Chris Daley's Stereo Coffee Preamp

Status
Not open for further replies.
Could you explain your question a bit better?

Are you aware of the Silonex distortion plot?
There was a lot of discussion about this in my thread LDR Attenuator Impressions. Both Mort and George have had their units tested for harmonic distortion and explained the results.
I don't think the existence of third order harmonic distortion with LDR's needs further discussion.
But since it seems to be such a flash point I just think it needs to be considered in relation to other distortions in audio playback systems.

Yes I quoted the Silonex document a few posts ago. Looking at the circuit they were using to control the LED used for each measurement, each was quite insufficient as I see it

I am confident the actual LDR is virtually blameless with third harmonic ,
or other distortions rather, and this takes a bit of a step or leap of faith, what Silonex measured was inadequate control LED circuitry

Strangely LDR's behave like this - if you use poor circuitry arranged for the control LED, thats how they then sound, If you use very good circuitry they just continue improving. How that transfer occurs remains a mystery.
 
Hi Chris,
For the record I have never listened to one of your units.
I have a DIY Tortuga unit.

I was unaware of the distortion issue until it was brought up in my LDR attenuator impressions thread. I then went and did some comparative listens between my stepped attenuator and the Tortuga unit. There was a difference in sound and I attributed it to the distortion of the LDR.
While this is anectodal evidence, the very worst kind of course, I have found it to be true whenever I have done it, as I have changed things in my system since I first did the comparison.

Yes, I agree with your first paragraph about the distortion point as conversation finisher.

Yes LDR's seem to transfer whatever is inadequate with LED control circuitry to be what you then hear. Finding what they actually need in terms of Control LED circuitry has taken me many years of very patient work.
 
Black Stuart said:
As someone who actually listens to music I couldn't give a rats **** on the technical details. I mod equipment to achieve a more pleasurable experience.
I guess you rely on someone else to get the technical details mostly right, then you just tinker until it pleases your ear. Fine. You are clearly not in a position to take a meaningful part in a technical discussion, which is what is going on here.

The Stereo Coffee - first thing that stands out is the live feeling to the bass - three dimensional. Jaco's bass on Herijo so alive, fibrous, like a shaman dancing through the whole of |Joni's LP. There's absolutely no blackness there just loads of energy and light. I played a Lightnin Hopkins - he was sitting right beside me playingI could go on and on, as others have as well.
A little bit of nonlinear distortion from an LDR can be a wondrous thing.

AndrewGM said:
I've been watching this **** for years in utter and total disbelief. From what I have read they've not even heard Georges's never mind a Tortuga or a Lighternote.
I've not once seen them attack Uriah Daly, his version or claim IP breach like....ever.
So it's quite clear to any intelligent human being there's something else going on here.
The moderators seem to leave it till the last minute to step in too - wonder why that is ?
If Chris Daly is so stupid, unintelligent and has absolutely no idea of what he is talking about then how on earth has he produced such an excellent sounding piece of kit ?
Your "utter and total disbelief" may match mine when I first saw a few years ago the complete nonsense which Chris Daly was writing when he tried to describe his 'creative' approach to circuit design. I could not believe that someone could be so confused and yet expect others to follow or even buy his circuits. You don't need to hear a circuit to know that what is said about it is pure nonsense. He has merely demonstrated that making an LDR volume control is so easy that even someone with little circuit understanding can do it, and then people with even less circuit understanding will buy it.

There is no hidden agenda, merely a desire for people to know the truth: that circuit claims by Chris are mostly pure bunkum. If he made no silly claims there would be nothing for us to criticise.

Chris Daly said:
With DIY Audio threads some see their understanding of Physics instantly shattered by someone else's understanding, and rally to the belief that
You cannot, You Won't and I must stop you, without pausing to see what has been created in the name of DIY ... that slightly different approaches might bring new understanding to what was known before and therefore advance
how electronics, can maybe move forward.
Now you seem to be claiming that your deep confusion about electronics is some sort of more advanced understanding of Physics? Brilliant marketing.

AndrewGM said:
The problem I've got is I don't have the technical knowledge to jump in and kick their little balls back up their bodies.
Hints at violence are not welcome in this forum. We prefer reasoned argument. We note that you like the product. We note that you do not understand the product.

jameshillj said:
Many of the guys who write here haven't listened to any of the ldr volume controls at all and just disagree to the whole idea of the things
Personally I believe that LDR controls are a bad idea, if you want hi-fi; George will confirm that I have argued this point with him in the past. However, that is not the point here: the point is the false circuit claims which Chris makes. I assume they arise from lack of understanding, as he seems to actually believe the nonsense he writes.

Just for the sake of clarity. the essential false claim he makes is that his method of driving the LED somehow improves the sound quality of the LDR. His subsequent arguments in favour of this claim merely exhibit confusion about how electronics works, which suggests that his false claim does not arise from dishonesty.
 
What is the mechanism behind the distortion?

Perhaps you could have a look here:
LDR Attenuator Impressions
Scroll down to Post #288 and have a look at the harmonic distortion plot.
A lot of good discussion followed the posting of this plot.

And you can go to Post #449 for my overall view of LDR volume controls.

I'm not really bothered by that distortion graph. There are many distortions in an audio system. In my view, too many to single out one as the back breaker.
 
AndrewGM said:
You criticise when you've never built nor heard one and of course because you actually don't understand it or explanations given - so it's just plain wrong.
The 'explanations' given are false. By your own admission you are not in a position to make a technical judgement yourself, yet you presume to tell us off for simply pointing out the facts?

Straight away you're having a go at him - ' I can understand why he would be too embarrassed to show this one '

Why say that ?
Because in the past Chris has posted circuits (or parts of circuits) and told us how good they are. They were quite bad circuits, containing elementary errors such as
- diodes which were always forward biased and so did nothing
- diodes which were always reverse biased and so did nothing
- transistors which were wired with the wrong polarity, or wired as 'non-functioning' diodes (see above)
- outputs taken from the input pins of opamps
When all these mistakes were pointed out, instead of thanking us and learning from his mistakes he simply persisted in asserting nonsense.

He's not a bad man, he's not weird and he certainly isn't unintelligent.
I don't think anyone has suggested he is bad. I cannot comment on the other two characteristics as I have never met him. He does seem unusually confident for someone who shows such lack of competence in electronics.

You don't even want to build one of the simple ones based on an Australian design or even a more advanced one from America.
You're just all having a go at New Zealand design that's a bit different because no one including you actually understands it.
Calm down. There is no nationalism going on here, except possibly from you. We criticise the design, as far as we understand it from Chris's descriptions, not because it is from NZ but because it is based on false ideas.

Or...you are all friends of Georges - as as been leveled at some of us who approve of Chris ideas and results.
As I said, I have argued the point of LDR controls with George in the past. The difference between George and Chris is that George understands electronics, but I still would not buy an LDR control from him or anyone else.

Some of us want to learn something, improve our skills and understanding and benefit by enjoying music more.
Learn some electronics. We are happy to help; that is how this forum works.

He's just another argumentative a...hole
Frequent use of rude words merely shows bad manners and a lack of vocabulary, even when some of the letters are omitted. You seem bent on making a technical discussion toxic; why?

Chris Daly said:
The good points I see from it are, distortions in LDR's have IMO very little to do with the actual NSL32SR3 device, rather distortions arise from the way they are implemented.
Repeating a false claim does not make it come true. Unless the LED drive is hopelessly incompetent it cannot affect the LDR; the slow LDR response time guarantees that. You would need an LED drive with large amounts of LF and subsonic noise to damage the sound, and I suspect that no LDR volume control is that bad. Therefore, no LDR control can be better in this respect than others, however fervently someone might wish to believe this.

stvnharr said:
So, how does the distortion of an LDR compare to all this?
Typically, LDR distortion is likely to be worse than a good amp but better than a poor amp. It will be much worse than distortion from almost any DAC, but much better than distortion from almost any speaker.

Chris Daly said:
Ironical but see DF 96 here a few days ago agreeing to the removal of capacitor bypass capacitors as a parallel. Demonstrating the pitfalls of paralleling capacitors
Dragging in something quite irrelevant (bypass capacitors) is a smart move, because your customers will not understand that it is quite irrelevant. It leaves me with a question in my mind: do you do this because of confusion, or is this a deliberate attempt to blow smoke?
 
Chris Daly said:
Yes I quoted the Silonex document a few posts ago. Looking at the circuit they were using to control the LED used for each measurement, each was quite insufficient as I see it

I am confident the actual LDR is virtually blameless with third harmonic ,
or other distortions rather, and this takes a bit of a step or leap of faith, what Silonex measured was inadequate control LED circuitry
OK, so the manufacturer does not understand his own device? I guess this is just about possible. How you shine light on it affects LDR linearity? No. That is your fundamental mistake. Given a really poor light source, you would get light-audio intermodulation, not audio harmonic distortion. Facts. Facts do not take sides, they merely illuminate things.
 
Perhaps you could have a look here:
LDR Attenuator Impressions
Scroll down to Post #288 and have a look at the harmonic distortion plot.
A lot of good discussion followed the posting of this plot.

And you can go to Post #449 for my overall view of LDR volume controls.

I'm not really bothered by that distortion graph. There are many distortions in an audio system. In my view, too many to single out one as the back breaker.
I've not looked into LDRs a great deal in the past. TBH I'm surprised at how much they distort. As you have implied distortion impressions aren't really worth discussing as it's a personal preference. However distortions are cumulative. I can see their use in multichannel attenuators where accuracy isn't paramount.
 
Insults related to technical expertise and / or knowledge are unwelcome.
It's the way the message is delivered that people find unpleasant.
I'm not the only one here who feels this way as it turns out.

Bad manners and personal insults have been littered all over Chris posts since he started developing his products.
' complete nonsense, lack of competence, lack of understanding, pure bunkum, deep confusion '
Would you like that wording leveled at you every time you said something ?

' no nationalism going on here, except possibly from you '
Thats just plain stupid and you know it. It's just playing with words again. You're good at that - I have to hand it to you.

' presume tell us off for - being bad mannered and rude in almost every post '
' A little bit of nonlinear distortion from an LDR can be a wondrous thing ' How do or would you know that ?
You never heard one because the numbers and explanations are a waste of time to you.

' George will confirm that I have argued this point with him in the past '
Did you really ?
Was he able to answer you and contradict your assumptions ?
Did he even dare try ?

Everything about your posts are assumptions based on your far superior knowledge - electronics degree based knowledge no less.
That qualifies you does it - to slap everyone around who hasn't got one or perhaps comes up with a slightly different interpretation of the laws of physics, electronics or ohms law ?

Well there's enough support on here for something a bit different so your message is clearly falling on deaf ears thank goodness.

George claims to have sold over 800 units of these truly awful devices - did they listen to the words of the experts like you or rely on their own ears ?

Hahahahahaa - we know the answer already don't we.

Then add Uriah's plus Chris sales figures and that adds up to a lot of very silly people or placing the very intelligent nay sayers in the minority.

I like that....the perfect two fingered gesture
 
Anyway I'm out if this permanently - no more posts from me.
I've watched and enjoyed the site for years whilst listening to my music rather than participate.
This issue dragged me out of my retirement when I saw what was happening however and I just can't sit and watch it.

I'm glad I've managed to rally some support from some members against the blatant bullying too.
These people now know that not everyone is impressed or entertained by it.
For me that's a real result.

The moderators have kindly allowed me to post the last one and this one but that's it from me - no more.
Even if DF96 has another cheap shot - I'll ignore it.

Goodbye
 
AndrewGM said:
Bad manners and personal insults have been littered all over Chris posts since he started developing his products.
' complete nonsense, lack of competence, lack of understanding, pure bunkum, deep confusion '
Would you like that wording leveled at you every time you said something ?
If I talked nonsense repeatedly I would expect others to put me straight. That is how this forum works, and that is why I find it so useful and educational; I know more about audio now than when I first arrived here some years ago. I listen to criticism, provided it appears to be based on knowledge rather than prejudice or ignorance.

' George will confirm that I have argued this point with him in the past '
Did you really ?
Was he able to answer you and contradict your assumptions ?
Did he even dare try ?
You can find the thread and check for yourself, if you wish to.

Everything about your posts are assumptions based on your far superior knowledge - electronics degree based knowledge no less.
That qualifies you does it - to slap everyone around who hasn't got one or perhaps comes up with a slightly different interpretation of the laws of physics, electronics or ohms law ?
I am puzzled by what sense of logic or social rules it is OK for one person to make technical assertions (which happen to be false) but not OK for another person to make opposite technical assertions (which happen to be true). The fact that one of them is trying to sell something merely adds a minor complicating factor.

In most walks of life it is assumed that relevant education and attainment is helpful; it seems that in audio (for some people) having knowledge is regarded as a serious handicap. I am pleased that dentists and airline pilots are trained to do their job; I take it that you prefer to see unqualified people in these roles?

George claims to have sold over 800 units of these truly awful devices - did they listen to the words of the experts like you or rely on their own ears ?

Hahahahahaa - we know the answer already don't we.

Then add Uriah's plus Chris sales figures and that adds up to a lot of very silly people or placing the very intelligent nay sayers in the minority.

I like that....the perfect two fingered gesture
You seem to have trouble expressing yourself without being rude and vulgar. Maybe that is considered normal public discourse where you live?
 
And those few people you’d have to put a gun to my head to spend an evening with.

Strong words. As it turns out virtually all my audio contacts are bottle heads, I don't think I have a single serious listening friend in the Benchmark/JBL M2 crowd. Sighted vs unsighted becomes irrelevant, after someone adjusts volume and frequency balance to their personal tastes I don't see the point. It didn't really sink in until yesterday how broad a range folks prefer.
 
George claims to have sold over 800 units

Once again my name has been bought into it, so I need to correct the false statement/s.

Thanks for that, you are correct it is false, it's now over 900!!

Lightspeed Attenuator a new passive preamp

It was started as a diy project for all here, not as a stepping stone as this one for monitory gain.
Which I believe needs to be moved to the the Vendor's Bazaar along with the shills for it.

Cheers George
 
Last edited:
Status
Not open for further replies.