BOZ and Zen V4

[FrankDIY]

Hello,

My Zen V4 is now completed (I will publish picture later) and I am wondering if the BOZ is the best match for the Zen V4?

Do I need any modification to the original design?

Should I use a rotary switch with relay to choose the input signal or this is overkill and I could use only the switch?

Where can I find a good quality rotary switch/volume control?

Thanks

[GRollins]

François,
Best?
Now's there's a good question.
Pretty much any preamp will work. Obviously, there's a clear temptation to pair that particular amp with something else that Nelson designed, so the BOZ and BOSOZ are going to spring readily to mind.
Either will work. Either will sound good. The BOZ is unbalanced, and will be a direct match for the V4 amp. The BOSOZ is balanced, which offers some benefits, and will work just peachy if you ground the unused input. If you really want to get down to the nitty-gritty, you can ground that input through a small resistance, but it's not, strictly speaking, necessary.

Grey

EDIT: You can use any kind of switch you want as long as it has enough positions to suit your needs. The discussion of what brand of switch tends to stir people to near religious extremes. The neat thing about a switch is that once you've got a hole drilled, it'll fit a wide variety of switches on the market. You can start with a cheap one, then put in something fancy later on if you want.

[jh6you]

Originally posted by GRollins

..., it'll fit a wide variety of switches on the market.

Agree.

By the way, in my case, the most important consideration is if the contact-point quality of the switches is reliable or not. The picture shows my BOSOZ (with CCS). For this baby, once I used bad switches having poor contact-points. Later, I had to replace them with the present ones.

It will be dependant on..., but, I think that BOSOZ could be both for your ZV4 (unbalanced) and for your future projects (balanced).

JH

[till]

when i asked this question i was told better to use BZLS. I built both, BOZ and BZLS, and i use BZLS at the moment. Volume control by relais, controled by Pic MC and rotary encoder.

http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/showt...669#post228669

[FrankDIY]

ok, so if I build the balanced version and ground one pin, I should expect the same sound performance as the BOZ, right?

I guess I have to do the same trick for the output?

Moreover, since there is a group buy for Cardas, is it too much to buy like 20 RCA jack for this or a normal gold plated RCA (1$) is enough? My Zen V4 is using Cardas binding post and RCA.

Thanks
Francois

[till]

I use gold plated RCA for less 1USD, and for balanced Neutrik XLR. I would make the additional effort to build BZLS instead of BOZ long before spending money for expensive connectors. I grounded the unused input and left the unused output open.