power plant running your home where your not paying for the extra power used.
Even the most inefficient of Tube OTL designs would be able to be explored without environmental damage and still capable of delivering kilowatts of Hi end audio to your loud speakers, or any other acoustical transducer you so desire.
Crazy ? Probably I Am - but I envision a future not too far away, where Big Tube Amps like those I described above will become far more popular. Big is impressive and in today's environment 500 or more watts in one's car is "normal" and readily accepted. Wisth sound equipment and speakers, the bigger the better.
Cheers.
Kimbal Summers
Email> kimbalsummers@hotmail.com ( Queensland, Australia )
