Eq based on Forssell's Equal R Gyrator

GroupDIY Audio Forum

Help Support GroupDIY Audio Forum:

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

James HE

Well-known member
Joined
May 21, 2006
Messages
54
Location
Richmond VA US
I started playing around with this after reading Fred Forssell's Eq paper.
http://www.forsselltech.com/Evolution%20of%20an%20EQ%20Design2.pdf

I was working on an eq using gyrators and decided to experiment with this one. Forssel writes that this gyrator design "has a distinct advantage over the other" Why? (I hope he or someone will elaborate.) It's straightforward and simple, well, it was until I made it complicated. :razz:

I did a bunch of math figuring out some values. Hell I went to art school I can't do math. :wink: so I went off on a few tangents. I was aiming to have a rotary switch to select frequencys but to split it up in different q's. So let's say with a 2 pole 6 position switch you can have three different frequncy's at 2 different q's. When trying to figure out what Q's and frequncies to use, I realized that the cap values for CS and CI at any frequency with a q of 1 could be swapped around to get a q of .25 and vise versa. These are the only 2 reasonable Q's I've found that swap around. (Well CS = CI with a Q of .5 so swap those if you want) A Q of .25 is about 4 octaves, a q of one is about 1 Octave. Were not going to be doing any surgery with this thing, but we have some flexability.

Now does it really work? Can it be done. I dunno! This is what I got.

equalRschemunbalanced.jpg


so basically flipping the "Q" switch swaps CS and CI around. I figured out how to switch it with a 4PDT switch. I'm sure it's right, but I need someone else to say "yeah that works" to put my brain at ease. One thing I have a question about is what happens to the caps when the switch is flipped, the volages with be going the oppisite way all of a sudden.

The values and frequencies are tentative in the schematic. After figuring out a few frequencies, and a little fudging, I simply plugged in readily available values and went down (er... up?) the sequence. I'm using a 2 - 4 rotary here for the frequency selection. We can parallel caps of course to get what ever value. The Q's generated vary a bit, generally it's around .28 and .9. Good enough I suppose.

I'm very unsure about what will happen with the shelving switches switched in (say that 10 times real fast) (shorting CS or lifting CI) if the CS and CI are flipped. I haven't figured out a way to calculate how the frequency and Q changes. It seems like you'll end up with 8 different shelving frequencies - the Q switch would work more like a "range" switch. I don't know what to assume the Q will be with the gyrator in shelving mode. I have 2 lo and 2 hi shelving sections instead of just one on each end, just cause, I often set up my plugins this way, Good things can happen with one shelf boosting and one shelf cutting.

Another thought is that I would simply set up the frequencies to have a Q of 4 or so and use a pot in series after CS to vary the Q down. This affects the gain. (wouldn't we call this "constant loudness" a feature?) Something that Mr. Forssell dosen't like, but who knows I might like it! Or just make a 10 band graphic EQ with the Gyrator with 2 (or 4) shelving bands?

Or for me, just make the Calrec or the Pultec and stop playing "designer".

So here's my artwork for the day. I worked on a PCB layout for this schem.
unbalancedequalRpcb.gif

(hopefully is clear enough had to do a print screen and use paint)
I just get into the image of the PCB sometimes, I think of it like any other composition. this is just the copper layer. The cap spacing can accommodate 5, 7.5, 10, 15, and 20 mm spacing so I could be flexable to use what I want. Plus it gave me symmetry. Yes it's tiny, only a half rack, too crowded. I usually don't mind small knobs though.
 
Looks cool :grin: !

Quick comment about board design. The traces are very small. If your offering your artwork to the community for home etches, they will not work. Try to design with 0.8mm - 2mm trace width and 0.8mm - 1.27mm isolation from other traces. This makes home etches and prototyping much easier. Some PCB Fab companies will complain about trace widths under .6mm.

Otherwise, good job!
 
Thanks. Just playing around with software at the moment. I'll be working out the bugs as I get a chance. Haven't tried to etch anything yet.
I'm leaving town for work for the week. Hopfully I'll have a chance to start putting some parts together and make a board next week. But you are right, I need to spread things out a bit to use wider traces to make it easier. This was me just trying to see if I could get this down to a half rack space!

SO now I'm off to Wild Wonderfull West Virginina where I'm trying to rescue a 110 year old house from the hill side. Love these "projects" I take on.

:roll:
 
I've also been toying with using elements of the Forssell EQ in a design of my own. Just a quick question someone may be able to answer..

It's obvious from the formulae that the Q is fixed by the ratio of CS and CI, but I'm assuming that as with most gyrator circuits it will also be influenced by the position of the boost/cut pot? If so, anyone know how to calculate the Q at a pot setting other than full boost/cut?
I know it's going to be complex, but would be useful to be able to select Q to be a sensible value at the kind of boost/cut levels I'm likely to be using.

Also, I'll second James in asking if anyone can clarify the advantage FF claims for this Gyrator circuit over others...
 

Latest posts

Back
Top