posted on gearslutz.com 14th April 2009, 05:32 PM by Jim williams, Audioupgrades. Copyright belongs to Jim Williams.

Here's the results of the work I did last week on an original version, an 8 bucket model without the relays I saw at Namm. First, the Audio Precision test results: Frequency response; -1 db at 20 hz, -3 db at 55k hz, line input to master mix output. Stereo crosstalk; - 58 db 20~20k hz, a straight line. Noise = -85 db 500 to 20k hz. 60 hz psu noise = -71 db at 60 hz, -80 db at 183 hz. Phase shift; + 38 degreees at 20 hz, -26 degrees at 20k hz. Low end phase shift is non-linear in nature. THD+noise; .1% at 0 dbu, .02% at +20 dbu. THD vs frequency; .2% at 20 hz, .01% at +15 dbu, .04% at 20k hz at +15 dbu. CCIF IMD; .002% at +15 dbu. The first thing I noticed was this mixer is noisy. It actually washes out the THD measurements until one sets the levels very high, +15 to + 20 dbu to get the signal out of the noise floor. The low end sounds thin and doesn't improve with low end boost EQ. The modified input channel doesn't have that problem as I used 220 uf caps to replace the small 22 uf caps. The noise floor is also very low on the modified channel but I didn't get enough bench time to measure it alone. The EQ needed a few fixes to make it wide ranging. C7 and C8 were changed to Wima FKP-2's. C11 and C12, the hi mids I used Wima MKP-3 1500 pf 1k v. Those fit nicely. R96 and R98 are changed to 4.75 k to allow a 20k hz sweep range. C44,45, the low mids were changed to Wima MKP-2 .033 uf. R96, 98 are changed to 3.32 k to allow a 1500~50 hz range. Low EQ is too high into the mids, I used .22 uf Wima MKS-2 for C22,23 to move them down one octave. It now looks symetrical on the AP next to the hf curves. There are no electrolytic power supply bypass caps in these modules. They need to be installed. I used 470 uf Panasonic thin case FM's in place of the ceramic caps C1 and C5. I installed .1 uf mono ceramics on the rear of the pcb. There are no psu buss fusing resistors installed either. Lot's of local .1 uf mono ceramics were installed at several locations on the power rails to ground. One other flaw I found is on the 1510 mic preamp chip. There is a 220 pf cap across the 2 inputs. That was enough with older parts like SSM2017 and BB INA217. The that 1510 tends to be unstable with that so it requires a pair of 470 pf mono ceramics from pin's 2 and 3 to pin 5 =

ground. That fix alone could solve some of the ghosting effects I found. The switches also cut out a bit so they should be watched and replaced if necessary with the original Shadow brands, not the EI switches that are stock. There are 26 22 uf caps that need replacement. I used Panasonic 220 uf 25v FM's with Wima .01 uf MKP-2's on the rear for air. Several opamps needed phase compensation caps, 22 pf's were installed across the feedback resistors on IC6 and 4. That is a lot of coupling caps, further tests may remove some of them if low offset, low bias opamps are used. The PCB was good quality, no flux, thick traces, easy to rework. the RHoS solder is very pasty, I needed to resolder several connections like the mic XLR. When I get a chance to address the master section I can offer more insights. Jim Williams Audio Upgrades

15th April 2009, 04:19 AM All tests except where noted were done on stock channels. The intention was to determine what it was before I messed around with it. What was interesting to me was first the noise floor on the master. I didn't do an unweighted signal to noise test as the time was too short. I did notice the noise floor remained constant whether channels were assigned or not, whether the faders were up or not. The noise did go away when the master fader was attenuated. This I don't notice in other designs including the 80B. My similar sized Delta 200 24 channel console is silent in comparison. The other item was the stereo crosstalk. -58 db as a straight line is unusual. Most consoles show better crosstalk at lower frequencies, falling off at higher frequencies like 10k hz. -60 db crosstalk at 10k hz is common, but most with that spec will show better than -70 db at 1k hz. That requires further study to determine the cause but one is I suspect the pan pot design. This console uses a single pan pot with the wiper as ground and the left/right buss feeds at the other pins. Most consoles use a dual pan pot with each one wired as an attenuator for better channel cut off. My Delta uses that type of pot in the feedback loop of an opamp pan buffer. It gets -90 db at 10k hz crosstalk. Jim Williams Audio Upgrades

9th May 2009, 05:25 PM I don't know of any current limiting opamps, they draw what they are biased to need. A TL071 draws 1.8 ma at idle. It will output around 15~20 ma. Compare to the LM6171. It draws 2.3 ma but outputs over 100 ma, but not at idle current.

As to power supply decoupling, the Toft inputs have a pair of ceramic .1's at the that 1510 mic pre chip, there is another pair of .1 uf mylar box caps toward the end of the EQ chain. More should be added. A pair for each opamp is not too many. Since there are no electrolytic storage caps on these modules, low end will be thin if drawn heavily. This is why I installed a pair of 470 uf caps across the power rails to ground. Other missing components are power supply fusing resistors, usually 10 ohms. Those are used to protect the system if an opamp shorts out without pulling the master supply down with it. It also decouples the modules power from each other helping crosstalk and allows the large el caps to charge up and provide storage currents for large low frequency pulses. Those are time tested techniques used in well designed consoles. Combined with all the 22 uf coupling caps, this console sounds thin in the bass and a bit sloppy as well. The non-linear phase shift accounts for part of that along with psu current limitations. I would expect that to improve vastly with large coupling caps, large local psu storage caps and a more robust PSU. It would be interesting to see a schematic on the mastermix/fader design as I'm at a loss to explain the noise. I've not found a console design with this much noise in over 20 years. It may be acceptable for analog tape without SR, but for digital you will be printing hiss on your master mix. That in itself is suprising after all that is known about analog console design. Jim Williams Audio Upgrades

6th June 2009, 06:24 PM

With further work on another 24 channel model I have some observations. I did get schematics which do help. As to the noise floor, it's caused by the monitor return section of the inputs and the group modules. There is a pan buffer that is permanently assigned to the stereo buss, unlike the input mix section with it's assignment switch. It's IC 10. It has about 14 db of fixed gain on it, multiply that times 24+8 returns and you get severe TL072 chip noise on the stereo buss. Users that don't need the monitor inputs can just pull out IC 10 to remove that noise source. Alternativly, one can rewire the monitor mute switch. It's placed before the noisy opamp. If one uses both sides of that switch, one could rewire it to switch in/out the buss resistors to the stereo buss as is done on the mix switch. That would accomplish the mute function while also removing that noise source from the stereo mix. Another problem I found on the inputs is IC 4. Only 1/2 of it is used, the A side has an unterminated + input pin. That causes the opamp to latch up to the negative rail as there is no bias current return path provided so the opamp is in an unstable mode. The solution is what was done with IC 9. Ground the + input pin to ground and it's stable. It was provided there but missed on IC 4. There is a ground trace 1/2" away from it so just solder a component wire from pin 3 to that ground to fix

that. Adding a pair of 470 pf NPO mono ceramics from pin's 2 and 3 to pin 5 on the mic pre chip are necessary to prevent instabilities and ghosting effects from the mic pre chip. The INA217 didn't have that tendency but the that part does so they are needed. I managed to remove most of the 22 uf coupling caps, I have 3 left minus the mic preamp section. I found an unusual large number of 22 uf caps in the EQ section. All were removed except the output cap. The master section has been redone with National opamps. Many coupling caps also have been removed. Those kept were enlarged to 220 uf for low phase shift. Numerous feedback phase compensation caps were added, those will be needed if any digital option is installed as unterminated opamps with 2~3 mhz bandwidth are antenna's for converter clock leakage. For those just looking to drop the noise floor, removing IC 10 from the inputs is one way, alternativly you can replace that opamp with something quiet like a National LME49720NA. Adding a pair of 22 pf caps across the feedback 8.2 k resistors (R93/R94) will stabilize it. In the group modules it's IC 11. They used 4.75k feedback resistors, about 5~6 db less gain than used on the input modules. Add a pair of 47 pf caps across R89 and R90. The effects returns are ok as they don't use pan buffer opamps, it's passive and quiet. On another note, users should realize that the 5532 stereo buss opamps are stressed by the large number of noise gain sources from such a large number of assigned inputs. 24 or 32 inputs might work ok, but remember, there are many more here. Add 24 or 32 more as the monitor section adds them. Add 8 more from the groups. Add 8 more from the effects returns. You have 64 inputs with the 24 and 80 inputs assigned with the 32 input model. No way can a 5532 opamp with 60 db open loop gain at 10k hz can resolve this cleanly. You run out of loop gain which is why the 5532 stereo buss measures .1% THD at +4 at 1k hz. That opamp can do .0005% THD if applied well. I used the National LME49720NA as it has 80~85 db open loop gain at 10k hz, 20 db cleaner. In construction, they should consider offering a short loaded 8 input model. I'll have more measurements posted next week. Jim Williams Audio Upgrades

12th June 2009, 02:27 AM I just finished testing the 24 channel model on the 'ol Audio Precision here. 10 inputs plus the master section were redone. Here are some modified channels and stereo mix results: Frequency response, line in to stereo mix, -3 db at 70 k hz, -1/2 db at 20 hz Monitor in to stereo mix, - 3 db at 90 k hz, flat at 10 hz. Line in to direct out, -3 db at 125k hz, - .4 db at 10 hz.

Phase shift +1.9 degrees at 20 hz, -17 degrees at 20 khz, monitor in to stereo mix out. Linear in nature. Phase line in to direct out, +9 at 20, -10 degrees at 20k hz. THD .04% at +4 dbu at 1k hz line in to stereo mix out. Down from .1% stock. This is the result of more available opamp open loop gain over the original 5532 opamp. THD monitor in to stereo mix, .003% at + 27 dbu 20 ~20k hz. This shows true THD measured at high levels pushed hard outside the noise floor. It is quite good for 64 inputs assigned. THD, line in to direct out, .002% at 1k hz, CCIF IMD .0006% Noise, - 86.6 dbu at 10 k hz, stereo mix out, 1 channel assigned. Low frequency psu noise has gone well below -110 dbu due to all those large low impedance electrolyic power supply bypass caps I added dropping from -71 dbu at 60 hz stock, almost a 40 db drop. Unweighted s/n ratio, -73.1 dbu left, -74.03 dbu right. Noise, line input to direct out, -103 dbu at 10k hz, unweighted s/n ratio -93 dbu. Drop that another 4 db if the +4dbu reference is used. Line input common mode rejection ratio (CMMR) -50 db, 20 ~20k hz. Stereo crosstalk, -80 db right, -74 db left at 10k hz, up from -58 db stock. -74 db at 100 hz right, -67 db at 100 hz left. An accurate sum of all channels tested divided by the number of channels tested would produce a bell curve of crosstalk as there may be minor variations due to pot wiper contact resistance. Unfortunatly, I don't have that much time to do that. Sonically, it's very open and the low end is deep and tight. The wider frequency response opened up the air on top along with the fast slew rate opamps, some are 3000 v/us. Their high output current and the flat to 10 hz low end sounds big. Distortion improves with levels so it's good right up to clipping, no crapping out. It sounds best with the VU meters pegged. I set the hi mid EQ to sweep to 22k hz, the low mids to 50 hz, that I liked as it's sort of ballsy in the low end. There's still some buss hiss as there's lots of stock monitor inputs and the group inputs feeding the buss, but that should improve if the rest is done. Jim Williams Audio Upgrades

Today, 03:34 AM The mods included that chip, raising the stereo mix bandwidth, adding feedback caps to the inverter stage, removing the coupling caps, installing buss rf rejection, local psu bypass caps and a pair of large psu bypass caps. I also found some THD in the fader amp so that was replaced after auditioning and testing several different devices. The TL072 opamps are also used on the balanced outputs will not drive 600 ohm input devices. There will be a drop of several db in level and a severe increase in distortion. Users should avoid patching into 600 ohm transformer balanced gear via the buss or even direct outputs to avoid that problem. The modified console has no such limits on loading.

I'm close to finishing a modular SSM2017,SSM2019, INA217 and that 1510 drop in to replace those mic preamp chips. It's a hybrid design with discrete low noise transistors and a super fast opamp. It is 1" square. Based on the Audio Upgrades baby mic preamp card, it will drop in and solve the sonic limits those parts have. I was inspired by the constant complaints and arguements over the SSM/that chips and DAV mic preamp that uses those. I don't like the sound of those parts so decided to offer an alternative. If it reaches the specs I want, expect -129.6 db EIN at 150 ohms, .0006% THD, .0002% IMD, 200 k hz bandwidth, 3000 v/us slew rate. I listened to the that 1510 in the Toft and then patched a baby preamp card into the monitor inputs, the difference was staggering. Jim Williams Audio Upgrades