[Drenalin]

Hi.

Have completed the building of the DIY kit but when i power it up there's a quite high buzzing sound/noise

coming from it. Have i done something wrong? 
I have paired it with the Apple remote but am worried that i might fry something if i continue.

Regards René

[tortugaranger]

Hi.

Have completed the building of the DIY kit but when i power it up there's a quite high buzzing sound/noise

coming from it. Have i done something wrong? 
I have paired it with the Apple remote but am worried that i might fry something if i continue.

Regards René

Are you describing sound coming from your speakers or sound coming from the unit physically (as in the buzzing that can come from relays turning on/off quickly). We test each preamp controller board before we ship them so we know they work when they leave here. If you are getting buzzing/hum from your speakers there's a 99% chance it's caused by grounding problem meaning something isn't wired properly to ground.

[Drenalin]

Hi Morten.

When i try to start it up there's a high buzzing noise coming from the IO3 card.
It sounds rearly loud  when i'm trying to start the auto calibration.
And i can't get any sound through it.

Regards René

[tortugaranger]

Hi Morten.

When i try to start it up there's a high buzzing noise coming from the IO3 card.
It sounds rearly loud  when i'm trying to start the auto calibration.
And i can't get any sound through it.

Regards René

Until the IO relay board is connected up and working properly it's unlikely you'll get any audio output. I would start by checking the ribbon cable connecting the IO board to the preamp board. Make sure the red line on the ribbon cable is on the same side as the white dot at the pin header on both ends. For example, on the preamp board note the white dot at J7 where the IO ribbon cable gets connected. The red line on the ribbon cable must be on same side as the white dot. Also, with respect to J7 which has only 5 pins the ribbon cable connector has 2 rows of 5 holes. Only one row is the right row. No harm if you connect the wrong row, the IO relay board won't work. Just swap to the other row.

Also, I suggest you not mess with autocal at all until you sort out everything else first. The board doesn't need to be run through autocal since that was done as part of commissioning the board before we shipped it with the kit.

[Drenalin]

A little more info....

The buzzing is constant when i'm trying to autocalibrate, and it seems to be stuck, meaning that display shows 1 and 70 but nothing more is happening, i waited roughly 5 minutes and then i turned the unit off.

I checked all connections and wiring and it seems to be fine. 

René

[Drenalin]

The ribbon cable is connected with red line with the red dots.
I can change between in 1,2,and 3.

[tortugaranger]

A little more info....

The buzzing is constant when i'm trying to autocalibrate, and it seems to be stuck, meaning that display shows 1 and 70 but nothing more is happening, i waited roughly 5 minutes and then i turned the unit off.

I checked all connections and wiring and it seems to be fine. 

René

I suggest you separate these issues and deal with them separately. Disconnect the IO board from J7 and set that issue aside for the moment.

The reason autocal is stuck and isn't proceeding is because you do not have the audio signal grounds properly connected to star ground. I suggest you connect the solder lugs RG and LG on the preamp board to star ground. Don't connect any grounds to the IO3 board, only audio signals in and out. Autocal will cycle properly once this has been fixed. 

I suspect the IO relay buzzing is due to ground loop. Fix the AutoCal and that ground loop should go away along with the buzzing.

[craig sawyers]

I wired the grounds on mine in precisely the way set out in Morten's manual, and it worked perfectly.  Autocal works as it should, no hums or buzzes.

I was visited on Friday by a guy who used to be the European dealer for Audio Note back when it was a Japanese company run and designed by Kondo.  Main source is a Logitech Transporter (sourced from Synology NAS with the CD collection, and live streaming from Tidal HiFi) into balanced Tortuga, into balanced active crossover, balanced input 4 power amps per side into Linkwitz LX521.  He reckoned that it was pretty much the best thing he had ever heard, regardless of price - and he threw everything difficult at it to try and trip it up.

In no small part the effortless clarity of the system is down to the LDR pre.

[Drenalin]

Can't seem to find RG or LG on the preboard
Preboard is connected to starground on J6. 

[Drenalin]

I have disconnected J3R and J3R ground from IO3

[tortugaranger]

Can't seem to find RG or LG on the preboard
Preboard is connected to starground on J6.

RG and LG are solder lugs (holes) right next to the 2 green audio screw terminals J1L and J1R.

Ground connection via J6 is necessary for powering board but J6 is is not connected to signal ground which must also be connected (separately) to star ground.

[Drenalin]

ok, have now soldered ground RG and LG from pre board.
Disconnected IO3 from preboard( + the cable).
J6 ground is connected to starground.

[Drenalin]

The sound is still there, and now i disconnected the displayen as well, sound srillthete

[Drenalin]

I wired the grounds on mine in precisely the way set out in Morten's manual, and it worked perfectly.  Autocal works as it should, no hums or buzzes.

I was visited on Friday by a guy who used to be the European dealer for Audio Note back when it was a Japanese company run and designed by Kondo.  Main source is a Logitech Transporter (sourced from Synology NAS with the CD collection, and live streaming from Tidal HiFi) into balanced Tortuga, into balanced active crossover, balanced input 4 power amps per side into Linkwitz LX521.  He reckoned that it was pretty much the best thing he had ever heard, regardless of price - and he threw everything difficult at it to try and trip it up.

In no small part the effortless clarity of the system is down to the LDR pre.

Hi

[Drenalin]

I wired the grounds on mine in precisely the way set out in Morten's manual, and it worked perfectly.  Autocal works as it should, no hums or buzzes.

I was visited on Friday by a guy who used to be the European dealer for Audio Note back when it was a Japanese company run and designed by Kondo.  Main source is a Logitech Transporter (sourced from Synology NAS with the CD collection, and live streaming from Tidal HiFi) into balanced Tortuga, into balanced active crossover, balanced input 4 power amps per side into Linkwitz LX521.  He reckoned that it was pretty much the best thing he had ever heard, regardless of price - and he threw everything difficult at it to try and trip it up.

In no small part the effortless clarity of the system is down to the LDR pre.

Hi

[tortugaranger]

The sound is still there, and now i disconnected the displayen as well, sound srillthete

Hi Rene,

As I understand it, when you connect the IO board via ribbon cable to J7 on the preamp board, the IO board buzzes. Such buzzing is the sound of one or more of the IO relays turning on and off. Obviously this shouldn't be happening. And as far as I know, this behavior has not occurred previously in any other units. That said, we need to diagnose this problem carefully to identify the root cause.  My working theory is that there's a weak connection somewhere in the signal path from the preamp board to the IO/relay board.

Ok, first some basics. Each relay on the IO board is turned on (energized) by connecting its relay coil circuit to ground. This switching to ground is done by the mosfet transistors Q1, Q2 and Q3 located next to J7 on the preamp board. Turning on Q1, Q2 and Q3 is done by the microcontroller. Note the pins on J7 labeled 3, 2, 1, G and +5.  The first three pins are the "switch to ground" pins controlled by Q1, Q2 and Q3 and +5 is the power for the relays. G isn't used by the IO board. The ribbon cable connects pins 3, 2, 1 & +5 to the IO board. If there's a weak/intermittent connection between these 4 pins on either board, you could get a buzzing relay. If either Q1, Q2 or Q3 are not properly soldered to the preamp PCB, you could have a weak connection and get buzzing.

I suggest the following diagnostic steps. More to follow depending on what you find out.

Step 1:  Confirm that Q1, Q2 and Q3 exist on the preamp board
Step 2:  Confirm that Q1, Q2 and Q3 are type BS170 mosfets - this number should be printed on the flat side of each mosfet
Step 3:  Look on the underside of preamp board and confirm that the solder connections of Q1, Q2 and Q3 are good.
Step 4:  Look on the underside of preamp board and confirm that the 5 pin J7 header is properly soldered to the PCB.
Step 5:  Look on the underside of the IO board and confirm that the 2x5 pin header is properly soldered to the PCB.
Step 6:  Take the ribbon cable, disconnect it and now reconnect the opposite ends into each board - this will help determine if perhaps the ribbon cable itself has a bad connection at either end.

[tortugaranger]

Based on additional input from customer the problem is totally unrelated to the IO board and is happening within the autocal piggy-back board located on the underside of the preamp board. Waiting on additional info.

[Drenalin]

Ok, here comes a update.

As it turns out there were absolutely nothing wrong with either of the boards!

When i placed the order for this Ldr3 i also ordered an rearly nice 12.5 powersupply, but when i had soldered everything (in the ldr3) together i i wanted to test it to se if i got everything connected right. 
Enter unregulated wallwart......
Plugged it in, and then this noise starts, as i described it to Morten in mail, the sound was  very similar to a tatoo machine both in sound and volume.

With the kind help from Morten i tried different ways to solve the issue but with little sucess, in retrospect i now know that i 'fed' Morten with information that wasn't of any use for him.  He suggested a telephonecall for getting it all sorted out, but it solved itself before we got to that.
I put the PS 12.5 together today and connected it to the ldr3 and suddenly......voilá, no problem anymore.
If i had mentioned to Morten that i was using a Wall wart, he would had known what the issue was right away

[Drenalin]

A BIG thank you to Morten for his quick response to my questions, his support could not have been any better

[Drenalin]

After short listening session this evening i can tell you all that it is not going anywere anytime soon