This is only a preview of the October 2022 issue of Practical Electronics. You can view 0 of the 72 pages in the full issue. Articles in this series:
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PART 2: BY NICHOLAS VINEN AND TIM BLYTHMAN
TOUCHSCREEN AND REMOTE DIGITAL
PREAMP WITH TONE CONTROLS
Our new Digital Preamplifier, introduced last month, combines high audio
fidelity with convenience. It provides input switching, volume adjustment,
bass/mid/treble controls via remote control and a colour touchscreen.
It can be built as a standalone unit or integrated into a power amplifier.
Having explained how it works, now we’ll go through the construction and
testing procedures.
T
his preamp brings analogue
and digital circuitry together,
giving the best aspects of both.
It’s a relatively simple design with
excellent audio quality thanks to its
analogue roots, but it avoids the complexity of the multiple, expensive ICs
that would be needed for a purely
digital design. It also avoids using
mechanical parts that can wear out,
like a mostly analogue design using
a motorised potentiometer.
It has a good range of features, including a colour touchscreen interface,
infrared remote support, a three-band
tone control, a wide gain range and four
stereo inputs.
Last month’s article explained how
all of this is achieved using a Micromite LCD BackPack, two quad low-distortion digital potentiometers and a
handful of op amps. That article also
included all the relevant performance
data. Now that we’ve explained how it
works, let’s start on the assembly.
Construction
The main PCB overlay for the Digital
Preamp is shown in Fig.7. This board is
coded 01103191, measures 206 x 53mm
(shown rotated) and is available from
the PE PCB Service (September 2022).
As mentioned last month, we don’t
think the bypass relay (RLY4) and its
associated components are necessary,
so we have shown them greyed out.
Instead, we recommend that you fit two
wire links, shown in red. These let the
signal pass to the output without RLY4
being fitted.
Assembly is pretty straightforward,
with just two SMDs on the board (IC6
Practical Electronics | October | 2022
and IC7). Those parts are quite large,
similar in size to a 14-pin DIP IC, and
with widely spaced pins are not hard
to solder.
Start with those two parts. Find their
pin 1 markings and make sure they are
oriented correctly, then apply flux paste
to all the pads, rest the IC on top and
tack one pin down. Check that all the
pins are correctly aligned over their
pads, then solder them. With enough
good-quality flux paste on the pads,
you can just load your iron with solder
and drag it across the pins, and good
joints will form.
Clean off the flux residue and carefully inspect the joins to ensure they
have all formed properly (with the fillet
touching both the pins and the pads)
and that there are no bridges between
adjacent pins. If you find bridges, apply
more flux paste and use some solder
wick and a fair bit of heat to remove the
excess solder. Repeat the cleaning and
inspection process to verify all is OK.
Now move on to the resistors, but
leave off the larger 1W resistors for
now. Note that two of the 100W resistors need ferrite beads slipped onto
their leads before soldering – see Fig.7.
Check each batch with a DMM set to
resistance mode before fitting them to
the board, and you can then fit those
two wire links shown in red using resistor lead off-cuts.
Next, mount the diodes. All diodes
are polarised, so check their cathode
stripes against Fig.7 and the PCB silkscreen before soldering them in place.
D1-D12 are BAT42 schottky types, while
D13-D15 are standard 1N4148 signal
diodes. Follow with zener diode ZD1.
Bend down REG4’s leads by 90°,
about 6mm from its body. Insert them
into the PCB and then attach its tab
to the mounting hole securely using a
short machine screw, washer and nut.
Once it’s solidly attached and square,
solder and trim its leads.
Now you can solder op amps IC1-IC5
to the board, ensuring they are oriented
correctly. You can solder sockets if you
prefer; they make swapping op amps
easier but can lead to reliability problems long-term. Follow with bridge
rectifier BR1, ensuring its + lead (usually longer) goes into the marked hole.
Install the two trimpots (both 500W)
and then the three relays in a row, RLY1RLY3. Ensure the stripes on the relays
are positioned as shown, as it is possible to install them backwards.
Next, mount all the TO-92 package
devices. These are transistors Q1-Q3
and Q5-Q7, plus regulators REG1REG3. As there are five different device
types in similar packages, be careful to
check the markings so that you don’t
get them mixed up.
Now is a good time to fit all the
ceramic capacitors (two different values) and MKT capacitors (five different
values). Refer to Fig.7 and the PCB to
ensure the right ones go in their correct locations.
Then fit the headers for links
LK1-LK3, but do not insert the shorting
blocks yet. Follow with the DC socket
(if you plan to use it) and the 18-pin
header, plus the 3-way terminal block,
with its wire entry holes facing the outside of the board.
If you are going to fit LED1 onboard,
do it now, with its longer anode lead
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soldered to the pad marked ‘A’. Otherwise, you could mount a header in its
place, or solder a twin lead later.
Also install the two 10W 1W resistors
now. Bend their leads so that they are
suspended a few millimetres above the
PCB surface to allow air to circulate, as
they get pretty hot. As mentioned last
month, you could opt to use 2W resistors, or perhaps four 4.7W 1W resistors
arranged in pairs and mounted vertically to spread out the heat load.
Next, fit all the electrolytic capacitors, with their longer positive leads
to the pads marked with a + symbol.
Note that the two 47μF caps need to
have their leads splayed out to fit the
pads provided.
That just leaves the RCA sockets.
The right-angle sockets will have plastic tabs that clip into the holes drilled
into the PCB. Once you have pushed
them down fully so they are flat on the
PCB, solder their leads. You should also
push the vertical connectors down fully
before soldering the two tabs and central pin on each.
Building the BackPack
You have the option of using the Micromite BackPack V2 with a 2.8-inch
colour touchscreen (PE, May 2018)
or the Micromite BackPack V3 with a
higher-resolution 3.5-inch touchscreen
(PE, August 2020).
The main advantages of the 2.8-inch
version are lower power consumption
and the fact that it will more easily
fit into a slimmer case. The 2.8-inch
screen module is 38.5mm tall, while
the 3.5-inch screen is 56.5mm tall. A
1RU case is 44.5mm tall, so it would
be difficult to fit the 2.8-inch version
into one, while fitting the 3.5-inch version would be impossible. A 2RU case
would fit either.
Regardless, it’s up to you; build the
display version you prefer based on
the instructions published in those
previous issues. Assembly is pretty
straightforward.
We can supply a PCB for either version – just go to the relevant month in
the PE PCB Service. For all other Micromite/BackPack items we recommend
using: micromite.org
Whichever version you purchase,
make sure to select the right software.
If you’re programming the chip yourself
(eg, you already have a BackPack), note
that there are two versions of the software to suit the two different BackPack
and screens. See the panel on loading
the software below for details.
Micromite Preamp Interface Adaptor
Fig.8: this small adaptor circuit makes it easy to wire up the Preamp board
to the Micromite LCD BackPack using a ribbon cable with standard IDC
connectors crimped at each end. The IR receiver and its supply filter are only
fitted to the board at the BackPack end.
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Fig.7: rather than fitting RLY4,
we suggest you solder short wire
links (shown in red) and then omit
the other components (in green)
including Q4, Q8 and six resistors.
This is the tone control bypass
circuitry which we found didn’t
improve the performance. Also,
watch the orientation of the ICs,
relays and diodes, especially IC6
and IC7, as they are hard to reverse
if you get it wrong. They should
have a dot or divot in the corner to
indicate pin 1.
Practical Electronics | October | 2022
Wiring it up
Next, we need to make up the cable
and adaptors that will connect the
Micromite BackPack to the Preamplifier board. The one which attaches to
the BackPack also hosts the infrared
receiver (see Fig.8).
The two adaptors use identical PCBs
(coded 01103192, measuring 12.5 x
45.5mm – available from the PE PCB
Service (September 2022)). Both are
fitted with a SIL header socket strip
and a box header, but only one has the
resistor, capacitor and infrared receiver
onboard. This is the one that plugs
into the BackPack. Assemble them as
shown in the photos and the overlay
diagram, Fig.9.
Next, you will need to crimp the
IDC sockets onto the ribbon cable, as
shown in Fig.10. Adjust the length of
this cable to suit your installation. Ideally, you should use an IDC crimping
tool to do this (for example, the Altronics Cat T1540). However, in a pinch,
you can do it in a vice (pun intended)
with pieces of timber on either side to
protect the plastic.
Note that some IDC connectors
come in three pieces, as shown in our
diagram, with a bar on top to clamp
the strain relief loop and another part
below to press the cable down onto the
blades in the socket. But we’ve also
seen two-piece connectors with no
strain-relief bar, and if you have that
type, omit the loops.
Assembly needs to be done carefully,
so note the following two points. First,
don’t compress the plastic so much that
you break the top-most part of the connector – it’s not hard to do.
Second, make sure that pressure is
applied evenly, and all the parts of the
socket have been fully pressed together
(listen for clicks). This is so that the
blades all cut through the insulation
and make contact with the copper
inside. The main cause of failures in
these ribbon cables is due to one or
more of the blades failing to cut through
the insulation fully, leading to open-circuit connections.
For some installations, it might be
better to crimp the IDC connectors
onto opposite sides of the ribbon cable,
rather than the same side, as shown
in Fig.10. You can do it either way, as
long as you make sure that the triangle
moulded into the IDC socket indicating
pin 1 points to the red-striped wire in
the ribbon cable at either end.
Fig.9: build one Adaptor board with
all the components, as shown here
(refer to our photos to see how we
bent the IR receiver lead to reach
the front panel), while the second
Adaptor board should only have
CON1 and CON2 fitted.
Testing
You can perform some basic tests on
the main board before connecting the
ribbon cable to it. Even if you plan to
power the final device from a mains
transformer, you can use a 12V AC
plugpack or dual-tracking bench supply for testing.
With links LK1-LK3 open and nothing connected to the board, apply
power. Use a voltmeter to probe the
pins on the headers for LK1-LK3 closest
to the edge of the board, taking care not
to accidentally short across the pairs of
pins. A convenient ground point for the
black probe of the DVM is the mounting screw for REG4.
You should get a measurement close
to +5.5V for LK1, +12V for LK2 and
−12V for LK3. Adjust VR1 until the
reading for LK1 is between 5.49V and
5.50V (or as close as you can get). If
you can’t achieve that, or either of the
other two readings is way off, remove
the power and check for faults in the
power supply area.
Also check the +5V rail, which will
power the BackPack by probing the
right-most lead of REG4. It should be
between 4.8V and 5.2V.
We’ll assume that you have already
loaded the software onto the BackPack;
if not, unplug it and do so now, using
the usual procedure. The panel titled
How to Load the Preamp Software has
some helpful hints.
If you can apply 5V power to the
BackPack (eg, using a USB cable with
JP1 fitted for the V2 or V3 BackPacks),
then you can check that the software
loads up normally. Press the buttons
and step through the screens. Everything should ‘work’; it just won’t do
anything without the Preamplifier
board connected.
Assuming it all looks good, remove
the power and wait a minute or so for
the capacitors to discharge. Now place
shorting blocks on LK1-LK3. Plug the
ribbon cable firmly into the adaptor
board without the IR receiver, then
plug its SIL socket into CON8, oriented as shown in our photos.
One of these Adaptor boards needs
to be connected to the Micromite
BackPack, as shown in the lead photo.
Similarly, plug the ribbon cable into
the other adaptor board and the BackPack’s I/O header, as in our photos.
Now is a good time to verify continuity between pin 1, where the header
mounts on the BackPack PCB, and
on the Preamp PCB, right in the corner. This will verify that you haven’t
reversed the connections anywhere.
It’s a good idea to check all the pins for
continuity between the two boards, as
this can show up ribbon cable crimping problems or soldering problems.
Once you’re satisfied, reapply power
to the Preamp board and verify that the
LCD screen comes alive, and you can
switch between Presets 1-4 by pressing the buttons. By default, these select
between inputs 1-4, and you should
hear soft clicks coming from the relay(s)
each time you switch inputs.
Next, adjust VR2 to get exactly half
the 5.5V rail voltage at pin 5 of IC4 (ie,
very close to 2.75V if your 5.5V supply is spot on).
Now it’s time to connect the Preamp’s outputs to an amplifier with its
volume wound down, and one of the
stereo inputs to a signal source such
as a Blu-ray or MP3 player. Select that
input by pressing the associated preset button on the screen. This should
pass the signal through more-or-less
unaltered, although it might be somewhat attenuated.
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Practical Electronics | October | 2022
Fig.10: here is one way to assemble
the ribbon cable. You can also put the
IDC connectors on opposite sides of
the cable if it suits your installation
better; just make sure that the pin 1
triangle marking on each socket points
to the red striped wire in the cable.
Also be careful to crimp the connectors
properly (firmly) without doing it so
hard that you shatter the plastic.
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Start the signal source and slowly
wind the amplifier volume up to confirm that you can hear the audio passing through the Preamp. Ensure it is not
overly distorted and that both channels
are present; otherwise, you probably
have a circuit fault. If it seems OK, adjust
the volume using the on-screen controls,
and check that switching to another
input effectively mutes the signal.
How to Load the Preamp Software
Loading the software
As you might expect with the option to run the software on either a 2.8-inch
or
inch disp a , there are two di erent
fi es The
asic so tware
is written to work with both but requires different display drivers.
o ha e a ank chip, se a
programmer or the on oard icro ridge
to oad the appropriate
fi e, as this is ess e ort than oading
asic
and then loading the program separately. None of these choices exclude you
rom accessing and tweaking the
asic program to c stomise it
The
fi e is named 0110319A Preamp 2.8in.hex for the 2.8-inch display
or 0110319B Preamp 3.5in.hex for the 3.5-inch display.
You can also now go into the EQ settings screen and try adding some bass/
mid/treble boost or cut, to verify that
those sections of both channels are
operating correctly.
Remote control
Now is also a good time to test out the
remote control, if you plan to use one.
The Jaycar XC3718 should ‘just work’
while the Altronics A1012A needs to be
set to Aux preset 0776 (see its manual
for details on how to do that).
Loading the software from scratch
If you are building the Preamp with the 2.8-inch display, you simply need to
config re the icromite to work with that screen rom the conso e, enter the
following commands:
OPTION LCDPANEL ILI9341, LANDSCAPE, 2, 23, 6
and for the touch panel:
OPTION TOUCH 7, 15
Then ca i rate the to ch pane
fie
sing the same parameters as we ha e in o r
GUI CALIBRATE 0, 143, 293, 893, 685
If the above calibration is not accurate, you can simply run:
GUI CALIBRATE
... to perform a full manual touch calibration.
Using the 3.5-inch display
ince the icromite firmware does not inc de a dri er or the
88 to ch
contro er in the
inch pane , a separate i rar fi e needs to e oaded to
pro ide that eat re and acti ate it when the icromite starts p
oad the ILI9488 Library.bas fi e onto the icromite sing
dit or o r
pre erred seria termina program nter the o owing commands at the icro
mite prompt:
LIBRARY SAVE
CPU RESTART
OPTION TOUCH 7, 15
GUI CALIBRATE 0, 3891, 3851, -1277, -860
Again, o can simp se the
A
AT command witho t parameters
i o find o r ca i ration doesn t match o r hardware
At this stage, o wi ha e a icromite oaded with an appropriate disp a
dri er, which o can test with the
T T
A
and the
T T
T
commands
The MMBasic file
The
asic fi e is designed to work with either disp a dri er indeed, an
display with a similar or higher resolution to the 2.8-inch display should work,
a tho gh we can t o ch or the sca ing on other screens that we ha en t tested
This fi e a so contains an a ridged ersion o the a o e notes in comments
near the start o the fi e
Simply load the Digital Preamp.bas fi e sing
dit or o r seria termina
program and r n it rom the
asic prompt o sho d e greeted
the
A screen and the so nd o re a s c icking as the igita reamp initia ises
The initia condition has inp t one connected with nomina midpoint a
eroes o me, preamp ifier and tone contro settings This corresponds to
modest gain across a ands At this stage, the icromite is in the same state
as i it were oaded with the
fi e as descri ed ear ier
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Practical Electronics | October | 2022
The updated Altronics A1012A Univeral Remote
Altronics has recently updated their A1012 Universal remote control to a newer
model, the A1012A (www.altronics.com.au). We have used the A1012 to control our projects for many years now (along with some contemporary Jaycar
remotes). This new model has some minor changes compared to the earlier
version, which affect how it works with the Digital Preamp.
While the design, styling, and button layout have changed, many button functions are the same. The six device buttons near the top have changed too, with
the CD and VCR buttons being replaced by DVD and HD buttons.
The setup process for the A1012A is similar to the older A1012. You select
one of the devices using its button near the top, press the SET button, then
enter a code. The A1012A uses four-digit codes, while the A1012 used threedigit codes. A glance through the codes list for both devices shows at least a
partial correspondence between the two units.
For example, we often use AUX code 171 for Micromite projects. The testing we did a few years ago showed that this setting produces distinct codes
that are consistently detected by MMBasic’s inbuilt IR decoder.
In the A1012 code list, this code is shown as third in the list for several manufacturers. When we referred to the A1012A’s code list and tried the third code
for the same manufacturers, we found that it gave the same codes and thus
worked with our Digital Preamp.
So AUX code 0776 on the A1012A is a good substitute for AUX code 171
on the A1012. We haven’t exhaustively tested all the buttons, but it certainly
worked for all the functions we tried.
Over the last few years, we’ve created a few projects that use A1012 TV
codes 089 and 170. It appears that TV codes for the A1012A don’t correspond
one-to-one to those of the A1012, presumably due to newer TVs evolving and
having more features.
Still, we found that the codes 0088, 0149 and 0169 were suggested for TVs
on the A1012A’s code list that would have required TV codes 089 and 170 on
the A1012.
So we tested these codes with an Arduino board that we had equipped with
an infrared receiver (see: Control your PC with an infrared remote, PE, August
2019 for the hardware we used). The codes that we received
were all identical to those used for the A1012, so it appears
that these remotes are mostly interchangeable, and probably
only differ in the more obscure codes.
Thus, if you are updating any Micromite projects from the
A1012 to the A1012A, we suggest using AUX code 0776.
Other projects we have published that make use of the
A1012 include:
• Currawong Valve Amplifier, PE, November 2015 to
January 2016
• High Visibility GPS Clock, PE, January-February 2017
• Preamp and Input Selector, PE, April-June 2020
• Altronics MegaBox, PE, January 2019.
All of these use the TV codes mentioned above, so they should
work fine with the A1012A programmed with TV codes 0088,
0149 or 0169.
Note that the Jaycar Cat AR1975 ‘Total Contol 4 Device TV
Remote Control’ is similar to the Altronics A1012A in many
ways, and we will likely use that in future projects where their
small XC3718 remote cannot be used (eg, due to having just
21 buttons, which was enough for this Preamp).
Remote control code map:
A1012
AUX 171
TV 089 or TV170
A1012A
AUX 0776
TV 0088, TV 0149 or TV 0169
Point the remote at the IR receiver
and check the following functions:
• Volume up/down should change
the audio level, and you should get
a large on-screen display to show
you the new volume level (see
Screen 9); the popup only shows
on the MAIN screen
Practical Electronics | October | 2022
• The mute button should toggle
the mute function; since the Jaycar remote lacks a mute button,
the play/pause button operates
this function
• The CH UP and CH DN keys can
be used to tweak the band settings
after first selecting a band using
Screen 9: we showed photos of most
of the screen displays last month,
but here’s one we didn’t show: the
large volume number shown when
you adjust the volume via the remote
control. It’s large enough to see across
a room. Each step equates to about
one-third of a decibel.
In this screen, you can adjust the
tone control and preamplification
settings and see how the Preamp's
frequency response will be affected.
buttons 7 (bass), 8 (mid-range) or
9 (treble)
• Number keys 1-6 should select one
of the six presets
Final wiring
After mounting the unit in the case, all
that’s left is to wire up the power supply – assuming you aren’t using the
onboard barrel socket.
If you have a transformer with a single secondary, wire it between either
pins 1 and 2, or 2 and 3 of CON6. If it
has twin secondaries, connect them in
series in-phase and then wire the junction to pin 2 of CON6 and the other ends
to pins 1 and 3, either way around. Similarly, if it’s a centre-tapped secondary,
connect the tap to pin 2 and the other
wires to pins 1 and 3.
If you have a source of ±15V DC,
wire the rails to pins 1 and 3 of CON6
either way around, with GND to pin 2.
If you are building the Preamp into a
full amplifier, connect RCA plug leads
to the amp module inputs and plug
them into the vertical outputs (CON4
and CON5) on the board. You should
be ready to rock’n’roll – or whatever
takes your fancy!
Reproduced by arrangement with
SILICON CHIP magazine 2022.
www.siliconchip.com.au
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