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John Fields John Fields is offline
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Default Mixing 4 audio channels to 3?

On Wed, 9 Nov 2011 12:31:43 -0800, DaveC wrote:

First you can replace C1-[4?] with 1uF each. Replace C8 with 220uF, and
omit U4 & C9 entirely.


Leave C5-7 as is?

You dont want to use a 50k pot followed by a 10k load (R5-12).


Teach this man to fish: why don't I want to use 50K pot & 10K load
combination?


---
OK, here's opamps 101:

You're using the inverting - or "summing" - amplifier configuration
because all of the sources are feeding loads connected to virtual
grounds and, consequently, can't interact and cause crosstalk between
channels.

Here's how it works: (view with a fixed-pitch font)

.. E2 E3
.. \ /
.. E1 +--[R2]--+
.. \ | |
.. +--[R1]--+--|-\ |
.. | | --+
.. [GEN] +--|+/
.. | |
.. GND GND

Now, what the opamp's job is is to make the output voltage (E3)swing
to whatever it needs to be to make the voltage on the inverting (-)
input be the same as the voltage on the non-inverting (+) input.

In this case the + input is at ground, 0V, so if R1 is equal to R2,
and E1 is at 1V, then E3 has to go to -1V to make E2 = 0V.

What also happens is that since one end of R1 is sitting at 0V and the
other end is sitting at 1V, it's the same as if the end with 0V on it
was connected to ground and, indeed, the same current will flow
through the resistor in either situation.

But what does that have to do with a 50k pot feeding a 10k load?

Well...

Considering the 10k resistor to be grounded on one end and the other
end connected to a pot wired like a voltage divider, you'll have this:


..Vin--+
.. |R1
.. [POT]--+
.. | |R2
.. | [10K]
.. | |
..GND--+-----+


Note that the portion of the pot's resistive element located between
the slider and ground is connected in _parallel_ with R2, so for a 50k
pot and a 10k load the total resistance will be:


.. R1 * R2 50k * 10k
.. Rt = --------- = ----------- ~ 8333 ohms
.. R1 + R2 50k + 10k


Now, with the opamp in there we'll have:


.. E2 E3
.. \ /
.. E1 +--[R3]--+
.. |R1 | |
.. [POT]--[R2]--+--|-\ |
.. | | --+
.. GND +--|+/
.. |
.. GND

If R1 is at 50k and R2 and R3 are 10k, then the circuit will look
like:


.. E2 E3
.. \ R3 /
.. E1 +-[10k]-+
.. \ R2 | |
.. +--[10k]--+--|-\ |
.. | | -+
.. [50k] +--|+/
.. | |
.. GND GND


and the output voltage will be:

.. -E1 * R3 -1V * 10k
.. E3 = --------- = ---------- = -1V
.. R2 10k

As the pot is rotated, the part of the element between the input
voltage and the wiper will appear in series with the parallel
combination of R2 and the element between the wiper and ground, so the
circuit now looks like this:


.. E1 E3
.. | R3 /
.. [Ra] +-[10k]-+
.. | R2 | |
.. E2-+----[10k]--+--|-\ |
.. | | -+
.. [Rb] +--|+/
.. | |
.. GND GND


and, since R2 is effectively in parallel with Rb, that'll look like
this:


.. E1
.. |
.. [Ra] E2
.. | /
.. +-----+
.. | |
.. [Rb] [R2]
.. | |
.. GND GND


Now, since Rb and R2 are in parallel, their total resistance will be:


.. Rb * R2
.. Rt = ---------
.. Rb + R2


and the voltage across them will be:


.. E1 * Rt
.. E2 = ---------
.. Ra + Rt

Just for grins let's say we crank the pot so that Ra is 5k.

Then we can solve for Rt:

.. 45kR * 10kR
.. Rt = ------------- ~ 8182 ohms,
.. 45kR + 10kR

And E2:


.. 1V * 8182R
.. E2 = --------------- ~0.621 volt
.. 5000R + 8182R


Now, since that voltage appears across R2, and R2 is connected to a
virtual ground, a potential difference exists across the resistor and
charge must flow through it.

That current is supplied by the output of the opamp and, since it must
drive the virtual ground to zero volts, the sign of its output voltage
must be opposite to the sign of E2 while, since R2 and R3 are the same
value, the opamp's output will be the same magnitude as the input
voltage.


.. E1 -0.621V
.. | 0.621V R3 /
.. [Ra] / +-[10k]-+
.. | / R2 | |
.. +-+--[10k]--+--|-\ |
.. | / | -+
.. [Rb] / +--|+/
.. | 0V |
.. GND GND

"OK", you may say, "but what on Earth does that have to do with a 50k
pot feeding a 10k load?"


If we make a table of changes in output voltage as a function of
successive 5kohm changes in pot resistance, we'll have:

.. R V dV
..--------------------
.. 50k 1.000 0.379
.. 45k 0.621 0.177
.. 40k 0.444 0.103
.. 35k 0.341 0.069
.. 30k 0.272 0.050
.. 25k 0.222 0.040
.. 20k 0.182 0.036
.. 15k 0.146 0.035
.. 10k 0.111 0.042
.. 5k 0.069 0.069
.. 0k 0.000 -----

You can see from dV that the change in voltage isn't very linear.

---

I'd go
with 10k pots and 100k for R5-12, adjusting the nfb Rs accordingly.
NT


"adjusting" means replace those with 100K's also?


---
I'd leave the 10k fixed resistors in there and make the right and left
channel pots dual 1k's.

BTW, I plotted the difference between 50k pots into 10k loads and 1k
pots into 10k loads (same as 10k pots into 100k loads) and you can
find the PDF at:



If that link doesn't work it's over on abse as:

"Pots, loads, and linearity."

--
JF