Designing a monitor controller

[pezking]

I'd like to design a monitor controller, as I believe that what's on offer on the market is overpriced, and often have features I don't much care for.

What features do I want?

• Balanced Signals
• Main Stereo In
• Alt Stereo In
• Main Out
• Alt Out
• Dim Switch
• Mute Switch
• Mono Switch
• Volume Control (DUH!)

So the input source would be switchable between main and alt ins. The output destination will be switchable from Main to Alt. The dim switch should maybe switch in 12dB of attenuation, or maybe 6dB.

I may also want to add a headphone amp section, though I see this as fairly trivial once the rest of the circuit is built.

So does anybody have a good source of info for the circuitry needed? I've not found too much useful stuff thus far...

 

[Chili]

I asked the same question here a month or so ago. Do a quick search and see if it helps.

I was looking at a passive set up for routing signals, but also adding headphone amps. I wanted to go between balancd and unbalanced sources and monitors so I need transformers.

I was planning on using the volume at the source rather than on the monitor controller, but otherwise similar to what you're looking for.

I haven't written anything down yet, but it looks simple enough to do. There are headphone amp schematics on the internet.

 

[dintymoore]

A couple of years ago I made a box that replaced one of my Yamaha DMP11 mixers. It's a passive 1U box that has two sets of 1/4" ins, a mute switch, sends to the power amp plus to the subwoofer crossover/amp, a subwoofer kill switch and best of all I found this large Noble pot from a 70's Mitsubishi receiver. The pot has a large numbered knob and the pot has detents. It controls the playback volume.

One of the main things about this was that now I can play all my tracks through the mixer that goes to the T.C. Finalizer and to the power amp, and then play back a recorded track and it bypasses all that and goes straight to the power amp - that solved a major issue I'd had for years - no more switching for playback.

I bought a bag of alligator clips and tested out my simple design with those.

For switches I used big toggle switches from Ace Hardware, like they have on my Summit stuff. It's not pretty but I use it every day and wish I'd made it decades ago.

None of this is hard. Just map out the routes of what you want and mock it up right at your console with alligator clips. That will expose what's armchair logic and what's real world real fast.

Just to be able to kill the sound and then return to the same volume as yesterday was a major improvement for me.

I also made a speaker selector that controls 5 pairs of speakers and gives instant A/B comparison to my NS-10M's. I've thought it would be neat to build the passive box, the speaker selector and my homemade tube amp in one box with the tubes sticking right out the top - Dr. Frankenstein!