I recently assembled a Velleman Kit #K8022 remote controlled "passive
preamp" (I love those MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE terms).

It cost me $89 bucks US plus a $3.50 battery and a 12V DC wall wart. It
works as advertised . . . However . . . They use a dual 5K pot for the
volume control.

I'm using it between a McIntosh MX-110 and a Dynaco ST-70. Would a higher
ohm control be advisable (e.g. 100K or more) instead of the 5K?

TIA.

Jon

Jon Yaeger wrote:

I recently assembled a Velleman Kit #K8022 remote controlled "passive
preamp" (I love those MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE terms).

It cost me $89 bucks US plus a $3.50 battery and a 12V DC wall wart. It
works as advertised . . . However . . . They use a dual 5K pot for the
volume control.

I'm using it between a McIntosh MX-110 and a Dynaco ST-70. Would a higher
ohm control be advisable (e.g. 100K or more) instead of the 5K?

TIA.

Jon

What kind out output stage does the Mac have? If it's a cathode follower, then
you've got nothing to worry about. If it's got a high impedance output, you
could always put, say, a 10k resistor in series with the output of the mac,
and the input of the Vellman, and then just crank up the gain on the Mac.

P.S. The C-24 you sold me is still running strong, however I only use it for
vinyl now... after using it more. it seems to suck the life out of CDs for
some reason - they do indeed sound much better with my tube preamp. Oh well,
back to buying tubes

Greetings, Max!

I don't know why the C-24 would "handle" CD vs Phono differently. Maybe it
has something to do with the actual RIAA compensation vs. the line input. A
good spectrum analyzer might shed some light.

Thanks for the tips.

Jon

From: Max Holubitsky
Organization: PWGSC
Newsgroups: rec.audio.tubes
Date: Mon, 29 Dec 2003 09:49:59 -0700
Subject: Velleman Remote Control



Jon Yaeger wrote:

I recently assembled a Velleman Kit #K8022 remote controlled "passive
preamp" (I love those MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE terms).

It cost me $89 bucks US plus a $3.50 battery and a 12V DC wall wart. It
works as advertised . . . However . . . They use a dual 5K pot for the
volume control.

I'm using it between a McIntosh MX-110 and a Dynaco ST-70. Would a higher
ohm control be advisable (e.g. 100K or more) instead of the 5K?

TIA.

Jon

What kind out output stage does the Mac have? If it's a cathode follower, then
you've got nothing to worry about. If it's got a high impedance output, you
could always put, say, a 10k resistor in series with the output of the mac,
and the input of the Vellman, and then just crank up the gain on the Mac.

P.S. The C-24 you sold me is still running strong, however I only use it for
vinyl now... after using it more. it seems to suck the life out of CDs for
some reason - they do indeed sound much better with my tube preamp. Oh well,
back to buying tubes

Hey Jon,

I don't really know what the difference is... but CD's sound lifeless through the
C-24. It could well be that my CD player is somehow overloading the C-24, but the
distortion is subtle, not clearly audible. It could also just be that I prefer the
sound of the tube preamp... it wasn't an inexpensive model, and has a big plastic
encapsulated ALPS volume pot. I don't really mind the way it's set up though, I've
got the C-24 hooked up through the tuner input of my preamp - and it does a great
job doing what I bought it for, which is playing records! The tone controls and
filters are really much more useful with records than CDs.

Happy New Year,

Max


Jon Yaeger wrote:

Greetings, Max!

I don't know why the C-24 would "handle" CD vs Phono differently. Maybe it
has something to do with the actual RIAA compensation vs. the line input. A
good spectrum analyzer might shed some light.

Thanks for the tips.

Jon

From: Max Holubitsky
Organization: PWGSC
Newsgroups: rec.audio.tubes
Date: Mon, 29 Dec 2003 09:49:59 -0700
Subject: Velleman Remote Control



Jon Yaeger wrote:

I recently assembled a Velleman Kit #K8022 remote controlled "passive
preamp" (I love those MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE terms).

It cost me $89 bucks US plus a $3.50 battery and a 12V DC wall wart. It
works as advertised . . . However . . . They use a dual 5K pot for the
volume control.

I'm using it between a McIntosh MX-110 and a Dynaco ST-70. Would a higher
ohm control be advisable (e.g. 100K or more) instead of the 5K?

TIA.

Jon

What kind out output stage does the Mac have? If it's a cathode follower, then
you've got nothing to worry about. If it's got a high impedance output, you
could always put, say, a 10k resistor in series with the output of the mac,
and the input of the Vellman, and then just crank up the gain on the Mac.

P.S. The C-24 you sold me is still running strong, however I only use it for
vinyl now... after using it more. it seems to suck the life out of CDs for
some reason - they do indeed sound much better with my tube preamp. Oh well,
back to buying tubes

Jon Yaeger wrote:

I recently assembled a Velleman Kit #K8022 remote controlled "passive
preamp" (I love those MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE terms).

It cost me $89 bucks US plus a $3.50 battery and a 12V DC wall wart. It
works as advertised . . .

Isn't that VERY expensive for a plastic box and the low-quality parts
used in that unit?

My preamp cost me about $100 in parts, and it includes a metal box, 5
inputs, a tape loop and mute function and a factory made PCB... Pictures
are available he http://stiftsbogtrykkeriet.dk/~mcs/Remote3/

If anybody wants a better value kit just let me know...

I'm using it between a McIntosh MX-110 and a Dynaco ST-70.

Why do you use a seperate unit? I would just put a motorized pot in the
McIntosh.

Would a higher ohm control be advisable (e.g. 100K or more) instead
of the 5K?

I would say 5k is a very low value. 50k or 100k would probably be
better, but the output impedance will increase, so you should use very
short cables.

Best regards,

Mikkel C. Simonsen

Max Holubitsky wrote:

Hey Jon,

I don't really know what the difference is... but CD's sound lifeless through the
C-24. It could well be that my CD player is somehow overloading the C-24, but the
distortion is subtle, not clearly audible. It could also just be that I prefer the
sound of the tube preamp... it wasn't an inexpensive model, and has a big plastic
encapsulated ALPS volume pot. I don't really mind the way it's set up though, I've
got the C-24 hooked up through the tuner input of my preamp - and it does a great
job doing what I bought it for, which is playing records! The tone controls and
filters are really much more useful with records than CDs.



Maybe build an anti-RIAA (Kazaa? :-)) prefilter to pipe the CD audio
thru to feed the
phono preamp? So the CD audio signal looks a bit like a phono cart in a
record player? :-)

Jon Yaeger wrote:

I recently assembled a Velleman Kit #K8022 remote controlled "passive
preamp" (I love those MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE terms).

It cost me $89 bucks US plus a $3.50 battery and a 12V DC wall wart. It
works as advertised . . .

Isn't that VERY expensive for a plastic box and the low-quality parts
used in that unit?

*** Well, maybe. But it costs a lot less than my time and etc. trying to
engineer one! I wanted to understand what is involved in case I wanted to
add one to one of my custom amps. They used a programmed PIC that would
take quite a while to program, even if I understood how to do it myself.

*** Yours looks well crafted. I understand that someone was selling a
remote control kit on R.A.T. - would that be you? If so, do you offer just
the remote control section? Here's a chance to do a dog & pony . . .

*** You note that it's a PREAMP. I assume that you do RIAA as well as a
line amp function. My whole intent was to stay away from SS in the signal
path.



My preamp cost me about $100 in parts, and it includes a metal box, 5
inputs, a tape loop and mute function and a factory made PCB... Pictures
are available he http://stiftsbogtrykkeriet.dk/~mcs/Remote3/

If anybody wants a better value kit just let me know...

I'm using it between a McIntosh MX-110 and a Dynaco ST-70.

Why do you use a seperate unit? I would just put a motorized pot in the
McIntosh.

Would a higher ohm control be advisable (e.g. 100K or more) instead
of the 5K?

I would say 5k is a very low value. 50k or 100k would probably be
better, but the output impedance will increase, so you should use very
short cables.

Best regards,

Mikkel C. Simonsen

Jon Yaeger wrote:

It cost me $89 bucks US plus a $3.50 battery and a 12V DC wall wart. It
works as advertised . . .

Isn't that VERY expensive for a plastic box and the low-quality parts
used in that unit?

*** Well, maybe. But it costs a lot less than my time and etc. trying to
engineer one! I wanted to understand what is involved in case I wanted to
add one to one of my custom amps. They used a programmed PIC that would
take quite a while to program, even if I understood how to do it myself.

*** Yours looks well crafted.

Thanks!

I understand that someone was selling a remote control kit on R.A.T.
- would that be you? If so, do you offer just the remote control section?

Yes, the small board I made some time ago is just a receiver/motor pot
driver. I have made a version that includes a relay driver also (for an
input selector etc.).

Here's a chance to do a dog & pony . . .

Perhaps - but what's a dog & pony? I assume you're not talking about
live animals :-)

*** You note that it's a PREAMP. I assume that you do RIAA as well as a
line amp function. My whole intent was to stay away from SS in the signal
path.

No, I missed the word "passive". It's just as passive as your Velleman
kit. The only things in the signal path are the relays, volume pot and a
1M resistor. I use an external (6SL7+6SN7) RIAA amp. All the chips you
see are just for the control functions. They are a µcontroller, a
keyboard encoder, a shift register to control the relays and a relay
driver chip. I could probably have replaced the first three by one
larger chip, but I chose to use 3 cheap chips instead of one expensive.

Best regards,

Mikkel C. Simonsen

Mike,

A "dog & pony" refers to a dog and pony show (I guess it's an American
idiom) from the country fairs of yesteryear where salesman pitched their
wares.

I'll contact you privately to see if you'd sell me a sample.

Best regards,

Jon

From: "Mikkel C. Simonsen"
Organization: Dantimax
Newsgroups: rec.audio.tubes
Date: Tue, 30 Dec 2003 14:31:20 +0100
Subject: Velleman Remote Control

Jon Yaeger wrote:

It cost me $89 bucks US plus a $3.50 battery and a 12V DC wall wart. It
works as advertised . . .

Isn't that VERY expensive for a plastic box and the low-quality parts
used in that unit?

*** Well, maybe. But it costs a lot less than my time and etc. trying to
engineer one! I wanted to understand what is involved in case I wanted to
add one to one of my custom amps. They used a programmed PIC that would
take quite a while to program, even if I understood how to do it myself.

*** Yours looks well crafted.

Thanks!

I understand that someone was selling a remote control kit on R.A.T.
- would that be you? If so, do you offer just the remote control section?

Yes, the small board I made some time ago is just a receiver/motor pot
driver. I have made a version that includes a relay driver also (for an
input selector etc.).

Here's a chance to do a dog & pony . . .

Perhaps - but what's a dog & pony? I assume you're not talking about
live animals :-)

*** You note that it's a PREAMP. I assume that you do RIAA as well as a
line amp function. My whole intent was to stay away from SS in the signal
path.

No, I missed the word "passive". It's just as passive as your Velleman
kit. The only things in the signal path are the relays, volume pot and a
1M resistor. I use an external (6SL7+6SN7) RIAA amp. All the chips you
see are just for the control functions. They are a µcontroller, a
keyboard encoder, a shift register to control the relays and a relay
driver chip. I could probably have replaced the first three by one
larger chip, but I chose to use 3 cheap chips instead of one expensive.

Best regards,

Mikkel C. Simonsen