I am torn on where to eventually order the pcb from.
While I am an avid DIY guy, I have an alternative take on kits.
My recommendation: Go for the gusto and build something from scratch,
or as close to scratch as you can manage. Go for Proctop's boards and source
the parts yourself. You will learn more and derive more joy from the process
than merely assembling and soldering a prefab kit.
Here's the pitch:
I enjoy building my own audio and radio gear, even simple low cost, low tech gadgets, enjoying that heady sense of self-satisfaction one gets completing a successful home brewed project. And yet, many kits just prefab puzzles. Consequently, I have reservations about most kits.
Purportedly, the "best" kit experience is to (merely) assemble a basic kit comprised of vendor-selected through-hole components following super easy instructions. Not only is there little challenge in doing that, the builder usually learns very little about electronics, in general, and how or why the finished device works, in particular. In many cases, the kit costs substantially more than an equivalent performance commercially manufactured product. The builder is given a choice of just 1 set of components, and he typically learns nothing about what they do in the finished circuit. He typically learns nothing about alternative options. Often, the kit builder can easily source equivalent components on his own at a substantially lower cost than the bundle of vendor-supplied parts.
To (almost) paraphrase Shakespeare, “The prize be light, lest the winning be easy.” If the project is easy to build in a short time, the builder will derive little satisfaction from the process. He will be disappointed if the finished item does not represent good value for the time and money spent, compared to commercially available alternatives.
While it may seem daunting at first blush, an enterprising novice can easily source high quality bare circuit boards and other components from numerous local, online and mail order vendors. Ordering parts from online parts vendors is really EASY. In many cases, online vendors already have a Bill of Materials for others to use, which greatly simplifies the ordering process. If a novice cannot figure out how to order resistors, capacitors, and inductors on eBay or from
www.Mouser.com and other online vendors, he should … well ... let's just say he CAN do it if he spends an hour or two researching how it works. And, if he is unwilling to devote a few hours to the project, he may not be serious about DIY projects.
While many kits produce a good result, they are not always better than equivalent finished goods. There is a direct parallel in amateur radio. A gazillion older hams fondly recall the fun they had assembling a Heathkit transceiver and the sense of pride they felt because it actually worked. And yet, while they are not bad rigs, they are not great rigs, either, easily outpaced by commercially finished gear that cost the same or, in some cases, much less. Nevertheless, those rigs are cherished by their builders. BUT, they actually learned precious little about electronics or how their radios work.
By analogy, building a desktop computer is, essentially, just a big puzzle comprised of separate finished components. One does not learn how computers work by plugging memory sticks, graphics cards, and sound cards, into keyed one-way connectors on the motherboard. The only tricky bit is using the right amount of thermal paste on the CPU cooler without gumming up the motherboard or exposing the builder to toxic goo.
Building many radio and audio kits taught me very little about electronics. I soldered all the parts in place and prayed it would work as promised. I progressed only by conceiving and building little circuits from scratch with guidance from an expert, who designed equipment for NASA and the Air Force, looking over my shoulder. He directed me to sources of information where I could learn why I was doing what I was doing. There are numerous similarly qualified and equally helpful experts in this group willing to coach and direct the serious novice through the process. I have learned much from these experts.
I DO NOT intend to dampen the OP’s enthusiasm or dissuade him from building any kit from any source he likes. I DO encourage him to be adventurous and go for the gusto, perhaps tackling one of Poctop’s boards. Perhaps he should research many kits and online project reports and see what others have done before, instead of building the first kit he comes across. Perhaps he could start with other basic, low cost projects and get his feet wet before spending a large sum on a microphone kit that may produce a mediocre result with a high cost-to-benefit ratio. For example, I purchased a promising circuit board from a feller in the UK for around $10. He includes a Bill of Materials that can be sourced from leading online vendors with modest effort. His instructions explain how the circuit works and proffers alternative configurations. I will learn more from this effort, and have a comparatively better microphone for much lower (relative) cost, than building a kit from MicParts.com.
Shoot. Anyone can order 25 to 30 resisters, capacitors, and a transistor from online vendors. Kit sellers charge a premium for gathering and putting all the parts in a small plastic bag. And, while I do not begrudge the kit seller the right to charge a margin and earn a profit, I am confident a motivated novice can figure it out, deriving greater satisfaction while saving some of his hard earned brass for other projects.
Kits are often more expensive than purchasing components separately at retail. Try this example on for size: JLI Electronics sells complete, essentially prefab microphone kits, which cost substantially more than the sum of their components at retail – not to mention even more than at wholesale. JLI Electronics sells everything in the kit (except the mic body) separately at retail for around $60. A $30 donor body, pushes the finished cost of components to around $90, while the kit costs a whopping $199.95. While I never begrudge a seller a reasonable margin and a bit more as profit – I can purchase all of the components from HIM at retail, assuring him a reasonable margin and profit, for whopping $110 less than his kit – I hope I am clear about this, he sells the same stuff for a profit for less than half the cost of the kit. Hmmm … I wonder which course one should take? Buy the kit for $200 or buy the parts for $90 from the same guy, and end up with the same microphone?!?! Gee … that is a tough one to call.
Again, I urge the OP to go for the gusto building his next microphone.
I recently purchased a pair of suitable donor bodies on eBay for $25 and $30, respectively. If I order the internal board, capsule, and other bits from JLI, my finished microphone using exactly the same parts as in the kit will sound essentially the same as the kit mic for less than half the cost of the kit, AND I WILL LEARN NO MORE AND NO LESS about electronics either way.
So, perhaps ordering the bits and finishing Danny’s Proctop board is the better course for the enterprising novice mic builder. I won’t even mention my skepticism concerning the source and quality of certain kit capsules sold online for what I consider high prices …
Or, perhaps the novice builder should start with other basic projects and work up to a more complex microphone build later, which may be custom cut and include higher quality components which are better suited to his personal needs and objectives, all depending on his personal predilections, threshold for economic pain and degree of difficulty.
Notice: I do NOT intend to rain on anyone’s kit building parade. I am merely expressing my personal pragmatic, empirical observations after building a lot of kits, leaving me somewhat cynical and disenchanted with the typical kit building process. I challenge the novice to dig deeper, and work harder, than just soldering a bunch of through-hole components to a circuit board without learning what and why they do what they do and how it all works.
This is, of course, just MY take – your mileage may differ. James
. So thank you for the comments. We're lucky to have both options available I'd say!
