Comparison of JFETs for mic applications

GroupDIY Audio Forum

Help Support GroupDIY Audio Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Thanks for this Thor.

I make it 29v4. What does TINA say?

I just started to install the Ceiling light for my office. A huge, fairly heavy multiple ring, vaguely space styled (think mid century modern) thing.

I found the sheetrock quite rotten, so simple sheetrock anchors would not do, so I shot a bunch of construction adhesive into the ceiling. It will dry overnight.

I'll set all of the office tomorrow, after fixing the light.

From extremely hard stone cladding on bathroom walls that kept stripping my diamond drill bits and made me wish I had gotten a Bosch hydraulic Hammer drill instead of a Chinese "Bazooka" Hammer Drill, I had any annoying problem possible, renovating this place. So bear 🐨 🐼 with me.

I can answer you after the office and lab is back up. But I suspect TINA will be on a similar voltage.

To be honest, with P48 actually being 44...52V via 6k8 x 2 at 10% tolerance, the precise Voltage will be subject to quite a range, so excessive precision here is probably pointless.

Vth on BSS84 I encountered across various vendors have been pretty consistently 1.5...1.9V, with device to device matches on a reel very good. Noise is also usually on spec, meaning ~ 1.5nV|/Hz.

BSS84 is very preferred part to use for me, together with 2N7002 and STN1NK60Z for MOSFET's, which in turn I like to use a lot as active parts in discrete designs.

A "standard" circuit of mine is MMBFJ113 (J113 in SMD) or LSK170 + BSS84 and STN1NK60Z as output, matching the old 3-transistor designs with BJT's but with vastly improved performance by using modern devices.

Note, this is not for microphones or even transformerless microphone preamps, but line level.

Thor
 
I'm quite excited about our little SPICE comparison.

I've never used LTspice for noise before and it is showing and confirming stuff which Guru Wurcer and I played with at the beginning of this Millenium ... all in MicBuilders for those really interested and maybe his Linear Audio articles.

Let's tie down some important but non-controversial details.

THOR'S CAPSULES

You proposed 2 capsules. The first was a 34mm 'Brass' capsule of 68p capacitance and -34dBV/Pa sensitivity @ Vp = 60V

This is appropriate for the comparison between your circuit and Zephyr's. It is what Zephyr had on his capsule. I'll allow you to assume Vp = 60V though your circuit only has about 42V :)

The other was an electret 26mm, 42p and -35dBV/Pa. This is good to compare your circuit with SimpleP48 & SimpleP48RCA

Are you happy with these choices of capsules you recommended?

MIKE PREAMP

In #319, I assume a simplified version of Fig 9 in THAT Corporation 1510/1512 Datasheet rev9 5oct2017.

You assume a slightly different 'simplified' preamp in #245

Which one should we use?

I'm happy to use yours cos it sometimes gives SimpleP48 & SimpleP48RCS a slight advantage :)
 
ZEPHYR'S CIRCUIT

I apologise for, not so much moving goalposts, as having difficulty remembering his circuit from 2019. I'm going diving this weekend so his marked up print might emerge from under da diving junk.

The aim of the exercise is to sim what I measured in feb2019 to check my claim that your circuit has >10dB more noise above 4kHz

I'm sure of ..
  • C10 is grounded ... cos I refer to that in Zephyr.doc
But in Muntzing all the stuff to get #332, I forgot this changed the current draw which might adversely affect the yucky regulators ... which is why I asked if I could add a single resistor to replace the Muntz'd stuff.

If you are unhappy with that, please put all the stuff I removed back so the current consumption is as the original ... but GROUND C10 as that is how Zephyr had it for the Cardioid position (your single diaphragm requirement).

When you get TINA up & running and post a circuit we can check if this an accurate representation of what he built and I tested.

When I find Zephyr's marked up print, we can put his pot in the correct spot and assess whether it would have changed our sims.
 
THOR'S CAPSULES

You proposed 2 capsules. The first was a 34mm 'Brass' capsule of 68p capacitance and -34dBV/Pa sensitivity @ Vp = 60V

This is appropriate for the comparison between your circuit and Zephyr's. It is what Zephyr had on his capsule. I'll allow you to assume Vp = 60V though your circuit only has about 42V :)

The other was an electret 26mm, 42p and -35dBV/Pa. This is good to compare your circuit with SimpleP48 & SimpleP48RCA

Are you happy with these choices of capsules you recommended?

Let's keep it simple and a level playing field, using only the 26mm Model. That way all circuits work under identical conditions.


MIKE PREAMP

In #319, I assume a simplified version of Fig 9 in THAT Corporation 1510/1512 Datasheet rev9 5oct2017.

Why don't you ever post schematics?

IMG_20250122_120826.jpg
I will use this. It's from the datasheet, quickly reduced to the essential.

In addition I will place a VCVS (voltage controlled voltage source) at the output, to allow each circuits gain to be normalised losslessly, while capturing all effects of the presumed preamp input.

This will make sure we get comparable results on a single plot.

If I can find the file, I will also add an A-weighting filter to each circuit.

Thor
 
Back
Top