Balanced Lighter Note
Hi Uriah,
Sign me up for a balanced setup. This single ended kit is a very nice pre amp. I want a balanced preamp to use with the new TPA BuffaloII that is on its way. I had a chance to listen with the turnable last night. The LN preamp is a very good match. It doesnt exagerate the clicks like some other preamps. The noise is there but not as loud. Makes listening to vinyl a much more pleasant experience. Now if I can figure out how to make the relays switch 3 inputs I will be set. I dont think I will need remote control on the volume. It is so dynamic that I dont find the need to change the volume a lot. Thanks Uriah.
Hi Uriah,
Sign me up for a balanced setup. This single ended kit is a very nice pre amp. I want a balanced preamp to use with the new TPA BuffaloII that is on its way. I had a chance to listen with the turnable last night. The LN preamp is a very good match. It doesnt exagerate the clicks like some other preamps. The noise is there but not as loud. Makes listening to vinyl a much more pleasant experience. Now if I can figure out how to make the relays switch 3 inputs I will be set. I dont think I will need remote control on the volume. It is so dynamic that I dont find the need to change the volume a lot. Thanks Uriah.
Hi BikerBoy,
So good to hear your experiences. So you know I do not have boards for balanced. You would have to make a balanced Lightspeed. I tried putting multiple LDRs in each position and at anything but low volume it works well but at the lowest volume, and I suppose the highest, the LM334 can not produce enough current to drive more than 2 LDRs. I get a wah wah wah sound with 6 LDRs per LM334. With just 2 as you have found its perfect. With 4 its not bad but I wouldnt sell it that way.
SO I have balanced sets but not for the Lighter Note. You would have to build a Lightspeed which will be incredible trust me... Now, what you could do is use Lighter Note boards for the power supply and then stick the 100k dual log pot between the Lighter Note boards and the LDRS but you would need 4 boards to handle all the LDRs. Kind of a lot of cash. I think build the Lightspeed first, then decide if you want to go further with the Lighter Note as a power supply but I think you will achieve near Nirvana with a very good power supply and a balanced Lightspeed setup.
Now, as per switching. Never fear
I got my optocoupler switcher going last night. WOOHOO I am really happy with it so far. Its just in a wireless breadboard but give me a few weeks and it will be in a real board. Okay give me a month and a half. I am always slower than I think.
Uriah
So good to hear your experiences. So you know I do not have boards for balanced. You would have to make a balanced Lightspeed. I tried putting multiple LDRs in each position and at anything but low volume it works well but at the lowest volume, and I suppose the highest, the LM334 can not produce enough current to drive more than 2 LDRs. I get a wah wah wah sound with 6 LDRs per LM334. With just 2 as you have found its perfect. With 4 its not bad but I wouldnt sell it that way.
SO I have balanced sets but not for the Lighter Note. You would have to build a Lightspeed which will be incredible trust me... Now, what you could do is use Lighter Note boards for the power supply and then stick the 100k dual log pot between the Lighter Note boards and the LDRS but you would need 4 boards to handle all the LDRs. Kind of a lot of cash. I think build the Lightspeed first, then decide if you want to go further with the Lighter Note as a power supply but I think you will achieve near Nirvana with a very good power supply and a balanced Lightspeed setup.
Now, as per switching. Never fear
I got my optocoupler switcher going last night. WOOHOO I am really happy with it so far. Its just in a wireless breadboard but give me a few weeks and it will be in a real board. Okay give me a month and a half. I am always slower than I think.Uriah
Hi bikerboy,
IMO you should first try out the TPA "Volumite" solution for attenuation with the Buffalo DAC(s). It's cheap and it is better (IMO) for your digital needs.
I am myself building a balanced LDR for comparison with attenuation in the digital domain, but I'm seriously worried that I'm spending my money in the wrong direction.....
Spend your $$ on HQ power supplies!
Cheers,
Nic
Hi,
Because of damaging recently bought matched LDRs, I need another matched ones.
Uriah, do you still have matched se stereo set?
The reason that caused damaging LDR was wrong choice of wall wart.
I did'nt notic that's too large. Smoked voltage regulator, and at least one of LDRs started showing different resistance
curve. 18VA was overkill.
But, there's one (only one) good news.
I had finished Lightspeed with damaged ones. Although useless as a volume controller, the sound itself is quite good.
Because of damaging recently bought matched LDRs, I need another matched ones.
Uriah, do you still have matched se stereo set?
The reason that caused damaging LDR was wrong choice of wall wart.
I did'nt notic that's too large. Smoked voltage regulator, and at least one of LDRs started showing different resistance
curve. 18VA was overkill.
But, there's one (only one) good news.
I had finished Lightspeed with damaged ones. Although useless as a volume controller, the sound itself is quite good.
sent text message to Uriah
wktk_smile,
Uriah just moved into a new home and he is waiting for internet connection this afternoon.
I spoke to him last week because I'm thinking of ordering a set from him. He said he has a small amount of stock left. I'm helping him keep in touch on the MyRef group buy and I mentioned to him that you need a new set. He should be in touch with you soon.
wktk_smile,
Uriah just moved into a new home and he is waiting for internet connection this afternoon.
I spoke to him last week because I'm thinking of ordering a set from him. He said he has a small amount of stock left. I'm helping him keep in touch on the MyRef group buy and I mentioned to him that you need a new set. He should be in touch with you soon.
thanks.wktk_smile,
Uriah just moved into a new home and he is waiting for internet connection this afternoon.
I spoke to him last week because I'm thinking of ordering a set from him. He said he has a small amount of stock left. I'm helping him keep in touch on the MyRef group buy and I mentioned to him that you need a new set. He should be in touch with you soon.
Yes, At first I thought so. but my 7805 got smoked. Then I replaced the trafo with 15v/200ma one. This works much better now.
Okay
After a primer from AndrewT about how close matching must be to support a real balanced situation I had decided to never again sell balanced LDRs and I wont. In fact I wont be matching LDRs anymore except for you die hards who want to build the exact Lightspeed circuit.
I figured out how to control these things without any microcomputers or anything like that. I will reveal all (oooh the mystery! ) soon. But I am super excited. It hit me this morning like a ton of bricks. The circuit will be able to match to the tenth of an ohm or even lower and will work for single ended or balanced. No matching. None. You guys have no idea how excited I am at the prospect of not matching LDRs for this circuit!!
The same circuit will allow down to 6Ohms shunt for a near mute and if I pair it with my LDR based input switching circuit I WILL get mute using only optocouplers, no relays, none of that.
If you have been waiting or wanting a balanced solution that really is truly balanced and not one that has discrepancies between X/L/R's resistance then this is going to take the caked. Its a super simple circuit, replicated numerous times on the board but using only a few extra LDRs. The extra LDRs only come into play when we want super low volume and then they turn on one by one til we have 4 in parallel shunted to ground giving us 10R and then another optocoupler comes into play to give us another 6R in parallel to that 10R for our mute. Trust me that will be muted. You wont hear a thing.
Awwgh!! Man I am really psyched about this. I can hardly wait to share it with you guys.
Uriah
After a primer from AndrewT about how close matching must be to support a real balanced situation I had decided to never again sell balanced LDRs and I wont. In fact I wont be matching LDRs anymore except for you die hards who want to build the exact Lightspeed circuit.
I figured out how to control these things without any microcomputers or anything like that. I will reveal all (oooh the mystery! ) soon. But I am super excited. It hit me this morning like a ton of bricks. The circuit will be able to match to the tenth of an ohm or even lower and will work for single ended or balanced. No matching. None. You guys have no idea how excited I am at the prospect of not matching LDRs for this circuit!!
The same circuit will allow down to 6Ohms shunt for a near mute and if I pair it with my LDR based input switching circuit I WILL get mute using only optocouplers, no relays, none of that.
If you have been waiting or wanting a balanced solution that really is truly balanced and not one that has discrepancies between X/L/R's resistance then this is going to take the caked. Its a super simple circuit, replicated numerous times on the board but using only a few extra LDRs. The extra LDRs only come into play when we want super low volume and then they turn on one by one til we have 4 in parallel shunted to ground giving us 10R and then another optocoupler comes into play to give us another 6R in parallel to that 10R for our mute. Trust me that will be muted. You wont hear a thing.
Awwgh!! Man I am really psyched about this. I can hardly wait to share it with you guys.
Uriah
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