Clone Note Passive LDR Preamp ...continued
The KIT
Three circuit boards
Resistors, capacitors, 2 x LDR's, SMD relays
IDE ribbon cable and connectors
PDF instruction sheet and technical sheet
Construction
The kit looks overwhelming because of the large number of components.
However, after studying the very clear instruction sheet everything falls into place and becomes logical.
Organisation is the key. Get a piece of A4 paper and some tape then sort all resistors into values and code them according to the instruction sheet and tape them into pairs of the same value. Two of the boards are identical. One for the left channel and one for the right.
Soldering
The tiny 48 x 4 legged 4mm sq SMD relays are soldered first. You will need tweezers and a fine point soldering iron. Just solder one leg onto the flat tab and position it with tweezers. Then solder the other 3 legs and continue till all 48 are neatly mounted and aligned correctly.
I have an 'action tremor' problem but still did it easily. It is great therapy if you have the shakes.
Time taken for soldering was only about 6 hours.
Stacking the Boards
You will need 8 x 20mm or 25mm threaded spacers with 3mm screws. I made some with perspex.
Adjusting Balance
The Clone Note only uses 2 x LDR's and they don't have to be matched.
Adjustment of both LDR resistances is done using the blue multi turn pots. A multimeter with hook probes makes this a breeze.
NOTE: So the board doesn't have to be accessed to fine tune the LDR's, I recommend fitting a couple of headphone jacks to the back panel and run leads from the LDR output legs and also fabricating a DMM lead with a headphone plug instead of probes. LDR fine tuning will be easier if you replace the blue multi turn pots with leads to a pair of precision Vischay 20 turn pots mounted on the back panel. See pic >
READ and FOLLOW the Instructions
Uriah is on hand to help as long as you have followed the instructions correctly otherwise you might get the cold shoulder.
CloneNote website: www.buildanamp.com
HOW DOES IT SOUND?
The sound is breathtaking.
What does that mean?
I don't know what to say but "with my Holton amp and KEF LS50's it is as though all equipment
has been removed from the equation and been replaced by a black silence, like a clear starry
night where music and voices seem to float in space."
I know that sounds ridiculous and I wasn't under the influence of mind bending drugs but that's
the best I can do. The whole experience of listening, and really hearing the music becomes
addictive. Forget your Dire Straits, Nora Jones or Diana Kraal test tracks because EVERYTHING
will sound amazing.
I now have about 800 tracks on my Spotify (yes Spotify) playlist which are as good or better than
the old demo standards. Digital files and LP's are on another level again.
Voices are so consistently real they give me goosebumps. Even Kyuubi enjoys it. But he is from the UK, home of KEF.
​
The perspex case was home made using a 3mm sheet of A4 perspex from Ebay bent using a Nichrome resistance wire from Jaycar. I just copied and idea from YouTube and built a folding bender using scraps. Cost was around $6 for the wire.