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Audio Testing of new SC-1 Solo prototype.... SUCCESS!!!
DIY DC-DC Converter PSU working!
New PCB for SC-1 Solo Mic Pre Kit + DC-DC Converter PSU
SC-1 Solo Preamp (Prototype) powered by 12VDC wall wart (or battery)
DC to DC Switching PSU (12Volts to +/- 18V & 48V)

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SC-1mk2 and SC-1mk500 Mic Preamp Kits



SC-1mk2 Preamp Kit  SC-1mk500 Lunchbox Preamp Kit 
 Thursday, June 05, 2008
Thursday, June 05, 2008 11:11:54 PM (Central Daylight Time, UTC-05:00) ( )



Finally finished wiring the preamp to XLR jacks. Connected to my RP8 active monitor, hooked up a 150-ohm terminated XLR at the inputs to simulate a mic connected, then crank up the gain and volume to max.... and listened....

No hum, no RF buzz... even at 72dB gain setting, and even though it's running and powered by a DC-DC converter PSU and wall wart. Smile

As you can see from the photo, the XLR jacks are right beside the DC-DC converter PSU, and the wires are LAID ON TOP of it!

I am so pleased and happy with this... I can now breathe easily. Oh this is going to be great!!!!

Connected the SC-1 Solo prototype to Channel 1 of my MOTU 828mk2, set the SC-1 Mic Pre gain to 72db max, volume to max, input XLR terminated with 150-ohm (to simulate a mic) and recorded the resulting audio in DP 5.

LISTEN TO THE AUDIO SAMPLE
http://www.fivefishstudios.com/audio/SC1Solo-NoiseTest.mp3

Okay... that noise you're hearing is with the preamp set to 72dB gain.. 72!!!! And volume at max. This is not "hiss" recorded with shorted inputs, or minimum gain...

And to make it even more mind-boggling... all this powered from a WallWart PSU... and a DC-DC converter.

And to visualize what you're hearing...





I am personally amazed. Smile


UPDATE: The spike you see up is most probably 15.734 Khz.... i.e. TV Horizontal Scan Frequency interference. (I do have a 20" TV a few feet away, yeah the old CRT kind of TV).


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 Wednesday, June 04, 2008
Wednesday, June 04, 2008 11:08:43 PM (Central Daylight Time, UTC-05:00) ( )


Oh yea!!! working sweet.

A few misadventures while building it... was in too much of a hurry... I inserted a diode backwards in the 48V section, which effectively shorted the thing... the IC chip and board got a little warm... but no damage.

Desoldered it, and put in a new one, (made sure to install it properly) and now the 48V section works perfectly!

Found a little error in my header jumper... my original intention was using a jumper to activate or deactivate the 48V section (in case the user doesn't need it, will also conserve battery power)... but I miswired it so now the 48V section is always available and it's the split psu section that can be disabled or enabled... dumb backwards! I'll fix this on the next PCB revision.

Connected the 12VDC wall wart... measured 27Volts on the 48V section, adjust the onboard trimmer for 48.05 Volts... and now we have a working +/- voltage rails plus 48Volts output.

But yea, everything is working great. See the little LED lit up? It's a sign that the future looks bright.

I just need to continue to populate the board and complete the testing.

UPDATE:



Finally finished building the first SC-1 Solo prototype using the latest PCB design, and latest DC-DC Converter PSU design.

I haven't passed audio through it yet, but I did some power up testing, measuring voltages, etc... everything looks perfect!

I need to get some sleep. Will do audio testing later.



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 Thursday, May 22, 2008
Thursday, May 22, 2008 11:04:38 PM (Central Daylight Time, UTC-05:00) ( )
So I'm getting ready to send out the new DC-DC prototype... and with the new PCB size, it will fit the smaller case that I wanted to use in the first place.

I created a combined PCB of the SC-1 and this new DC-DC PSU... The whole PCB is sized so it fits perfectly inside the case, and just needs to slide right in. So we'll see how it goes.



I did a little Photoshop trickery to make it look a little realistic... it's not perfect, but good enough.

I'm trying to minimize wiring work, because this is the most tedious of all jobs. So the only wiring work that needs to be done here is for the input and output xlr and the LED power ON indicator.

Alrighty... ordered some 10pcs of prototype PCBs from the factory. Should be here in a week.

These prototype PCBs alone costs $18.60 each. I hope I didn't make a mistake on these board layouts otherwise, that's wasted money.

We'll build 4 prototypes and if they all work, and no bugs... we're going into production very soon... maybe the final production PCB will be ready by end of June. I still need to figure out what to do with the case (finishing)... maybe use a silkscreen to label the front panel. I'll have to outsource that to a factory.

If this gets launched in June, it will also mark the 1st anniversary of FiveFish Studios. We launched the SC-1 kit about the same time last year.

The SC-1 Solo will not be sold as a kit but as a finished product, complete with case, wall wart, etc.






Yes!... it is RED. and it looks great.

So far, this is the biggest sized PCB I've ever ordered. Hope to populate this board and test it ASAP. I can't wait.


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 Wednesday, April 02, 2008
Wednesday, April 02, 2008 7:22:20 PM (Central Standard Time, UTC-06:00) (  |  |  |  )
I'm making CAD measurements of trying to fit an SC-1 preamp plus a Mini-IO module in my extruded aluminum "brick case"... hmmm.. its a tight fit, the TRS jack is almost hitting the top of the case, and the soldered terminals touching the blue trim potentiometer of the SC-1.

I'm concerned about the terminals touching the blue potentiometer. It's plastic so it's non conductive so maybe it's not even an issue. If the case has an extra 0.1" height, it would have been fine. But given this TRS jack is the hi-Z input, I'm afraid it might have side effects.

For sure a VU-meter will fit inside without problems.

Unless I can find a slightly taller case, the SC-1 Solo will probably consist of the SC-1 and a VU meter, plus the PSU board. (at least, for this 1st prototype I'm making.)

My eventual goal is to find a case that will be tall enough to fit an SC-1 plus the IO-module (with input/output transformers)/Mini-IO, and maybe even the VU meter. Now, that would be some hot SC-1 Solo product!

Okay...did the CAD drawings, created the CNC programming then tested it on some .125" scrap aluminum. Looks good.

Loaded the "real" panel and let the program run... X fingers!

Yes... everything fits like a glove! No more manual drilling with a drill press or filing around to make everything fit.

Of course, it takes hours of prep work on the CAD/CAM, testing and final setup... and only about 3 minutes of actual CNC time on the router. Shocked

Some photos:





Did the rear panel CAD/CAM/CNC today... I goofed up making measurements on where the DCJack holes should be... so had to do some fudging with a manual file. It's okay... this is just a prototype. But I fixed the CAD drawings to reflect the proper dimensions.

Some photos:

The DC-DC Power Supply installed on the rear panel.


XLR jacks installed


I do have one concern here and that is... with the XLR jacks so near to the DC-DC PSU, will it affect the preamp's performance? From my limited bench testing, it doesn't seem to be... but the proof is in the pudding... so we'll see how this prototype performs.

I have seen one preamp though (and I'm not naming names) and they have a DC-DC PSU, and a microprocessor, and it's associated crystal clock, and 2 preamps crammed into one small case.

By comparsion, what I have is "roomy" compared to what's inside this other preamp.

And finally... a preview of things to come. Rear View of the SC-1 Solo case.


Arghhh... those XLR bolts are too shiny! Will have to replace them in the final prototype with stainless steel bolts to cut down the bling factor.

I'm also using a flat head stainless steel screws to attach the plate to the main case... but I can't properly chamfer the hole openings because the plate is only .036". If it was thicker, I can get away with it. So the (4) corner screws will have to be replaced with pan head screws (also stainless steel)

All these "minor" fixes will be done as the very last step.



SC-1 Solo Preamp

Features:
- Low-Noise, transformerless, High-Quality Mic Preamp
- All solid-state design, using chipsets from THAT Corp and Burr-Brown
- Soft-start, slow ramp-on +48V phantom power
- Crystal clear Red LED indicator for phantom power
- Electronically balanced input and output stages
- 12-position Grayhill gain selector switch
- Gain range from +6 to +72dB, in 6dB increments
- Input RFI protection
- Input clamping protection
- Output surge protection circuit
- Output RFI protection
- Powered by a linear, regulated 18-0-18 Volts supply, with +48VDC for clean power delivery
- Reduced clicking and popping when changing gains
- High quality Bourns, sealed, conductive plastic potentiometer for volume control
- High quality C&K PCB Mounted switch
- Gold-plated, machined, low-profile IC sockets
- Use of high quality 1% Metal Film resistors, and high-quality ceramic and electrolytic capacitors
- With 5-LED VU Meter
- Neutrik XLR input and output jacks
- Powered by 12VDC wall wart 




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 Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Wednesday, March 26, 2008 6:31:57 AM (Central Standard Time, UTC-06:00) (  |  |  )
It's done :)  My switching DC-to-DC PSU.

I've been working on this design on and off since October 2007. Several prototypes later, and many $$$, I'm happy with it.  All output voltages are regulated and adjustable via multiturn trimmers, +18, -18 and it's a true +48V phantom power... all derived from a single 12Volt input.  Outputs are short circuit protected. Just a big spark, but keeps on ticking. Nothing gets blown. 


http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2322/2365867488_5f14133bbd.jpg

Powering my preamp and my I/O module (input and output trafo, pad, polarity) with Active DI, via 12V wall wart. No hashing sound, no RF leak, no noise. (Well, okay... when you're at 66-72dB gain... but could be caused by everything not in a metal enclosure.)


http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3068/2352224005_5dc492842c.jpg


Output on all 3 rails are typical like below:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2376/2365001131_8b2c1a26ac.jpg

Switching spikes on the DC output of about 0.06Vpeak-to-peak, and interval of 33.333Khz. I can set switching freq. to about 60Khz but the spikes get larger.

So I compromised for smaller spikes at a lower switching frequency... i.e. smaller spike/transients, less RFI energy emitted, less chance that it will interfere with sensitive mic pre circuitry.

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