This is brilliant. Anyone here work with these?
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They haven’t been used commercially or industrially for decades but there were one or two display ones on show e.g.
If the thing should break then it might be a good idea to stop breathing until you’re out in the fresh air.
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Nothing anywhere near that big or crazy, but about 25 years ago I built a stereo SE 300B amp with a type 83 full wave mercury rectifier, as they work up to 250mA with only about 15V voltage drop.
Not sure I would be comfortable doing that today
Thomas Mayer has made a few amps using the 816 mercury rectifier, complete with top cap 
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They still have some in situ that work on the deep level underground shelters in London. Sadly not publicly accessible unless you are willing to trespass.
I really liked what the 83 did when I tried it - definitely a more vivid sound, I guess due to the lower dynamic impedance. I’m too scared to use them these days because of the risk of breakage and poisoning, so I use the Silicon Carbide Schottkys in most things now.
agreed, I really liked the sound of them, but wouldn’t let one out of the door today
there is a thread on pfm about some silly expensive super duper rectifier that can use an 83 or 866a but it turned into the usual foo shite after a while.
Certainly way too risky for a commercial product I’d have thought!
There’s also the joy of having to warm them up and the risk of flashover and other unfortunate behaviour.
I think they get around it by selling them with the xenon rectifier and then saying you can swap those for mercury ones (yourself and at your own risk etc)
Yeah, that seems to be the strategy to avoid any liability.
I’m assuming (I know jack shit about this stuff) that containing an explosion of one of these things is not trivial for something that then can still function as an amplifier?
ELI5 answers welcomed.
can’t think of a reason why one would explode, dropping or breaking the glass is the issue.
Yes, it’s not going to explode. But if it cracks then a dose of mercury vapour isn’t ideal. That’s said, there’s probably not hugely more mercury in one than in a fluorescent tube.
11’38"…“You gotta be maaaaaad to ‘ave one of these in your livin’ room” kinda sums it up for me! 
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Is it legal to have that kinda setup running in a domestic situation?..Looks absolutely epic, but scary as at the same time!
The usual situation here is that private individuals can do much as they please domestically*. All the rules apply to things that are sold commercially so, when it comes to kit with mercury rectifiers in, you should struggle to find any. You’ll also struggle to get rid of it if you happen to have some.
*You can’t mess with your gas appliances or piping though, or do major work on your electrical wiring, and if you do anything else that’s out-of-the-ordinarily dangerous you’ll probably invalidate any insurance.
despite being a bit of a loon he’s very clever and some of his really high voltage stuff is interesting to watch
Yes, he’s pretty entertaining (and not quite as stupid with respect to safety as he pretends).
I one where he had like a million watt lamp (I exaggerate) was amusing.
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Mercury rectifiers were considered for a (very) short time when discussing the build of my mono blocks.
But then Pete sobered up 
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Obvious lie is obvious.
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