PASSIVE RELAY-BASED CONTROLL ROOM KITS BUILD/SUPPORT TREAD

[Igor]

Hi, sorry for "fast" reply, yes, you can take off-the-shelve cable for db-25 side,
at other side it depends on your studio setup (xlr/pl/etc), please see schemo for
detailed pin-out.

 

[crisotop]

Between the controller and the relay board a standard VGA cable should be used, or am I wrong? I just tried to fire the unit up for the first time and as soon as I plug in a VGA cable in the relay/main board "to controller" socket (and only there - the other end of the cable is still not plugged in the controller box) the power supply shorts down (+12V dissapears) and starts to hum. When I unplug the VGA cable I clearly hear the relays clacking and the PSU works normally.

thanks
christoph

 

[Igor]

Hi Chris, take other VGA cable, maybe your cable is shorted. As well, power supply rated current should be 2A.

 

[crisotop]

Hey, tried about 6 different cables - Pin 4 on the mainboard is permanently connected to shield/ground on every VGA cable I have, so I just cut off pin 4 on the mainboard vga connector. +12V is still transmitted via 14/15.

christoph

 

[Igor]

Cool... I used about 10 different manufacturer's VGA cables on more than 30 crm modules,
and pin4 never was connected to gnd.
Yes, just cut 4 on motherboard, will work fine.

 

[crisotop]

I also had to cut the trace from pin 4 to 14/15 on the little VGA board from the control unit. Now everything is working fine (at least it seems so, didn't connect any audio signals to it, but the relays clack as soon as I adjust the volume or in/output settings).

thanks!
christoph

 

[Igor]

OK, like to hear this. Let me know your sonic impressions.

 

[crisotop]

theoretically speaking it should be possible to expand this thing to 5.1? Is it just as simple as adding another 2 motherboards and feeding them the three control signals from the control unit?

thanks
christoph

 

[rob_gould]

Hi Christoph,

Answered by Igor on page 3 :

Hi Paul, this controller is made for stereo, but you can stack 3 audio boards.
If you don't need separate controll for front/rear speakers, it is OK.

 

[Igor]

Yes, for level control only. Just hook 2 another motherboards on control signals in parallel.
If you need balance control like l/r or f/b, no.
It is easy to add mutes for lf/rf/....etc.

 

[crisotop]

thanks rob & igor - I knew that question had come up before, but I couldn't find it.

Any chance someone has a source for D-Sub mounting screws (to attach the female connectors to the case and secure attached male cables to the connector)? They should be M3, but the screws I've got won't fit?

thanks
christoph

 

[Igor]

Hi Chris, they are not M3, but american standard ones. If you can't find them,
pm me your shipping address, will send.

 

[crisotop]

So imperials? Will try to get them at a computer store - shouldn't be too hard...

cheers
christoph

 

[Igor]

Yap, this is standard stuff.

 

[guitarmaker]

Received the CRM boards yesterday.  They look great!!  Any chance a BOM is on the horizon Igor?  Thanks.

Steve

 

[rob_gould]

Hi Igor,

My monitor controller is up and running and passing audio.  It works really nicely!  Just got a few more XLR ins and outs to solder and I'll post up some pics.

I have one question that I don't think has been answered yet.  When selecting speakers 1 or 2, when you pick one, it turns off the other.  But the sub on mine seems to work independently, which makes sense but was not what I was expecting.  Is there any way to change this so that there are 3 speaker outputs rather than two and an independent sub output which is either on or off?

Cheers,

Rob

 

[Igor]

Hi Rob, please mind, this is "cut-off" version of monitor module from my mastering console and goes as-is...
otherwice the price is bit different. I prefer to cut features instead cutting the audio quality.
Anyway, just adding some relays, toggle and xlr's will solve it

 

[rob_gould]

Hi Igor,

Yeah I understand - serves me right for not checking before labelling my front panel anyway

I have one question (read problem )

All my source and speaker selectors work correctly, the volume knob works correctly and mono button works correctly.

However, when I press dim, it selects source 2, and when I press trim it also changes the source (presumably to 4 cos I hear the relays click, but that button is not hooked up on my monitor controller). 

I have looked at the schematic, and I see that input 2 and dim are connected, and also input 4 and trim are connected too.  I have gone round with a multimeter making sure there are no shorts based on what should be connected in the schematic, but I can't find anything that seems wrong.

Do you have any idea what could cause the dim button to select input 2?  I'm sure this must be a wiring issue, but do you have any idea where to look based on my explanation as I am stuck?

Bear in mind that I have wired all my controls off board so there is the potential for short circuits etc, but this did all work properly before I put it in the case, so I'm worried now that I may have damaged the CRM chip.  Could this be possible?

Thanks,

Rob

 

[Igor]

Rob, if control chip was damaged, it was not work at all or whole port was not working...
Seems it is short. Check everything on keyboard. It arranged as key matrix, so,
you don't need many wires to hook it to controller.
If you need another crm chip to check, please pm.

 

[kibadachi]

Hi Igor,

My source and speaker selectors work correctly.
The problem i experience is with the volume knob. The left channel works correctly from cut to 0, but the right channel works 2 steps correct and then fails 2 steps, then the next 2 steps are correct again and then the next 2 steps fail again and so on... This is repeated from cut to 0. (2 up, 2 down, 2 up, 2 down, 2 up 2 down,.....)
I checked for shorts or loose ends but I can't find anything that seems wrong.
Do you have any idea what could cause this ?  As it is so consistent in behaviour i realise it wil be probably just one little part  that i overlook or have damaged.
Do you have an idea where to look based on my explanation?


Thanks,

Jeffrey