Potential Interest in a Complete DIY LDR Passive Preamp Kit?

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tortugaranger

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I'd like to hear from anyone who might be interested in a complete DIY LDR Passive Preamp kit. Have not decided to do so as yet hence this request for input.

The thought behind this is to be able to offer an all-inclusive DIY kit at a price point that would be attractive to those who are not likely to pop for our high end finished model, who also aren't interested in designing/sourcing their own DIY passive preamp project/parts, but who are up for putting together an all-inclusive kit.

All constructive thoughts/comments welcome.

Best,
Morten :thumb:

BobRex

Define "All inclusive".  I'm willing to solder up a board and wiring, but I don't have the resources, nor the inclination to create and build a cabinet.  If the kit included the cabinet - ala Hafler - I'd consider it.

Atlplasma

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How would this kit differ from the LDR3x.V2 kits? More inputs and outputs? Anything else?

dboy

I may be interested depending on price. What sort of ball park are we talking about? What sort of features - input switching or just volume control? Remote?

tortugaranger

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Define "All inclusive".  I'm willing to solder up a board and wiring, but I don't have the resources, nor the inclination to create and build a cabinet.  If the kit included the cabinet - ala Hafler - I'd consider it.

All inclusive as in:
* Fully populated boards (all board components already soldered into place) - too many ways for things to go wrong otherwise
* Enclosure including front/rear panels & feet
* Miscl hardware/screws etc.
* RCA jacks - 3 inputs/2 outputs
* Hookup wire
* Ribbon cable connectors & any special cable/jumpers etc.
* Power jack
* Wall-wart power supply
* Apple Remote
* Encoder w/ knob

tortugaranger

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How would this kit differ from the LDR3x.V2 kits? More inputs and outputs? Anything else?

Kit would include a V2 board plus a 3 input relay switching board. The existing V2 is sold as a stand alone board w/ remote IR sensor - nothing else.

tortugaranger

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I may be interested depending on price. What sort of ball park are we talking about?

Don't have a specific number yet. Best guess in somewhere in the $700-900 range.
Enclosure would be single piece extruded aluminum black powder coated body with milled/anodized/silk-screened front rear panels. Quality box. Not a Chinese me-too project box. 

Nick B

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Great idea and good pricing

glynnw

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In my experience manufacturers who offered kits to build exact replicas of their assembled products did some harm to the long term value of the assembled units.  Resale value of the assembled kits varied and lowered the resale value of the factory assembled units, which in turn hurt sales of the new units.  That said, it is a way to help a new business get off the ground.

tortugaranger

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In my experience manufacturers who offered kits to build exact replicas of their assembled products did some harm to the long term value of the assembled units.  Resale value of the assembled kits varied and lowered the resale value of the factory assembled units, which in turn hurt sales of the new units.  That said, it is a way to help a new business get off the ground.

This is one of my concerns and to be clear the kit would not resemble our current or future assembled units. It would be closer to our previous assembled units.

Bob2

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I would be interested. Would be nice if it was offered without soldering already done. I have lot's of time for a project such as this.
Bob2

kernelbob

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Also interested.  I have an LDRxB on order, but a DIY version would open possibilities for customization (e.g. end user supplied wiring).  I plan on using the LDRxB that's in the pipeline for my main preamp, but could use another to adjust the level of my bass amps in a biamplified system.  Any chance of the option for upgraded transformers and wiring in a DIY version?

tortugaranger

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I would be interested. Would be nice if it was offered without soldering already done. I have lot's of time for a project such as this.
Bob2

I fully appreciate the sentiment but based on our own experiences building these boards there are too many opportunities to end up with a board that simply doesn't work. In addition to a 16 MHZ microcrontroller, our V2 boards include a pair of 12 bit DAC chips and also an external EEPROM chip. Not to mention a voltage reference IC and numerous resistors etc. that can easily trip up even your sharp eyed DIY builder. And then what happens? We get emails/calls wondering why it's not working. Better that we supply a fully functioning checked out V2 preamp controller board. The incremental cost is minimal in the scheme of things and even then there are ample opportunities to not wire things up correctly, documentation notwithstanding.

Bob2

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Quote
there are ample opportunities to not wire things up correctly, documentation notwithstanding
Understandable!  I have never built an electronics kit of any kind but have massive experience with micro controllers and arduino programing, hook ups and soldering.
Being retired gives me the time to try this out but I see where you are coming from. Still interested though!
Very interested in seeing where this goes!!!

ClefChef

Cost would be the determining factor.

tortugaranger

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Also interested.  I have an LDRxB on order, but a DIY version would open possibilities for customization (e.g. end user supplied wiring).  I plan on using the LDRxB that's in the pipeline for my main preamp, but could use another to adjust the level of my bass amps in a biamplified system.  Any chance of the option for upgraded transformers and wiring in a DIY version?

As currently envisioned, the DIY kit would be singled-ended with nominal RCA jacks etc. But given that it would be a collection of parts requiring assembly, wiring and some soldering etc. there would naturally be opportunity to upgrade by way of wiring/connectors and such. 

kernelbob

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I'm more likely to purchase a second unit rather than pursue the DIY path.  I've had enough experience to know my limitations, especially given the propensity for damage to the required parts.  Still, a DIY kit would be of great interest to many.

There are several folks in my local audio group that have put together some amazing products.  One is now using an LDR based attenuator, but is frustrated at the poor channel to channel level tracking.  I'm looking forward to demontrating my balanced LDRxB for him.  My bet is he'd snap up a DIY kit if it were available.

tortugaranger

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There are several folks in my local audio group that have put together some amazing products.  One is now using an LDR based attenuator, but is frustrated at the poor channel to channel level tracking.  I'm looking forward to demontrating my balanced LDRxB for him.  My bet is he'd snap up a DIY kit if it were available.

Yes, the bane of all prior LDR based attenuators is the tendency for LDRs to sometimes drift away from their original performance curves. Which can translate into poor channel level tracking. Many don't but enough do to make this a key drawback to LDRs despite their fantastic sound. This is why we introduced the auto-calibration feature beginning with our LDR3x.V2 preamp controller board. Auto-cal makes this drift a moot point since it corrects for this by running the unit through a 10 minute auto-cal cycle. As a result we no longer pre-match any of our LDRs. Over 95% of the LDRs we use will work well within the auto-cal framework. The ones that don't are too far outside of the nominal performance spec to be useful and probably wouldn't have matched up well had we tested and matched them manually. As far as I know, Tortuga Audio is the only company that offers LDR based attenuators with auto-calibration.

Cheers,
Morten

timoteus

I think this a great idea.  The perfect middle ground for someone who doesn't want to prep and drill a chassis or build a custom case from scratch, and still wants to save some money over the new and beautiful prebuilt preamps.  A person could save enough money to cover the silver upgrade and still be far ahead with what would be a minimal amount of rewarding work.

I applaud your efforts in supporting and enabling the DIY community.  To borrow a phrase from you, cool beans!

BTW, are the replacement chips shipping soon?

benzmerc

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Hi Morten, My name is Rabitah and I am interested in a balanced pre amplifier for my various SS and tube power amplifiers(Krell KSA200S, BAT VK500 and VK75SE(tube)).  I am using a BAT VK30 tube pre amplifier to drive the power amplifiers at the moment.  I would need the passive pre to come with all XLR inputs and outputs(all my other equipments are balanced).  I need to put the new passive on hold as my husband lost his job last year and unable to find a job currently.  I am holding on to all my equipments and I will not give them up.  I cannot live without music!! Thanks