The $5 preamp Urban Legend
"PStamler" wrote in message
On May 31, 8:52 pm, "Arny Krueger"
wrote:
"Mike Rivers" wrote in message
drichard wrote:
I don't have a subscription to Recording. Would it be
possible for you to tell me the focus of the article?
The title "The $5 preamp Urban Legend" doesn't help me
much, other than to tell me it has something to do with
preamps.
In the article, Paul describes the other costs involved
in making a $5 IC into a serviceable box that has a mic
input on one side and a line output on the other -
connectors, box, power supply, pots, switches,
transformers, and other miscellaneous components. It
all comes out to be a bit over $500 as he analyzed it,
and he did his usual excellent job of putting on the
hat of a designer and manufacturer and looking at all
the little things that people who say "it's a simple
construction project" don't talk about.
It's pretty incredible that some people do manage to
build a servicable preamp with all those things;
connectors, box, power supply, switches and other
miscellaneous components for more like $50 than $500.
I'm specifically thinking of the Rolls MP13.
Just about *everybody* can build a fairly servicable
mixer with from 8 to 16 mic inputs for $500.
Well, a *usable* mixer. *Servicable* is the thing it's
not -- and it's not likely to last more than a couple of
years.
I know that some people are afraid of low cost audio products, but those of
us who have to live in that world know that it is not nearly as bad as some
make it out to be.
$500 a channel is a very salty number to beat.
If you want to believe that you have to spend that kind of money to avoid
products that only last a couple of years, well it's your money.
If you want to give that as your final answer on a public forum, then you
may have to contend with a ton of people who know better from practical
experience.
I think my MP13 is about 5 years old and keeps on working, its knock-about
life not withstanding. My SX202 @$125 per channel may have been almost a
decade old when I picked it up on EBay, and that had to be 6-7 years ago.
It still works and it is about as servicable as they come.
There's no doubt that you can pay too little for audio gear, but diminishing
returns is a very strong rule.
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