Stereo System Upgrades

[cyclone]

I think so too. It was a buy it now and there were eight listed, so you'll probably see it again for that price very soon.

It has been discontinued, so who knows what kind of issues the device might have. I can make it work for that price.

I'm gonna get the faceplate manufactured by this company, you can get whatever you want, just download the cad software and design what you want.

www.frontpanelexpress.com

[cyclone]

It's back on ebay cheap, same vendor, price. Mine already shipped. That either means that they are ruthlessly efficient or they really want to unload this crap:)

http://cgi.ebay.com/PLANET-AUDIO-6CH-LINE-DRIVER-6-CHANNEL-NEW-NOT-JL-AUDIO_W0QQitemZ5831821178QQcategoryZ14932QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Bitz, GIT U WUN. Them'r reel nice. REeeeal nice.

[Bitzco]

Then I'd have to have you come install it, whatever it is.

[cyclone]

I'd run out there for that. I like skiin' at Sundance. It's not crowded like Park City!

[cyclone]

I received my Planet Audio line driver. It appears to be a high quality piece. I tore it down to parade rest (squid terminology) and it is pretty simple and put together very well. It will be very easy to modify to remote mount the gain pots for the three stereo channels, and be able to return it to stock easily. If I blow it up, it is simple to troubleshoot and fix.
I will put it on the bench tonight and test it thoroughly. 

I will probably conformal coat the circuit board to make it ready for marine use.

It is physically large, it's about 12"x12" x 2".

[toyotafreak]

Make it a large, medium charge.

[cyclone]

Well, I tested it. It is a hoss. It puts out more than it's supposed to, all channels. I tested all six outputs from 10z to 100KHZ, it puts out about 9.5vac RMS with no distortion with a given undistorted input. It will definitely drive a bunch of amps as hard as you need to with minimum distortion for not a lotta bucks. I have not tested in a sound system for noise, but I saw none on the scope anywhere near audio frequency. The power output was absolutely flat from 10hz to 30 khz. No significant phase shift either.
The inputs clip about 20% earlier than the clipping indicators show, so if you are not setting levels with a scope, back off until the clip light goes off, then back about another 10% and you will be just fine.

I am going to add three ganged pots to the output of this box, they will be functionally similar to the PAC LC1 devices, but since they will be driven by a low impedance preamp, there will be no loss. Plus, I will also use an analogue taper pots, so the control position will be relative to output volume level. I decided to do this so that the controls that everyone will be using will be the final output to the amps, so they can shut everything down quickly if the sheot hits the fan. Sometimes, I must let my wife be in charge of the stereo......

[Bitzco]

Um, yeah, I completely agree with all of that. In addition, I think GR8DNA could use a little help with the bilateral sphincter valve on the belly pot.

[cyclone]

Well, for those who care, I added three 100k linear ganged pots to the output, shunted by 15k resistors. This make the slope of the pot as close to true logarithmic as you can buy these days.

What my recent rant means is that I put together a volume control system for my boat that gives me independent control of boat/tower/sub. The outputs are matched to those of the inputs of my amps, from 2 to 8vac rms. The volume controls match the sound ouput, i.e. 50% of the volume control pot is 50% of the volume out of the speakers. The systems and devices out there currently are a patchwork and are a mess when connecting to multiple amplifiers. Boats are weird, we want to shut off a set of speakers just when we want to.

The next thing is something I have been working on for a while. For the record,  it totally wasn't my idea but I have agreed to look at implementing it. Speed based volume control for boats. I have it figured out, I'm just waiting to see if the guy applying for the patent wants to pay for my design or get someone else to do it. I will implement it into the high end boat oriented preamp I am designing. I don't know what will happen with that, maybe I'll sell it to him cheap so I can use it in my designs. I'd like to make a simple, robust, HIGH END marinized preamp with inputs and controls that people need for wakeboard and other super awesome boats.

I

[shawn]

so the bottom line is that you like it?  You lost me with all those numbers.  Is it pretty easy to understand and operate?

[cyclone]

Sorry,
It's a dang nice 6 channel line driver certainly for 1/4 what a Matrix costs!

I will make a set of pots with rca patch cable ends and mount them to a small panel that I will mount near the dash somewhere. I will mount the preamp under the dash. The pots will connect to the ouputs of the preamp and adjust the output from 0 to 8vdc, or whatever that channel's amp input can handle. Both mine take 8volts. The gain control on the preamp can be adjusted independently to match levels to each amp.

I came to the conclusion that it's easier to add a volume control after the preamp than adjust the output of the preamp. It is sort of the LC1 idea, but I'd use a different pot and add one change that would make the volume change more uniformly across the range of the pot.

The volume control panel with the knobs and patch cables would work for any boat system, you wouldn't need the preamp.They would just patch in between the output of your head unit and the amps.

That preamp puts out 8.5 vrms at 12 volts, 9.45 at 13.8 vdc.
 

[cyclone]

I went to find room under the dash to install the PL6 line driver and when I looked at the underside of my dash, I got disgusted. I decided to clean up the wiring butchered by the original boat mechanic at ATL Marine (NOT Tony). This guy hack wired everything. He had the ignition ground tied into the horn wire. SO, before I go nuts with new sound system junk, I've got to take care of the superfluous stuff first. I remounted the Mercruiser push button ignition box, and pulled out the sub and the plastic supports for the footboard in front of the driver. The JL 10 sounds good in my truck, so a NEW enclosure is coming with a 12 in it. There is gobs of room up there.

[El_Rayo_X]

Una caja del discurso para mi barco, en el desierto

[El_Rayo_X]

uno m?s

el interior, con las cruces montadas usando "Starboard", este material fue utilizado para reforzar los puntos del montaje tambi

[El_Rayo_X]

Aqu? est? el frente