[Bemopti123]

Wow, grafting a LSA kit onto the B-1 kit, it is getting complicated quite fast.  Still, I am simply waiting for someone stuffing the regular B-1 PCB with some nice explanations...as someone else said here, even though parts counts are low and you can "sort" of stuff parts according to schematics, there are pitfalls, as polarity issues with components and other so "common sense" procedure for people familiar with DIYng but it is still "black matter" for people who do not have much experience.   

[sondale]

I for one would like to have any details you wish to share.

OK - what I will do is first is to get my spare board and give details of what I did to build the B1 then follow up with LSA grafting.

Alan

[wushuliu]

OK - what I will do is first is to get my spare board and give details of what I did to build the B1 then follow up with LSA grafting.

Alan

Hi Alan, to keep things simple how about after or parallel to my step by step build you show how you integrated the LSA? 2 how-to builds of the board at the same time may end up confusing to follow (although I will be taking a basic by-the-book approach, maybe you're setup will be different).

[sondale]

Sorry - I meant I would build the B1 and document it - when finished only then would I describe the LSA.

[Nick77]

Hi couple of questions pertaining to mating the B1 with the ClassD. I realize it doesnt have gain but i am running the signal thru my HK avr right now with decent results and when i run direct from Paradisea and using SB3 for volume control i get better detail but lose alot of bass and volume. Does anyone know if i would get better results with the buffer in between? And could i still use the remote on the SB3 for volume with B1 installed?  Thanks.....

[wushuliu]

Sorry - I meant I would build the B1 and document it - when finished only then would I describe the LSA.

I just ordered the LSA pcb last week so I'm looking forward to your setup.

[wushuliu]

Hi couple of questions pertaining to mating the B1 with the ClassD. I realize it doesnt have gain but i am running the signal thru my HK avr right now with decent results and when i run direct from Paradisea and using SB3 for volume control i get better detail but lose alot of bass and volume. Does anyone know if i would get better results with the buffer in between? And could i still use the remote on the SB3 for volume with B1 installed?  Thanks.....

There's probably no way to know for sure unless you try it out. It certainly will outperform the HK as a preamp, and you should probably have some sort of pre/buffer between the dac and amp.

Yes you can still use the SB3 volume, just turn the B1 volume all the way and leave it. Or adjust to whatever sounds best to you.

hth

[LejfK]

At the risk of sounding like an idiot, what is the LSA kit?

[wushuliu]

At the risk of sounding like an idiot, what is the LSA kit?

http://diyaudioprojects.com/Solid/DIY-Lightspeed-Passive-Attenuator/


Light Speed Attenuator. It's a volume control that's all the rage and just got a stellar review in Stereophile. Supposedly better than DACT, TVC, etc. And cheap to build. It may seem daunting for some however. Alan will tackle that for those that are interested.

[gitarretyp]

Hi couple of questions pertaining to mating the B1 with the ClassD. I realize it doesnt have gain but i am running the signal thru my HK avr right now with decent results and when i run direct from Paradisea and using SB3 for volume control i get better detail but lose alot of bass and volume. Does anyone know if i would get better results with the buffer in between? And could i still use the remote on the SB3 for volume with B1 installed?  Thanks.....

The buffer will improve the bass because it has larger output coupling caps than the Paradisea, but it will not increase the overall volume because it provides no gain. You could still use the SB volume if you either turn the B1's volume all the way up or install a HT bypass type function, which would basically just require a switch and a couple of resistors.

[wushuliu]

I will be ordering parts tonight and tomorrow for the B1; Pass Labs is only a few hours north of me so hopefully I'll have everything by the end of the week to start the tutorial.

[Mariusz]

Sounds good.
Lot of guys will appreciate your effort.
 

Mariusz

[mightym]

Sounds good.
Lot of guys will appreciate your effort.
 

Mariusz

+1

[LejfK]

http://diyaudioprojects.com/Solid/DIY-Lightspeed-Passive-Attenuator/


Light Speed Attenuator. It's a volume control that's all the rage and just got a stellar review in Stereophile. Supposedly better than DACT, TVC, etc. And cheap to build. It may seem daunting for some however. Alan will tackle that for those that are interested.

Thanks.  Since I'm on a roll, let me ask another basic question. 

I've looked at a lot of commercial preamps and see that a lot of them have "home theater bypass" which apparently allows them to be used with a home theater receiver.  I also remember reading somewhere that an old fashioned tape loop on a preamp does the exact same thing.

Would the B-1 need to be modified in order to be used with a receiver like this?  I'm thinking about building one of the ClassDs to go with my Pioneer receiver on the L/R channels and I would be interested in a preamp and a dac for two-channel.  Namely, for two channel it would be dac -> preamp -> amps, but with home theater the reciever's L/R signals just pass through the preamp to the amps.  Make sense? 

[wushuliu]

Thanks.  Since I'm on a roll, let me ask another basic question. 

I've looked at a lot of commercial preamps and see that a lot of them have "home theater bypass" which apparently allows them to be used with a home theater receiver.  I also remember reading somewhere that an old fashioned tape loop on a preamp does the exact same thing.

Would the B-1 need to be modified in order to be used with a receiver like this?  I'm thinking about building one of the ClassDs to go with my Pioneer receiver on the L/R channels and I would be interested in a preamp and a dac for two-channel.  Namely, for two channel it would be dac -> preamp -> amps, but with home theater the reciever's L/R signals just pass through the preamp to the amps.  Make sense? 

hopefully gitarretyp will weigh in on what resistors you would need and switch for the bypass. If you were to use the second set of inputs for the receiver however (1st being your dac, if i understand you correctly) it should work fine. This is how I use my receiver, and I think it sounds better through the B1 to my amp than without.

hth

[wushuliu]

Well I've ordered everything but the pcb/jfets, including a cheap but functional enclosure.

Total cost for everything incl. shipping will be ~ $150.

[gitarretyp]

hopefully gitarretyp will weigh in on what resistors you would need and switch for the bypass. If you were to use the second set of inputs for the receiver however (1st being your dac, if i understand you correctly) it should work fine. This is how I use my receiver, and I think it sounds better through the B1 to my amp than without.

hth

Sorry, you don't need additional resistors for a HT style bypass. All you need is a DPDT switch that bypasses the potentiometer.

[LejfK]

Sorry, you don't need additional resistors for a HT style bypass. All you need is a DPDT switch that bypasses the potentiometer.

That sounds doable.  Cool.

[earplay]

Thanks to all the tech contributors here. I'm looking forward to the builds.

[HAL]

You can also use the DPDT switch to bypass the entire buffer setup if you are running a preamp as input for HT bypass.  A seperate HT input can go to one side of the switch and the buffer output to the other.  The center terminal goes to the output connector.