Stereo VU Meter

Does your amplifier have a level indicator? Have you always envied the fancy amps with LED level bar graphs? Would you like to build your own STE E! LE"EL #$D#%&T! ?
This is it. It's a STE E! LED LE"EL 'ETE . It's the cheapest and best bar graph display available and best of all, it uses readily available components. You only need a handful of LEDs, 22 transistors, some resistors, diodes and a set of electros it doesn't re!uire any chips. You may be "ondering "hy "e didn't choose the L# $%&' or L# $%&( bar graph LED driver chips. The reason is simple. )e learnt our lesson from our #ini *re!uency +ounter ,oo-. In it "e used a relatively novel chip, the +D '.2/. 0nd after releasing &.,... copies of the boo-, "ith printed circuit boards attached, the chip became almost unobtainable in 0ustralia. This proved to us that many of the readers "ere ma-ing the #ini fre!uency 1ro2ect. 3o", a chip such as the L# $%&' is scarce at the best of times. +an you imagine "hat "ould happen if "e used it in a pro2ect4 3inety per cent of the readers "ould miss out. This means "e must confine our pro2ects to readily available components and avoid rare items, no matter ho" inviting they loo-. )e compared a LED level meter using the chip "ith our unit and the difference "as negligible. ,oth had the same !uic- response time and about the same readout values on the line of LED5s for the same input signal. ,ut the big difference is in the cost of construction. ,y using transistors, you "ill save 6' over the cost of t"o chips. If you don't mind the additional time re!uired to fit the e7tra components, the 6' is a valuable saving and by using discrete components, you can build it from parts you may already have in stoc-.

The Stereo "( 'eter )% board with the components fitted* !nly the battery and speaker are e+ternal, connected to flying leads* 0 close up of the completed unit. The overlay ma-es construction easy. #a-e sure the left hand ro" of resistors starts "ith '8- at the bottom and '-8 at the top. I sa" one unit "ith the "hole ro" reversed. It made very little difference to the performance of the unit, but it "as not !uite as sensitive as the correct version.

The -& . &)H section of the 9tereo :; #eter circuit. The <front end< section is belo"=

The -!!TST &) circuit connects to the LED bar graph via 0 , +. >nly one ,>>T9T?01 circuit is provided on the board. It is capable of driving both bar graphs in a mono mode. *or a stereo readout, you "ill need to build another bootstrap circuit. This "ill give a 9TE?E> 9>;3D LE:EL I3DI+0T>?.

The %ircuit
The circuit basically consists of t"o identical channels feeding t"o ro"s of LED5s. 0 high gain bootstrap front end is also provided to allo" the board to be coupled to an inbuilt spea-er@microphone "hich "ill give a mono readout of the sounds being pic-ed up. 0 mini trim pot is provided to set the sensitivity. This ma-es the pro2ect completely portable and it can be used as a 9>;3D LE:EL meter in a disco or other noisy situation. To give a read out in d, it "ould re!uire calibration. The simplest method of calibration "ould be to compare it "ith a commercial unit and give each LED a value in d,. If you build another bootstrap circuit, a portable stereo sound detector can be made. It "ill be able to compare sound level in different parts of a room or compare the relative outputs from 2 spea-ers. 0s designed, each stereo section can be connected across the terminals of a spea-er and the unit mounted in some prominent place for an eye catching display.

%onstruction
,efore you begin, lay the components on the "or- bench in a position relative to that on the 1+ board. 9ome of the parts have the same value, such as the $$.? resistors. These should be positioned on the board "ith their tolerance bands all around the same "ay. 9eparate the t"o ,+((8's from the other t"o transistors and be sure you can identify the 22u electrolytic from the '.8u. The board loo-s deceptively simple because most of the components are placed in ro"s. It "ill ta-e at least one and half hours to construct the pro2ect and the most important point throughout construction is to create a neat appearance. This means aligning each component "ith the ne7t and -eeping the heights all the same. >ther"ise the neat appearance "ill be destroyed.

The 9tereo :; #eter printed circuit board

The suggested method of construction is to start "ith the resistors and diodes. These should be inserted alternately as re!uired by the board so that you have ma7imum room "hen placing them in position. 9lo" and sure "ins the race. It is best to insert the parts one at a time and push them firmly onto the board. 3othing loo-s "orse than a mass of floating components, some high, some bent this "ay, others bent the other "ay. >nce you push them onto the board, bend their "ires out"ards so that the component is held in position. Turn the board over and solder the t"o connections !uic-ly. +hec- that the component has not shifted, then snip the t"o "ires. +ontinue do"n each ro", adding one item at a time. If you find you are closing over some of the holes "ith solder "hen you are soldering, I suggest you only tac- solder the leads and "ait for the other component to be inserted, before finishing the 2oint. Tac- soldering is very fast and re!uires almost no solder. This prevents the solder flo"ing over other lands and filling up the holes. You may have noticed that the t"o channels are a mirror image of one another. This means the cathodes of the LED5s face out"ards and before inserting each LED you should loointo their opa!ue body to ma-e sure they are being inserted correctly. In our prototype, the t"o top LEDs of each channel are a different colour, mainly to add interest to the display. You may choose to add another colour for the bottom t"o or three LEDs and produce an

even more e7otic display. The driver transistor for each channel and the bootstrap circuit fits onto the right hand end of the board. 0ll the component values are identified on the overlay and the t"o ,+((8's are sho"n as 'filled in', "hereas the ,+('8's are open 'D's'. There are no 2umpers on the board. Ao"ever "e have made provision for connecting the bootstrap circuit to either one or both channels via one or t"o lin-s. These lin-s are ta-en from the 'pre amp >;T' point to either the left hand channel or the right hand channel.

The 9tereo :; #eter Bit

PARTS LIST:
&C $$.? resistors 2 '8.? & && 2-2 ( '-8 ( &.2 222 $$' $%' '8' '.8mfd &/v 1+ electrolytic 2 22mfd &/v 1+ 2. ,+ ('8 transistors 2 ,+ ((8 transistors &C &3 %&' or &3 '&'C diodes &' (mm red LEDs ' (mm green LEDs 2 &..- mini trim pots & %v battery snap & spea-er C ohm / 0 "( 'ETE )% board

H!W THE %# %(#T W! 1S

The "( 'ETE consists of 2 sections3 /* -!!TST &) %# %(#T 4* -(55E T &$S#ST! 2* ST&# %&SE "!LT&.E DETE%T!

The ,>>T 9T?01 circuit is very successful at allo"ing a dynamic microphone in the form of a 2Din spea-er to detect small sounds and have them amplified sufficiently to be fed into a normal amplifier. The ,>>T9T?01 is rather uni!ue in its operation. It uses 2 directly coupled 313 transistors "ired in a similar mode to cascade to give an enormous gain. In our prototype "e measured this to be about &,... timesE In the !uiescent condition, the transistors in the bootstrap circuit are slightly turned on. This means they "ill accept a fe" millivolts from the spea-er and turn the circuit on harder or turn it off. During !uiet conditions 2 millivolts is developed across the spea-er due its resistance of C ohms. Ta-e the case "here the spea-er produces 2 millivolts "hich is in phase "ith the !uiescent voltage. This "ill turn the lo"er transistor slightly off. The collector voltage "ill rise and in doing so, ta-e the base of the top transistor "ith it. The top transistor is partially an emitter follo"er. ;nder normal circumstances, the collector voltage of the top transistor "ould rise about .2v. This "ill ma-e the emitter voltage of the top transistor rise .2v F"hich is normal for an emitter follo"erG. 3o" the top 22u electrolytic "ill transfer this .2v to the 2oin of the &.- and 2-2 resistors and cause the top transistor and turn it >3 further. This action feeds around the transistor until the transistor can rise no more. The top 22u "as previously charged and some of its voltage is lost through the 2-2 resistor. This reduces the base voltage and the transistor begins its do"n"ard e7cursion. I have ta-en the e7treme case. If the first transistor does not turn on to !uite the same e7tent, the emitter follo"er "ill rise until the loss from the top electrolytic prevents the transistor from rising any more, and it begins to fall. The lo"er 22u prevents this s"ing from appearing on the base of the lo"er transistor. It acts as a damper. The output from the ,>>T9T?01 can be as high as 2v p p and this is ample to drive the buffer stage. In fact the signal needs to be attenuated by a pot so that the range can be set according to the amplitude of the input signal. The '8.? resistor in series "ith the pot is only needed "hen the :; #eter is connected directly across spea-er lines. The ,+((8 is not an emitter follo"er. Don't get confused. It is "ired as a normal common emitter stage for a 131 transistor. Thus it "ill provide a high gain in this situation. The 0+ voltage appearing at the "iper of the &..- trim pot "ill pass through the 'u8 electrolytic and become rectified by the &3'&'C diode. )ith no signal present, the voltage on the base "ill be %v. 0s the input signal increases, the voltage on the base "ill drop to C.$(v and this is sufficient to turn the transistor >3 fully. The voltage on the collector "ill range bet"een .v and C.(v. This voltage is stored in the lo"er 'u8 and applied to the chain of C diodes. The 'u8 dictates the decay rate and gives the LE:EL #ETE? its rapid attac-, slo" decay characteristic and allo"s even brief pea-s to be detected. To reduce the decay time you can increase the electrolytic to 22u and this "ill -eep the LED5s illuminated for a longer period, similar to the commercial units. ,et"een each diode is a high value resistor. 0s the voltage rises to about ./v, the first transistor turns >3. 0t this stage the voltage on the cathode of the first diode is .v since the ./v has been dropped across it. The voltage needs to rise to about &.2v before the second transistor turns >3. This continues do"n the line "ith each transistor turning >3 at its allotted voltage level. The set of $$.? resistors limit the current through the LEDs to a safe value and the base resistors serve as a voltage dropper so that the base "ill not be forced to go higher than ./v. The number of transistors "hich can be operated in this 9taircase arrangement is limited by the battery voltage available since each transistor and diode "ill ta-e ./v from the voltage.

TEST#$.
To test the stereo :; meter, connect the t"o lin-s as sho"n on the board and connect the dynamic microphone Fspea-erG. 9older a battery snap to the board and connect a %v battery. This pro2ect is no" a self contained level meter and "ill give a dual readout of the sound detected by the spea-er. )e are using a small spea-er as a microphone as "e have had a great deal of success "ith its sensitivity. 3o calibration is re!uired. You only need to

position the pic- up Fsp-rG near a radio or stereo that is playing at normal listening level and ad2ust the sensitivity controls. These are the t"o &..- mini trim pots in the buffer stage. *irst you must set each one so that the top led is 2ust illuminated "hen a loud passage is being received. Then you need to trim the t"o displays so they produce e!ual readouts for the same information.

5&(LT 5#$D#$.
9ince each channel is identical, you "ill be able to reference off one channel to repair the other. The Hchain of transistors5 are all D+ coupled, and you can test their operation by using a &.resistor connected to a set of 2umper leads. +onnect one 2umper to the positive of a battery and touch the other onto the cathode of the lo"est diode in the staircase. You cannot do any damage to any component "hen probing around either channel and I suggest you ta-e this opportunity of seeing the effect of a turn on voltage "hen applied to a set of transistors. )hen the &.- resistor is touching the cathodes, almost all the LEDs should light up. ,y moving the resistor up the chain, the top LED "ill light. This "ill sho" the channel to be functioning and you should test the other channel for the same effect. If one LED fails to light, you may have a base emitter short in one of the transistors or the LED itself may be faulty. If any LEDs above number / fail to light, one of the diodes may be open or you may have a dry 2oint. If you have trouble getting one channel to function, you can use the components from the other channel as test pieces. This is the great advantage of having t"o identical channels. ,ut by using parts from the good channel, you could finish up "ith t"o bung channels. That's the ris- you ta-e. The buffer transistor can no" be tested by connecting the &.- to earth and touching the other end on to the base of the ,+((8 transistor. This "ill illuminate one complete ro" of LEDs. The remainder of the circuit is 0+ coupled via the 'u8 electrolytic. >nly the D+ conditions of the bootstrap section can be tested "ith simple e!uipment. ;se a multimeter to detect voltages similar to those given here=

,>>T9T?01 :>LT0IE9 ,oth transistors "ill be turned on very slightly and because it is a very high gain circuit, you cannot remove one transistor and hope to get a smaller amplification. It "ill completely fail to "or-. Aere is an application by Ierry Aolt=

Ae attends live music events in pubs and clubs. These <open mic< events enable anyone "ith an act or instrument to put on a &( minute performance. To curb the enthusiasm of some 'artists' and reduce the pressure on the organisers, I sa" the need for a visible indication of the noise level in the room. I built the 9tereo :; #eter and mounted the LEDs separately and fitted a tube over all the components. I painted the tube to ma-e the "hole pro2ect loo- impressive. It "or-ed so "ell, those running the event "ere ecstatic. The tube is closed at the top and bottom "ith 2am 2ar lids, the base lid having sufficient clearance to house the battery Fon a clipG and a small po"er s"itch. The mesh allo"s the sound to reach the microphone Fthe spea-er acts as a dynamic microphoneG.

The complete -it can be purchased from Tal-ing Electronics. To place an order, clic-= Stereo VU Meter kit