Self on Audio, 3rd Edition

Chapter 14Preamplifier 2012

Part 1: introduction and line-in/tone/volume board (Elektor, April, 2012)

This was the first preamplifier I had designed for some time, the previous one being the Precision Preamplifier ’96, published in the July/August 1996 and September 1996 editions of Wireless World. That’s a sixteen-year gap. Preamp 2012 was actually designed in 2011, but not published until 2012.

The project was, amongst other things, something of a study in low-impedance design [1]. The idea was to find out how far the concept could be pushed before things got awkward. The need to source dual-gang pots, preferably with a centre-detent for the balance and tone controls, put a lower limit on their track value of 1 kΩ. Anything lower implies that ...