SC DSP Musicolour

[David L. Jones]

As mentioned a little while back, the new DSP Musicolour is in the latest
SC.
Plenty of high voltage "Danger, Will Robinson" type warnings as you'd
expect, but no physical barrier by the looks of it. But the construction
notes are next month.
At least the Triacs are the insulated tab type.

Oh, and a valve amplifer review on the front cover.
Of course, they had to start the article with "Some readers may be annoyed
by the sight of a review of a valve amplifier"

Dave.

 

[Don McKenzie]

Oh, and a valve amplifer review on the front cover.
Of course, they had to start the article with "Some readers may be annoyed
by the sight of a review of a valve amplifier"

hmmmm.....
shades of EAT 2001

Mind you, I got a shock when I saw what sales of new valve amplifiers is
today. Didn't realise this industry existed to the extend that it does.
No shortage of enthusiasts.



--
Don McKenzie

Site Map: http://www.dontronics.com/sitemap
E-Mail Contact Page: http://www.dontronics.com/email

Intelligent 2.83" AMOLED with touch screen for micros:
http://www.dontronics-shop.com/product.php?productid=16699

 

[David L. Jones]

hmmmm.....
shades of EAT 2001

Mind you, I got a shock when I saw what sales of new valve amplifiers is
today. Didn't realise this industry existed to the extend that it does.
No shortage of enthusiasts.

Doesn't surprise me. And I've heard the vintage hobby is big too,
hence the long running column in SC.
But the question is, does this stuff belong in Silicon Chip?

Dave.

 

[Trevor Wilson]

Doesn't surprise me. And I've heard the vintage hobby is big too,
hence the long running column in SC.
But the question is, does this stuff belong in Silicon Chip?

**Ultimately, SC must satisfy their advertisers and their readers. If the
readers demand information on a particular product (cheap, but poor value
for money Chinese valve amps) then they need to respond accordingly. They
reviewed the product fairly, IMO. The also, correctly, added that the
product was hardly good value for money and could be comfortably
outperformed by a much cheaper solid state product.

As for the vintage radio stuff, I agree that it is of passing interest to
me, but I have gained some insights by the occasional read.
[Anecdote] One of my mates is a tech and has recently completed a (very
time-consuming) restoration of a black & white TV set. He told me that it
was one of the few remote control (yep, turret tuner and all) sets in
Australia. I've yet to see it, but his last restoration (a 1920s vintage
radio) was astonishingly good.

Whatever floats your boat.

 

[Don McKenzie]

Doesn't surprise me. And I've heard the vintage hobby is big too,
hence the long running column in SC.
But the question is, does this stuff belong in Silicon Chip?
Dave.

Even Leo's intro in big bold red text, indicates he is biased away from
valve designs.

Does it belong in SC?
I couldn't see too may other Australian magazines doing such an in depth
technical appraisal, and have the readers understand it. Unless there
are specific mags aimed at this market, but not having a direct
interest, there may well be.

I haven't played with valves since the late 50's/early 60's. I was glad
to see transistors come along.

Don...


--
Don McKenzie

Site Map: http://www.dontronics.com/sitemap
E-Mail Contact Page: http://www.dontronics.com/email

Intelligent 2.83" AMOLED with touch screen for micros:
http://www.dontronics-shop.com/product.php?productid=16699

 

[Phil Allison]

"Trevor Wilson"

[Anecdote] One of my mates is a tech and has recently completed a (very
time-consuming) restoration of a black & white TV set. He told me that it
was one of the few remote control (yep, turret tuner and all) sets in
Australia.

** That would likely be a mid 60s Kriesler, 23inch console TV set.

The remote control unit was on a long multicore cable and had a small
speaker fitted inside it for personal listening. The functions included
volume, brightness and channel change - up or down.

The turret tuner was driven around by an induction motor plus step down gear
box and it " chugged" between channels - stopping only on the ones you had
pre-set. The TV had independent fine tune knobs for each channel on the
front.

They made thousands of the things in various versions.



...... Phil

 

[Bob Parker]

"Trevor Wilson"

[Anecdote] One of my mates is a tech and has recently completed a (very
time-consuming) restoration of a black & white TV set. He told me that it
was one of the few remote control (yep, turret tuner and all) sets in
Australia.

** That would likely be a mid 60s Kriesler, 23inch console TV set.

The remote control unit was on a long multicore cable and had a small
speaker fitted inside it for personal listening. The functions included
volume, brightness and channel change - up or down.

The turret tuner was driven around by an induction motor plus step down gear
box and it " chugged" between channels - stopping only on the ones you had
pre-set. The TV had independent fine tune knobs for each channel on the
front.

They made thousands of the things in various versions.



..... Phil

I remember those fairly well. Very advanced technology for its time.

 

[David L. Jones]

Even Leo's intro in big bold red text, indicates he is biased away from
valve designs.

Then he must have a lot of readers (or the reader surveys) tell him
people want this stuff, if he is doing it, as it appears, somewhat
"against his will".

I'd love to see the results of the last reader survey conducted.

Does it belong in SC?
I couldn't see too may other Australian magazines doing such an in depth
technical appraisal, and have the readers understand it.

I agree. Doesn't mean it belongs though!

Unless there
are specific mags aimed at this market, but not having a direct
interest, there may well be.

I've always been of the opinion that all these type of reviews and
vintage radio stuff don't really belong in SC, but that's just me. But
if it keeps SC afloat, then so be it I guess.

Perhaps I should have done a valve MP3 player watch project? :->

Dave.

 

[Phil Allison]

"Trevor Wilson"

**Ultimately, SC must satisfy their advertisers and their readers. If the
readers demand information on a particular product (cheap, but poor value
for money Chinese valve amps) then they need to respond accordingly. They
reviewed the product fairly, IMO.
The also, correctly, added that the product was hardly good value for
money and could be comfortably outperformed by a much cheaper solid state
product.

** Kindly point me to those words in the article.


BTW 1: The amp tested showed around 1% THD as full power was approached -
which is very poor - as was the *pathetic* damping factor figure of 1.68.

Even valve amps made in the 1950s ( Quad, Leak etc) boasted 0.1 % THD and
DFs of 10 or 20.

The design of this Chinese example must be VERY primitive.

BTW 2: The graph on page 77 for 4 ohm load ( THD v. Watts ) is plain wrong.

BTW 3: I bet it does use toroidal mains and output transformers, tall ones
do exist.




...... Phil

 

[Phil Allison]

"David L. Jones"

As mentioned a little while back, the new DSP Musicolour is in the latest
SC.

** Hmmm - it is now just on twenty years since SC published a 240 volt
musicolour design.

Took them a while to get over the furore generated by their last one
.........

Plenty of high voltage "Danger, Will Robinson" type warnings as you'd
expect, but no physical barrier by the looks of it. But the construction
notes are next month.
At least the Triacs are the insulated tab type.

** In the "Main Features " blurb it says:

" * Four phase-controlled output channels...

* Zero voltage switching of Triacs for minimum RF interference. "


Anyone see a *problem* with these two claims ???




........ Phil

 

[David L. Jones]

"David L. Jones"


** In the "Main Features " blurb it says:

" * Four phase-controlled output channels...

* Zero voltage switching of Triacs for minimum RF interference. "


Anyone see a *problem* with these two claims ???

Anyone want to play spot the glaring error in the USB power injector
project?

Dave.

 

[Don McKenzie]

Anyone want to play spot the glaring error in the USB power injector
project?
Dave.

Is there a prize Dave?

The one obvious item I noticed was the box cover print shows 9V AC/DC
Input, and the schematic appears to allow for 6VDC. This has a single
diode apparently for polarity protection only, not full wave rectification.

That is as far as I went, as I had just got a Logitech 4 port USB
powered hub ([email protected] output) for $28 from K-Mart.

msy.com.au have 4 port powered hubs listed at $8, but then, I get to
wait in a line for 40 minutes.

So unless it was for the experience of building the kit, I don't see it
as being a practical project for myself, or too many others.

BTW
The Maxtor Onetouch (pictured) must be a monster with power. I think
it's a Seagate.

I have many external 2.5" USB drives, and it's the only one that seems
to need a powered hub to kick it off. Got the usual 2 connectors, but
won't run up to speed with a non-powered hub, and I believe this could
be why this project was designed.

As soon as I saw the drive picture in the article, I thought some other
poor bugger got stuck with one of those. I run mine from a $9.95 Ritmo
AC to USB power adapter KT-22A ouput 5V@1A, and it runs fine.

Sort of defeats the purpose of having a nice little 2.5" drive to pop in
your pocket, or notebook bag.

Don...



--
Don McKenzie

Site Map: http://www.dontronics.com/sitemap
E-Mail Contact Page: http://www.dontronics.com/email

Intelligent 2.83" AMOLED with touch screen for micros:
http://www.dontronics-shop.com/product.php?productid=16699

 

[David L. Jones]

Is there a prize Dave?

Perhaps Leo will offer a free subscription?

The one obvious item I noticed was the box cover print shows 9V AC/DC
Input, and the schematic appears to allow for 6VDC. This has a single
diode apparently for polarity protection only, not full wave rectification.

That ain't it, but nice guess, thanks for playing.
You are welcome to try again.

Can anyone else beat Don to the punch?

Dave.

 

[Bob Parker]

Is there a prize Dave?

The one obvious item I noticed was the box cover print shows 9V AC/DC
Input, and the schematic appears to allow for 6VDC. This has a single
diode apparently for polarity protection only, not full wave rectification.

That is as far as I went, as I had just got a Logitech 4 port USB
powered hub ([email protected] output) for $28 from K-Mart.

msy.com.au have 4 port powered hubs listed at $8, but then, I get to
wait in a line for 40 minutes.

So unless it was for the experience of building the kit, I don't see it
as being a practical project for myself, or too many others.

BTW
The Maxtor Onetouch (pictured) must be a monster with power. I think
it's a Seagate.

I have many external 2.5" USB drives, and it's the only one that seems
to need a powered hub to kick it off. Got the usual 2 connectors, but
won't run up to speed with a non-powered hub, and I believe this could
be why this project was designed.

As soon as I saw the drive picture in the article, I thought some other
poor bugger got stuck with one of those. I run mine from a $9.95 Ritmo
AC to USB power adapter KT-22A ouput 5V@1A, and it runs fine.

Sort of defeats the purpose of having a nice little 2.5" drive to pop in
your pocket, or notebook bag.

Don...

Seagate and Maxtor are the same thing these days. Recently I was
looking into buying an external 500GB drive but then I looked at user
reviews.
The number of people having 3.5" external drives of all brands
either fail without warning after a few weeks/months or fail when they
bumped them and they fell over put me right off so I bought an internal
Seagate unit and installed it in my PC case without any problems.
I've got a 2.5" 80GB external Seagate FreeAgent drive whose cable
has two USB plugs to allow it to get up to 1A from a pair of ports which
is reasonably convenient.


Bob

 

[Don McKenzie]

The number of people having 3.5" external drives of all brands
either fail without warning after a few weeks/months or fail when they
bumped them and they fell over put me right off so I bought an internal
Seagate unit and installed it in my PC case without any problems.
I've got a 2.5" 80GB external Seagate FreeAgent drive whose cable
has two USB plugs to allow it to get up to 1A from a pair of ports which
is reasonably convenient.
Bob

I have been paranoid about backups since my wife unplugged the power to
the TRS-80 in March 1978, after I had invested about 8 hours into a
program. She only wanted to plug in a double adapter, so she could get a
bit of ironing done I failed to write a copy to audio tape before
the damage was done.

In the XT days, (early 80's) I had an external 20Mb drive hanging
outside the case, and alternated backups to another spare 20Mb drive
every day. That is, a 3 drive system, which I have used ever since.

I then graduated to plug in caddies, the ones with the blue Centronics
type connectors, but they proved very troublesome, as the connectors
kept failing. Each time they did, I purchased another.

When USB V2 came along, it was fast enough to use for my dual backup
system, however I have lost many external drives in the process, so I
have to agree with you Bob, regarding external 3.5" drives.

Seeing the 2.5" more robust, notebook drives dropping in price, and
increasing in capacity, made me think about them as a new potential
backup system.

But the first drive I tried was a Maxtor, and I found that it really
takes some grunt in the 5V department to fire up.

Am now trying an nice little LACIE which so far has been humming away
nicely, usually on one USB port.

Don...



--
Don McKenzie

Site Map: http://www.dontronics.com/sitemap
E-Mail Contact Page: http://www.dontronics.com/email

Intelligent 2.83" AMOLED with touch screen for micros:
http://www.dontronics-shop.com/product.php?productid=16699

 

[Mr.T]

Anyone want to play spot the glaring error in the USB power injector
project?

You mean apart from the fact that it's cheaper and easier to just buy a
powered USB hub?

MrT.

 

[David L. Jones]

You mean apart from the fact that it's cheaper and easier to just buy a
powered USB hub?

Yep, apart from that, an error in the design.

Dave.

 

[David L. Jones]

You mean apart from the fact that it's cheaper and easier to just buy a
powered USB hub?

Another recent project that falls under that category is the dsPIC
programmer.
You can buy a genuine Microchip PICkit2 programmer for under $40, and
it supports all the PIC ranges, including the dsPIC. And if you need
the ZIF socket (who needs to with ICSP?) simply wire one up.
Add to that it's USB powered, can even power your (low power) project,
can double as a 3 channel 1MS/s logic analyser, and integrates into
MPLAB
Makes the SC project look very silly indeed. The space would have been
better served reviewing the PICkit2

Dave.

 

[Andy Wood]

.. . .

That ain't it, but nice guess, thanks for playing.
You are welcome to try again.

Can anyone else beat Don to the punch?

To have any chance in this game I would have to rush out and buy the
latest SC.

Just how much is Leo paying you?


Andy Wood
[email protected]

 

[Phil Allison]

"Andy Wood"

"David L. Jones"

To have any chance in this game I would have to rush out and buy the
latest SC.

Just how much is Leo paying you?

** LOL !!

I have put a scan of the schematic on ABSE for you.


..... Phil