On Mon, 24 May 2010 07:06:44 -0700 (PDT), Keith Dysart
wrote:

I have often wondered if the manufacturer's
tuning
procedures had anything to do with maximizing output power transfer,
or
were they, in fact, optimizing some other aspect.

This resolves quickly in measurement - no need to wonder unless it
offers some secondary benefit of not measuring things.

An alternative is to simply examine conventional design
considerations. One can add to Plate current by throwing a lot of
power into the grid. More plate current yields more output power
results, but grid lifetime plumments.

One can do innumerable things to force an artificial outcome that
strains to prove a distorted logic. Examining a suite of sources, in
initial conditions that are average for their application quickly
reveals a common design paradigm.

******

The fundamental answer to your question is the manufacturer ultimately
designs for market domination, or maximum investment return (the two
don't necessarily converge). Thus the marketplace gives us a spectrum
of choice and the norm of the distribution reveals cautious design
that has its eye on a value exchange expressed in money. THAT is the
only optimization you can expect = in an honest barter, you get what
you pay for.

73's
Richard Clark, KB7QHC