View Full Version : Stereo Coffee LDR nightmare
I wanted to share my experience of trying, and failing miserably to buy a Stereo Coffee LDR volume control.
I contacted Chris in April last year, and sent him the money shortly afterwards for a balance LDR volume with input & output switching. I paid about £100 for the parts required to do this.
It arrived, it did not switch outputs at all and the documentation was indecipherable. I eventually worked out the circuit for myself and got the thing working. Performance was poor, left & right channels weren't matched in terms of gain, and there was distortion introduced into the signal at either end of the potentiometer.
I companied about these matters, and lots of emails were sent back and forth but each time I chased it up nothing seemed to be happening.
After chasing it up 3 times and nearly 18 months passing, I threatened Chris with discussing it on an open forum. Lo and behold not too long after this I get a package in the mail.
Inside the box is not what we discussed, and I have given up hope of getting this product working. I am sick to death of communicating with this Chris, who does not seem to understand grammar or punctuation. He also seem unable to use the search function on his email as every time I chased up his non-action he would ask me which product i ordered and what the problem was.
He does not seem to be aware of what he sent to me, and at one point said that he definitely would not have sent the parts which were visible in a photo I had to send to him as a reminder of what I bought!
I have now asked for a full refund and will be sending everything back in the box it arrived in. Overall a real time waster so please avoid, he has put my preamp build behind by almost 2 years and I am still no closer to an attenuation solution.
I'm sorry to hear about your experience. But i would like to add mine dealing with Chris and it was exactly the opposite you describe. I wonder what went wrong ? Hope you get it sorted ASAP.
Greetings
Ru
What went wrong?
He didn't give me what I paid for, despite being given many chances to do it.
I don't understand it either, in fact I am baffled. We had email discussions and at one point he even sent me a picture of the optocoupler output switcher, However, what has arrived just isn't what we discussed. There are no optocouplers in it for a start.
Light Dependant Resistor
18-11-2015, 15:07
Hi Thom
You have asked me for a way of switching 2 balanced outputs, for those unfamiliar with this it is hot + cold and hot+ cold
I originally provided you with sufficient LDR's and have worked patiently with you and remain so.
I posted you 4 x new control board and a requested spare LDR board,
When connected will provide ability to have current arriving at LDR boards suitable for powering 12v+ to one board set then switching
that pair off with a supplied switch to the other two using the switch as a double pole. So ability to switch balanced power amps has been solved
Your request was to switch between power amps, I am now surprised you actually require more LDR's
I have replied to your email and offered to wire this for you to a functional state, which using the matched LDRs I originally provided will work
exceptionally well, and then return to you.
Cheers / Chris
+1 I found dealing with Chris a real pleasure
I'm sorry to hear about your experience. But i would like to add mine dealing with Chris and it was exactly the opposite you describe. I wonder what went wrong ? Hope you get it sorted ASAP.
Greetings
Ru
Please don't act surprised in public. I have posted this here after 18 months of trying to work this out with you.
You never gave me what I asked for, despite countless emails I still don't have what I want.
If it is as exceptional a piece of equipment as you say it is, you won't mind me returning it to you for a refund.
Please confirm on this open forum that you will accept the return, showing a good customer service attitude to your future customers, so that this conversation can end.
Would you like me to dig back through Gmail and find my original email to you which shows my order with exactly the same requirements as I have been chasing for the past 18 months? Or would you prefer to argue and say that I have changed my requirements after the fact.
You are now acting surprised that I "actually require more LDRs", when I ordered from you because you were offering an LDR output switcher. You sent me a description and a photo of an LDR output switcher, but then mailed out something which looks nothing like anything we have discussed.
I will tear you to pieces on here, your paper trail is appalling and very revealing.
"I originally provided you with sufficient LDR's and have worked patiently with you and remain so."
You did not provide me with sufficient LDRs, otherwise why would we be having correspondence 18 months after I paid you?
The patience has been in the other direction. I paid you immediately upon placing the order, end of your need for patience. I am still waiting, patiently until today, for you to give me what I paid for. So I have worked patiently with you, not the other way round, until today when I have run out of patience.
Attached is a screen grab of you repeating back to me my exact requirements (in italics) on 18/04/2014 so please do not try and tell me that I am an unusual and unreasonable customer who has changed requirements after placing the order.
15711
So to sum this up:
1. I told you what I wanted clearly and unambiguously, and then paid your asking price.
2. You told me it was no problem.
3. You have failed to give it to me after 18 months.
4. You are arguing that you have done nothing wrong.
+1 I found dealing with Chris a real pleasure
+2 I too have never had any problem with Chris, he has always been very helpful to me and supplied exactly what I requested first time round.
One doesn't glean anything about the quality of an individual when things are going well, it becomes apparent when things aren't going well so all of your +1s for having no problems don't serve as the character reference you think they do.
Chris has not dealt with this difficulty at all well, as can be seen from his argumentative response. His email to me was similarly phrased, denying that he has failed to give me what he promised.
When I get an email from Paypal stating that I have been sent $160NZD I will post here as such to exonerate him.
15712
Here is another email from Chris, received 2 months ago.
In this email he tells me all about the very same LDRs which today he is telling us were not part of his design brief.
I can only assume that the information in this email was a lie as it was a further 2 months before anything was mailed out, and the items mailed were not what we discussed in that email or any of the previous emails.
Come on Chris, you've had over an hour to agree to that refund.
Or would you like me to continue?
Maybe I could remind you of the photo you sent of 'my' optocoupler board, along with a photo of what arrived today. The two should be the same but they are nothing alike.
awkwardbydesign
18-11-2015, 16:36
This is sad. I hope it all gets sorted out without further upset. I might add that I have dealt with Chris for several years (AD 825 opamps on adaptors, before he made the LDR attenuators) and have never had any problems.
.
Chris is in a different time zone so give him a chance to review the situation and come back.
Thanks
Yeh me too. I was looking forward to finally building my pre this weekend, after enough discussion to plan the D-Day landings. Have resisted temptation to make this public for well over a year, but this morning's package was the last straw as it just didn't contain what we had agreed it would despite what Chris says. in his response above.
Will give him another half an hour before posting the email from him agreeing to send me replacement control boards for the existing attenuator along with new PCBs suitable for accepting trim pots.
If his LDRs are so well matched as stated in his response, why did he revise the PCB with trim pots and offer them to me as an essential (and free of charge) upgrade?
I got neither the replacement control boards or the trim pot PCBs. What I do have will probably switch outputs but it doesn't use LDRs and that was the whole point of buying from Chris. Incidentally, his wiring diagram does not include any mention of an input, only 12v, GND and output. The boards only have 3 terminals on them and the input requires a fourth terminal so it's not obvious at all what these PCBs are doing.
Chris is in a different time zone so give him a chance to review the situation and come back.
Thanks
Chris is up and about, he has already replied to my email and this thread, although that may have been last thing at night if he was up very late.
Attached is an email from 6 months ago, where I am shown a photo of an almost completed board along with a description of it's function.
I did not get this board today, I got something totally different that does not have any LDRs in the circuit.
1571315714
You have to understand that I have a mountain of correspondence from this guy, far more than is required to give me what I want. I have sent several messages to chivvy things along during the past year, each one resulting in a small flurry of activity followed by radio silence.
I only kept going with it because I had already paid upfront. It has been an uphill struggle, and to receive an email today saying that he doesn't understand what the problem is was the icing on the cake and now it's public. He has yet to acknowledge that he failed to provide what I paid for, and so far has not responded to my request for a refund, choosing instead to patronise my soldering skills by offering to build it up and return it.
It's not an LDR channel switcher so I don't want it. I would much prefer my $160 back so that I can spend a weekend drawing what I need on Eagle CAD and then order the correct boards. Would have done this initially but Chris offered the solution on a plate and I'm not one to reinvent the wheel unnecessarily.
awkwardbydesign
18-11-2015, 17:25
Incidentally, his wiring diagram does not include any mention of an input, only 12v, GND and output. The boards only have 3 terminals on them and the input requires a fourth terminal so it's not obvious at all what these PCBs are doing.
This has made me curious. My (fairly standard) LDR pre uses one control board, which does indeed have only 3 terminals; 12v, GND and pot wiper. Which controls the voltage to the LEDs in the LDRs. Audio signal goes nowhere near the control boards. I would be interested to see what yours is like, as he does upgrade them.
http://i1134.photobucket.com/albums/m604/awkwardbydesign/Mobile%20Uploads/20151118_170228_zpscclmbvtl.jpg
It must be admitted, Chris's circuit diagrams are a little basic, but I got mine working OK. At the moment it's on the bench having a remote control fitted to it, but that's another (frustrating) story!
As for balance trimpots, it might have been me who first raised the idea, as my room is unbalanced. I added a simple overall balance control to mine, but Chris felt individual trims would be good; I can't be bothered to change boards though.
It sounds as though there is confusion as to how the control works, but I am sure there are people here who could help. The customer service matter is something else, of course.
Documentation is appalling, grammar and punctuation non-existent. Circuit diagrams make little sense, I got the attenuator working by a mixture of enlarging photos, and trial & error.
Chris has sent me 4 of those control boards pictured above, but they are stuffed differently, supposedly for switching a balanced input to two balanced outputs. Quite how I connect 4 inputs and 8 outputs to a set of boards which has only 12 terminals, 8 of which are for power and not audio, is beyond me!
There is no misunderstanding about what I have been sent. It's just a shock to receive this after all our discussions.
The Black Adder
18-11-2015, 17:55
So, Thommy, Chris.
Something has obviously gone wrong here so it would be good if you guys can use this thread to work towards an amicable solution for this.
Thanks
Jo
Yeh that's kind of the idea of my post. Hope it works out that way. It was soon after I suggested the possibility of discussing the matter in an open forum that Chris sent the items my way. I have seen other problems resolved on the forum this way, so it wasn't meant to be a threat so much as a concerted effort to get things straight after what was becoming an unreasonable amount of time.
I think it's a case of him not realising my requirements at the time of ordering, and under-quoting me as a result. This has possibly made him reluctant to tackle the modifications as there is no reward, doing it only when my reminders and his spare time coincided.
Because of this, a while ago I sent a message suggesting that I would be happy to pay something extra for the costs involved in delivering the last bits of functionality as the board he built and photographed for me looked like it cost a bit to populate. Chris did not take me up on this offer, very kind of him, but I would have preferred he took another $50 and got on with it.
What is most confusing is that I have been sent photos of my product that matched the brief and the discussions. What arrived today does not. Hopefully there has been a confusion with packing the box and I got the wrong parts, however the included note with the boards relates to both the required functionality and the included PCBs.
They each contain 5 transistors and a stereo opamp but no LDRs, yet are supposed to be a balanced LDR dual output switch.
Light Dependant Resistor
18-11-2015, 18:23
Hi Thom
Here is a diagram of how 4 control boards deliver current to 1 board set and then the other
15718
My original customer record shows I sent you
Kit comprising 2x control board,
2x prepared Ldr board 8x pairs of matched LDR
2x switch 1 x dual 100k pot
2x single 500k
So sufficient very well matched LDR's , this was before the implementation of trims on boards
I would not sleep if I had a dissatisfied customer.
Please send what I have sent to you back here, I will assemble for you in casework with power supply and front panel switch
and return to you.
Cheers / Chris
Hi Chris,
These 4 control boards you sent are connecting to what, the 2x LDR boards I already have? The ones which are already filled up with connections from my sources?
What about the board you photographed and described with the h11f1m optocouplers? Why is that not here?
The only way I can see this working is if I have a further pair of LDR boards like the ones I already have, and another 12 LDRs.
Why did you send me one spare LDR board identical to the old ones I have when I actually need two updated boards which take trimmers?
Please explain because this is looking more and more like an utter waste of time.
I can see that you are a very kind man, and I don’t think for one minute that you have tried to mislead me or bugger me around. I am not trying to threaten your business or humiliate you but the bottom line is that I just don’t have what I asked for and I really want to finish my hifi, it’s been two years.
I don’t need you to build anything, I just want to connect a couple of sources, switch them, control their volume, send the output through the buffer, and then SWITCH THAT OUTPUT BETWEEN TWO AMPS.
Your diagram shows that I still don’t have the hardware to do the last bit, regardless of what you are telling me.
Light Dependant Resistor
18-11-2015, 19:07
Hi Thom
Please take me up on either sending what I have sent back here so I can fully wire
or to provide fully assembled in casework.
The anodes of the LDR's are in the case of the simple diagram receiving current from
control boards, not source audio signal.
The diagram omits the potentiometer, and two discrete dual channel pots
are required, although can be done with one - given current is not on the
two boards that are turned off. Two dual gang pots are recommended.
I will provide a diagram showing the pots, shortly.
Cheers / Chris
This is not what we discussed and I would like my money back please, this is the third time I have asked you. I don't want your casework, I'm building a complete hifi from scratch out of hardwood and aluminium.
Can I suggest that I post your boards to a third party, and you send my money to the same third party.
You are discussing potentiometers, when I have already sent you a link to the digital pot I am using for volume control and a description of the SPDT relay I am using to switch the amps.
This fails to meet that brief and I have now officially run out of patience with you. I will just build it myself on a nice gold PCB from OSHPark.
awkwardbydesign
18-11-2015, 19:39
You are discussing potentiometers, when I have already sent you a link to the digital pot I am using for volume control and a description of the SPDT relay I am using to switch the amps.
I am curious as to how a digital pot would control the voltage from the control boards.
A digital pot is like an analogue pot, but in an IC and the wiper is operated by sending a control value to one of the legs from something like an Arduino.
It's how I've managed to get an endless rotary encoder (or apple remote) to control the LDRs.
awkwardbydesign
18-11-2015, 19:43
OK thanks.
Light Dependant Resistor
18-11-2015, 19:57
So am I , although I have contacted him how this might be achieved. The
difficulty with digital pots being their very low tolerance of current and voltage
there is answer though in using the cathode rather than anode through the
digital integrated circuit
If you require your kit fully wired I am happy to do so, I think that is the best answer
please box and return to me. I will assemble on a surface you can then mount
in your preferred casework. Please provide dimensions so I can make a start for you.
Cheers / Chris
I now have 6 control boards, two LDR boards and it seems yet another two are required to switch the amps. This is a really inelegant solution, and fiddly to construct not least because none of the PCBs are drilled with 3mm mounting holes. The Silonex LDRs are no longer available from Mouser of Farnell so I don't know how I am meant to finish this off with another 12 of them and a suitable PCB to mount them.
Had I any idea of what was coming I would not have paid out. Chris, you have one very unsatisfied customer here mate. I would hate for you to lose sleep tonight so please just send the money back over to me and we can put this to rest. I don't want your parts, you've absolutely failed to deliver despite being given huge amounts of time. My mistake was buying an idea rather than a product. Lesson learned.
Here's the reply to my initial enquiry with Chris, way back in March 2014. I specifically ask about output switching, and 3 days later I transferred the funds.
Hi Thommy
The boards can be configured for balanced or unbalanced, by routing inputs via XLR inputs, outputs or RCA inputs and outputs. Yes prices NZD. The attached diagram shows balanced wiring to the LDR board. There are 2x LDr board one doing Cold and the other Hot J1, J4 connectors corresponding to XLR inputs Left and right and Hot and Cold on each, and J3 J2 outputs Left and right with Hot and Cold on each.
The critical thing with balanced particularly with LDR's is for matching of the LDR's to be very good, in effect with 2 boards like this 16 LDRs as 4 Hots and 4 Colds are on at any given time.
Switching of inputs is done by turning anodes off there is no signal switching, so the 4 Colds and 4 Hots should be very close otherwise inviting more or less of positive vs negative ( hot and cold )
Yes 2 inputs and 2 discrete outputs can be done, or three inputs and 2 outputs.
Another good feature of our stereo coffee boards is there is no audio signal with zero volume.
Cheers / Chris
On Thu, Mar 20, 2014 at 3:23 PM, Thom Powell <mail@thompowell.com> wrote:
...
Hello Chris that's very encouraging. Are those prices in NZD?
A further read of your thread on DIYAudio shows that it's also possible to configure it for 2-in 2-out switching which is very interesting. Can I choose how to set it up once the kit arrives, or does that type of operation need to be specified at the time of ordering?
Best wishes,
Thommy
Chris, for the fourth and final time:
I DO NOT WANT YOU TO BUILD ANYTHING FOR ME
I WANT MY MONEY BACK BECAUSE YOU HAVE FAILED TO DELIVER
Actually, I have enough parts here to build a couple of unbalanced LDR attenuators with 3 way selectable input.
Who is interested in one for £55? That way I get my money back, two people get a bargain and Chris doesn't lose face.
Light Dependant Resistor
18-11-2015, 20:13
The parts can certainly be returned and I will then provide you a refund
including the postage cost to return to me.
My offer to fully wire to a surface you can mount in your casework
equally applies, as you will be provided the best attenuator available
Cheers / Chris
Chris, I can understand that this has been a misunderstanding, what I can't understand is why you have not answered a single one of the questions I posed in this thread and via email about how what arrived today doesn't match up to our discussions.
You have just ignored most of my text and keep offering to build something for me.
You may think this makes you look like a benevolent problem solver going above and beyond to make the customer happy, but can I remind anyone reading that I never asked for any help with construction, and so your offer of building me a pre is like trying to sell bread to a bakery.
Wakefield Turntables
18-11-2015, 20:17
Thommy send him the parts.
Chris send him the money.
Then let bygones be bygones.
Simple.
Yep. It's already back in the box. Will be in the post tomorrow.
And you still haven't answered the question as to why you sent me something completely different to that which we discussed (and you photographed).
Light Dependant Resistor
18-11-2015, 20:26
You have just ignored most of my text and keep offering to build something for me.
Because all the parts provided are fully capable to do exactly as you ask, and you appear to be really struggling putting it together.
If you want my professional help it is here ( as is for all of my customers ), including as I have said many times to fully wire it for you.
Cheers / Chris
Reading this thread reminds me of when Jeremy Paxman famously interviewed Michael Howard......
Light Dependant Resistor
18-11-2015, 20:35
Yep. It's already back in the box. Will be in the post tomorrow.
And you still haven't answered the question as to why you sent me something completely different to that which we discussed (and you photographed).
Hi Thom
I have provided you parts to achieve accurate and good switching of balanced LDR boards and would be really happy to get them all going for you.
To switch using h11f1m or LDR's given the better method I have provided you would be counter productive. Think of a house with 16 heavy internal doors,
do you close each one, or just the heavy front door securely.:)
Cheers / Chris
Wakefield Turntables
18-11-2015, 20:35
Reading this thread reminds me of when Jeremy Paxman famously interviewed Michael Howard......
:lol: very good!
The Black Adder
18-11-2015, 20:39
okay guys. Let's put this to bed if we can.
If both of you are happy with the return and refund then do that.
Light Dependant Resistor
18-11-2015, 21:49
As promised balanced switching diagram
The diagram shows 2x pot dual gang.
It utilises better switching of just 12v power source where 4x control board
provide current to potentiometers
UAR ( upper Arm resistance ) supplying Series and LAR ( Lower Arm Resistance ) supplying Shunt LDR's
With pot shaft facing you and legs down the series LDR is wired to the Right leg of the pot, and the Shunt
to the Left leg of the pot.
I can post up some images, which I am pretty sure will help you. ... endless help always provided :)
Pot resistance curve should be audio taper (log) 250k for balanced
normally 500k for unbalanced.
Cheers / Chris
15719:)
I really want to avoid you refunding me after all the time you have spent but this is still not making any sense.
Where are the two boards sporting 16 LDRs pictured on the right of your diagram?
Because they are not here.
And please, can you rewrite your last post using commas and full stops. I genuinely do not understand what you have written, it is gibberish as is the rest of your documentation.
Hi Thom
I have provided you parts to achieve accurate and good switching of balanced LDR boards and would be really happy to get them all going for you.
To switch using h11f1m or LDR's given the better method I have provided you would be counter productive. Think of a house with 16 heavy internal doors,
do you close each one, or just the heavy front door securely.:)
Cheers / Chris
OK that explains the lack of the board you showed me in April, but dude, seriously... If the parts were here to build it I would have spent today fecking building it, not typing on this thread!
Light Dependant Resistor
18-11-2015, 22:24
Hi Thom
Can i ask you one more time to send me what you have there.
I can then place on a surface like aluminium, and wire fully for you
Aluminium will work well as a ground plane.
At your end when you receive it back - all you need do is connect
a power source. I can pre wire the signal outputs as well colour coding
each wire, for blue cold and red hot and green ground, to assist for your XLR's.
I recently built a balanced attenuator for customer in Singapore
his feedback was :
" Hi Chris,
I got the LDR last Thurs but did not have much time to listen to it. However, from the time that I spent with it, I noticed the following enhancement to the listening experience:
1. Increased detail and separation of instruments.
2. Very apparent soundstaging and 3-dimensionality of the music.
3. Distinct decay of strings – not sure how to express it in technical terms, but I felt that when a string was plucked I could hear the decay to the end, which makes the sound “complete”.
4. Music sounded more relaxed and less edgy.
I will be doing more listening this week, but I am quite pleased with what I have already heard.
Thanks again for the product."
awkwardbydesign
19-11-2015, 10:44
Lord, this is going round in circles now.
Thommy, you said you wanted a refund, then you said you wanted to avoid that; make your mind up and stick to it! And not everyone has your facility with written English, so try not to be rude.
Chris, you offered to build it for him, but he said he wanted a refund, which you agreed to; stop offering to build it! And better circuit drawing software would be nice, I struggle with some of your offerings!
Personally I like the LDR pre, but my version is simple (apart from adding a remote), so I have manage to work around the instructions. Perhaps this version was a step too far?
Jesus Christ.
This is in the post now.
End of.
Quite why Chris is unable to answer any of my questions and keeps repeating that he will build it for me when I DO NOT WANT HIM TO BUILD ANYTHING is beyond me.
I cannot recommend Stereo Coffee whatsoever, I really wanted to avoid doing this but he just will not reveal why he didn't send the right parts or answer any of my questions. I have waited 18 months to have a public tit-for-tat argument. Never had a purchase go like this before.
He has resorted to posting other people's feedback about his product to support him in some way, when he will not answer any of my questions about why I do not have the parts I need to build this pre. What a time waster.
The product is poorly designed, and performance was nothing special. Noise at each end of the potentiometer and an unbalanced stereo image.
AVOID.
Punctuation is important.
Can we eat Grandpa?
or
Can we eat, Grandpa?
Two completely different meanings, all because of a comma. I don't think it's unreasonable to want to clarify what someone has said if they have disregarded certain aspects of communication.
awkwardbydesign
19-11-2015, 11:39
As I said, not everyone has your facility with written English. You may have to adjust your expectations.
Light Dependant Resistor
19-11-2015, 14:43
why I do not have the parts I need to build this pre.
and performance was nothing special.
Which is it ? You find performance was nothing special, yet at the same time do not have the parts to build it.
On sept 22nd you emailed me
"I do have plenty of regulated 5v floating around inside the enclosure so you can lose the regulators if it helps make the circuit more simple".
I advised you to use 12v only, and provided a suitable 7812 diagram.
as it was and will remain, designed for 12v. Perhaps this is what caused
your opinion on performance. I would suggest finding a 12v separate supply,
with dedicated star earthing, would be a good start to appreciate the
parts you do not have to build it. .
Cheers / Chris
Ali Tait
19-11-2015, 17:49
Punctuation is important.
Can we eat Grandpa?
or
Can we eat, Grandpa?
Two completely different meanings, all because of a comma. I don't think it's unreasonable to want to clarify what someone has said if they have disregarded certain aspects of communication.
So what are you going to do with all the dyslexic people in the world, shoot them perhaps?
anthonyTD
19-11-2015, 17:51
A very confusing situation,:scratch::scratch:
I cant understand, first off, how you were able to build it, without the correct parts to start with.
Also, if you didnt have the correct parts, and the necessary info to put it together, how on earth can you expect it to work right!
And yes, I have built one of Chris's designs, and it worked very well, no noise, no distortion, I accept that your requirements are very different to many here, but come on, no attempt should have been made to assemble it, without all the correct parts, and literature, it was bound to fail.
Either way, I think the best course of action is to continue with the refund, and move on, many here have had nothing but positive experiences from Chris, and his products, sadly, your not one, for various reasons,:( but you are in the very minority.
Good luck with everything.
A...
Ah let me explain.
I have had the parts to switch inputs and attenuate volume for 18 months. Hence I know how it sounds.
Chris has failed to supply the bits which switch the output despite it being part of my initial purchase brief back in March last year.
Is it really that unreasonable to ask someone to use punctuation, when without it the information they have provided is utterly indecipherable?
I am not a grammar Nazi, and I fail to understand the aggression towards me.
I paid for it. He didn't give me it and he's trying to make me look like a fool. Simples.
If this thing was offered as a group buy on DIYAudio it wouldn't sell. The masses would take exception to the lack of documentation, solder pads, pcb annotation etc. not to mention ridiculous design of 6 individual tiny control boards.
Which is it ? You find performance was nothing special, yet at the same time do not have the parts to build it.
On sept 22nd you emailed me
"I do have plenty of regulated 5v floating around inside the enclosure so you can lose the regulators if it helps make the circuit more simple".
I advised you to use 12v only, and provided a suitable 7812 diagram.
as it was and will remain, designed for 12v. Perhaps this is what caused
your opinion on performance. I would suggest finding a 12v separate supply,
with dedicated star earthing, would be a good start to appreciate the
parts you do not have to build it. .
Cheers / Chris
Yes you explained that the 7805 was being used as a current regulator, not a voltage regulator so I agreed to leave the 12V supply I already had in place. Incidentally I can't find anywhere an application of this 7805 as current regulator so would appreciate a link. As far as I'm aware a 7805 takes in >7v and gives out a steady 5v.
At no point have I tried to run this off 5v, the circuit appeared to be regulating to 5v and I suggested using pre-existing 5v would negate the need for an additional 12V supply in the box.
Had you provided a schematic of your circuit I could have seen this for myself and wouldn't have needed to ask the question.
You know that I have the parts to build an input switcher and attenuator. Please do not divert attention away from yourself and back onto me with irrelevant and misleading comments.
You still haven't answered any of my direct questions.
"What are the two rectangular boards on the right of your latest diagram?"
Those are the key to this issue. I didn't have those boards, hence nothing to connect my amps to, yet you say that I do have them. If i had them, I would connect up the amps, not keep replying to this thread.
Please answer my question Chris. If you fail to do that now I think it explains my problem with you beautifully.
And yes, performance is poor even with the right parts to build it, I'm sorry. I told you a while ago that there was noise at the end of the pot stroke, and you told me this problem is fixed with your new control boards. You promised to send me two new control boards for the attenuator but you didn't actually send them, did you?
I also told you that left and right were out of balance, and you told me that you had designed new LDR boards with trimmers to deal with this problem. You said that you would send me new LDR boards too. You sent the trimmers, but only one LDR board and it's identical to the two I already have with no provision on the PCB for trimmers.
It saddens me that you are spending time refuting my claims and picking over my statements instead of reading back through our email thread to see where you went wrong.
Light Dependant Resistor
20-11-2015, 11:56
Hi Thom
You do have the parts to switch outputs, which is the supplied 4 control boards
You need 12v + NOT 5v +
Hot one control board and Cold one control board = deliver anode current via dual gang pot to 8x LDR, 4 arranged as Hot
and 4 arranged as cold.
12v+ switches those 2 boards on.
12v+ switched the other way delivers to the other 2 boards
Hot one control board and Cold one control board = deliver anode current via dual gang pot to 8x LDR, 4 arranged as Hot
and 4 arranged as cold.
Switching at any other point, where current is divided further such as series or shunt anodes
adds many layers of complexity, hence I have provided you the perfect solution to switching
balanced outputs to one power amp, then the next, and if you desire at any future time, the ability
to have both power amps on, just supply voltage to each of the 4 control boards.
Regarding channel balance I supplied you with matched LDR;s, if you require trims fitted
I am happy to do this, but will require you to return the LDR boards to me. As you can
appreciate supplying a further 16 LDRs when you already have boards there, makes better
sense for me to retro fit. I will even pay postage each way. Turn around approx 25 days
So please connect that way and enjoy.
Cheers / Chris
Ah let me explain.
I have had the parts to switch inputs and attenuate volume for 18 months. Hence I know how it sounds.
Chris has failed to supply the bits which switch the output despite it being part of my initial purchase brief back in March last year.
Is it really that unreasonable to ask someone to use punctuation, when without it the information they have provided is utterly indecipherable?
I am not a grammar Nazi, and I fail to understand the aggression towards me.
I paid for it. He didn't give me it and he's trying to make me look like a fool. Simples.
If this thing was offered as a group buy on DIYAudio it wouldn't sell. The masses would take exception to the lack of documentation, solder pads, pcb annotation etc. not to mention ridiculous design of 6 individual tiny control boards.
So what are you going to do with all the dyslexic people in the world, shoot them perhaps?
This is ridiculous.
That post had ZERO commas or full stops, and I genuinely did not understand the information conveyed within it. It was written with the intent of helping me understand the situation, so what is wrong with asking for clarification?
The problem here is not that I asked for clarification, but that even after asking I still didn't get it and none of my questions have been answered. Why am I in the wrong here? I don't understand.
I have tried to deal with this in private for 18 MONTHS. My requirements haven't changed since I placed the order and I finally took it onto public forum to try and get a resolution after an extraordinary bout of patience.
I am now being accused of not knowing what I am doing, of making claims about something I don't have, of ignoring manufacturers instructions.
This is all rubbish. He didn't send what I needed and still hasn't done so. He's now arguing that he has sent it when he hasn't and that I am incompetent.
Amazing customer service, but what's more amazing is the people sticking up for him.
Firebottle
20-11-2015, 12:13
FFS even I don't understand this easily and I'm an experienced electronics engineer.
If I may suggest Chris, draw a decent diagram, it sounds like Thommy has the skill to read a diagram.
Even if it is just a pencil sketch and then photographed and converted to pdf or whatever. They do say a picture is worth a 1000 words.
:scratch:
Ali Tait
20-11-2015, 12:17
I'm not saying you are in the wrong, merely pointing out that some people cannot help poor punctuation and/or spelling due to dyslexia.
Hi Thom
Hot one control board and Cold one control board = deliver anode current via dual gang pot to 8x LDR, 4 arranged as Hot
and 4 arranged as cold.
I didn't have the bit in red.
This is what i have been trying to tell you.
All you sent were the control boards, nothing for me to connect the audio outputs to.
Light Dependant Resistor
20-11-2015, 12:24
FFS even I don't understand this easily and I'm an experienced electronics engineer.
If I may suggest Chris, draw a decent diagram, it sounds like Thommy has the skill to read a diagram.
Even if it is just a pencil sketch and then photographed and converted to pdf or whatever. They do say a picture is worth a 1000 words.
:scratch:
Agreed, but presently 1.22 am here, I will do this as soon as I can in the morning
So did you send that spare LDR board with the intention of me populating it with LDRs and connecting it to the control boards?
That would make sense. Except that those Silonex LDRs are no longer available and I would have needed to buy a load in order to match them. Not exactly a solution.
And absolutely nothing like what we discussed would happen, hence my confusion.
Incidentally I recall sending you a photo some time ago of the build I had completed, it shows the star ground you are saying I haven't implemented.
Light Dependant Resistor
20-11-2015, 12:32
I didn't have the bit in red.
This is what i have been trying to tell you.
All you sent were the control boards, nothing for me to connect the audio outputs to.
You are switching anode current to 1 existing board set ( hot/cold ) then the other
The audio outputs are connected to the LDR boards
I think the best thing for me to do is to indeed send you 2 new LDR boards, and ask
you send me the LDR boards you have there, back to me when they arrive.
I can then fit trims for you as per new specification and channel balance
will be perfect.
Question how many inputs ? ... please say 1 :)
and Thom we are all nice people enjoying in our lives the love of music
calm down ...
Cheers ,
Don't tell me to calm down.
You've failed to provide this after 18 months of prompting.
You still can't answer my questions, and keep contradicting me.
Now you are patronising me.
Please...
Don't be too long with that refund.
"Question: How many inputs?"
Answer: Can be found in one of my initial emails from back in March 2014.
Now I understand the confusion. You are expecting me to use the two LDR boards I have here to connect to my amps via those 4 control boards.
Those two LDR boards are already at work switching my sources, so they cannot be used to switch the amps.
I keep telling you that you did not send the parts needed to build this, and its because you had forgotten that the parts you sent prevsiouly are already in use, isn't it?
walpurgis
20-11-2015, 12:53
We now have an argument going on here. Not a discussion. Perhaps using PMs would be better.
18 months of PMs haven't gotten us anywhere.
It's all in the post anyway which is why I have been writing about it in the past tense. Just wanted to work out what went wrong.
anthonyTD
20-11-2015, 13:00
Well, if this is correct, then it would explain why Thommy is so frustrated!
Can you confirm this Chris ?
I didn't have the bit in red.
This is what i have been trying to tell you.
All you sent were the control boards, nothing for me to connect the audio outputs to.
walpurgis
20-11-2015, 13:04
18 months of PMs haven't gotten us anywhere.
It's all in the post anyway which is why I have been writing about it in the past tense. Just wanted to work out what went wrong.
As that is the case, perhaps best leave things as they are for now and await a report of some kind from Chris.
Light Dependant Resistor
20-11-2015, 13:16
how many inputs ? it is a simple question
Don't tell me to calm down.
You've failed to provide this after 18 months of prompting.
You still can't answer my questions, and keep contradicting me.
Now you are patronising me.
Please...
Don't be too long with that refund.
"Question: How many inputs?"
Answer: Can be found in one of my initial emails from back in March 2014.
Now I understand the confusion. You are expecting me to use the two LDR boards I have here to connect to my amps via those 4 control boards.
Those two LDR boards are already at work switching my sources, so they cannot be used to switch the amps.
I keep telling you that you did not send the parts needed to build this, and its because you had forgotten that the parts you sent prevsiouly are already in use, isn't it?
Light Dependant Resistor
20-11-2015, 13:28
Balanced boards are wired as follows
a LDR board normally allocated for unbalanced stereo inputs and one stereo output
is in the case of a balanced board, divided in two so where shunt is allocated for unbalanced
a second shunt is made at the other end of the board. The series inputs for balanced are then allocated
where input 1 exists - allocated for Hot. and input 2 exists allocated for Cold.
If more than one input -( hence my polite question to you )
A second LDR board is needed as a series hot and cold - no shunt wiring, to provide
connection to what then is possibility for 2 additional balanced inputs.
.
Cheers / Chris
Light Dependant Resistor
20-11-2015, 13:45
Thom I am waiting. ... how many inputs are required, please ?
Light Dependant Resistor
20-11-2015, 16:07
Worded differently, do you have requirement of more than one
balanced source component to be attenuated ? If so, how many
balanced sources are required, please.
Cheers / Chris
awkwardbydesign
20-11-2015, 16:44
I think he is posting it back to you, Chris.
Chris, forget it, refund Tom and move on.
Greets
ru
Guys, enough is enough. This is worse than watching the unfolding of the most bizarre soap opera! :doh:
Please take the remainder of your dispute to PM, and save us all from having to read any more of this nonsense. Cheers! :cool:
Marco.
Light Dependant Resistor
20-11-2015, 22:30
Guys, enough is enough. This is worse than watching the unfolding of the most bizarre soap opera! :doh:
Please take the remainder of your dispute to PM, and save us all from having to read any more of this nonsense. Cheers! :cool:
Marco.
Thanks Marco
For completion I will if that is OK, post a diagram showing 1 stereo balanced input and 2 output in my My Day Improving Audio equipment thread
Cheers / Chris
Will you also post if you make the refund to thommy?
Light Dependant Resistor
21-11-2015, 01:23
Hi
I will be glad to post a that a refund has been provided , including postage for returning
when the parts are returned. I would expect that to be in approximately 10 days time.
Cheers / Chris
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