Color Organ Audio Input Source?

[aphracer]

Hello All,

I found this light organ circuit that looks really cool but I was wondering if I could use the audio output from stereo receiver instead of the headphone input from a mp3 player. I plan to connect this Color organ in parallel to a set of speakers (2x 10W Drivers, 8 Ohms). Is there a way I can achieve this without blowing the circuit?

http://www.instructables.com/files/orig/FKQ/ZKWQ/GQ5PYWHF/FKQZKWQGQ5PYWHF.pdf

Thanks Again In Advance

 

[dangus]

Just use a sufficiently larger value of input resistor; a wild guess would be 1k to 4.7k (instead of 100 ohms).

 

[bear]

Actually, just form a voltage divider with two resistors, tap at the junction of the two going to the input of the unit. Input at one end, ground on the other.

The value of the resistors can be high, since no current is needed to drive the input (not much anyhow), so you only want to generate the proper voltage to run the color organ. So, you could also use a pot to do that function.

The only issue there is that the adjustment might be a bit touchy, depending on what the voltage needed is/was and where that falls on the range of the pot... but that can be adjusted by using extra external resistors before and/or after the pot to center and limit the pots range of adjustment.

You can use resistors and pots in the >10kohm range I would expect.

_-_-bear

 

[aphracer]

Actually, just form a voltage divider with two resistors, tap at the junction of the two going to the input of the unit. Input at one end, ground on the other.

The value of the resistors can be high, since no current is needed to drive the input (not much anyhow), so you only want to generate the proper voltage to run the color organ. So, you could also use a pot to do that function.

The only issue there is that the adjustment might be a bit touchy, depending on what the voltage needed is/was and where that falls on the range of the pot... but that can be adjusted by using extra external resistors before and/or after the pot to center and limit the pots range of adjustment.

You can use resistors and pots in the >10kohm range I would expect.

_-_-bear

If I wanted to connect the speakers parallel to the light organ would it better to connect the speakers before the voltage divider or at the junction of the voltage divider (instead of going to ground)

 

[bear]

speakers go to the speakers, the color organ does NOT look like a "load" to the amplifier, essentially it is not connected. But you DO wire it from the speaker outputs to the color organ. THEN inside the color organ - regardless of the physical placement the pot or voltage divider, inside or not, that item is connected in parallel with the speakers, again how or where it is physically placed doesn't matter, only the electrical connection.

You are providing a high impedance tap to send voltage to the color organ. It gets it's signal from the speaker outputs.

The speakers DO NOT get connected any differently than they do now.

_-_-bear

 

[aphracer]

speakers go to the speakers, the color organ does NOT look like a "load" to the amplifier, essentially it is not connected. But you DO wire it from the speaker outputs to the color organ. THEN inside the color organ - regardless of the physical placement the pot or voltage divider, inside or not, that item is connected in parallel with the speakers, again how or where it is physically placed doesn't matter, only the electrical connection.

You are providing a high impedance tap to send voltage to the color organ. It gets it's signal from the speaker outputs.

The speakers DO NOT get connected any differently than they do now.

_-_-bear

Thanks for the clarification, I was unsure if this color organ would load up the amplifier.