What I'm trying to work out is why there is such a significant cost difference between MSCs and dimmers for resistive loads. I pay about $11-12 for a 300W incand dimmer while a MSC sets me back $32. There's no real real common way of doing the job, making justification of the cost difference a bit difficult, but I would expect that the 'matic with the lowest parts count wins.
I'm trying to resist the temptation to tear apart a copy of each I have around here to cost out the SCR or di/triac used etc. If the difference between an MSC & a dimmer which in std form won't run a brushless AC motor at continuously variable speed without stalling is just a couple of component values, I'm gonna be
seriously miffed.