Electronics for Vinyl

I gave it five stars assuming one is interested. If you don’t own or desire to own a phonograph or listen to records this will be the worlds most useless tome. If, the the other hand you want to know how tiny groves on a plastic disk become sound there maybe something here for you. If you think you might want to do a diy phono preamp this book is spot on. Also if you design such devices for a living then this is even more up your alley. It may even be of interest if you are just shopping for a phono preamp. There treatment of the subject is thorough, detailed, though you need at least a general comprehension of ohm’s law and then some to understand the subject.Bad comments: The skill of proof reading must be in decline. This is not the author’s first book but it is the first edition. In the tradition of some of his earlier works there are occasional disagreements between the component labels in the text and in the diagrams. As I the past I expect these will be corrected by the third edition <sigh>. I’m not sure but I think there may have been a misplaced decimal point or two.Warning: D. Self does audio design “by the numbers”. The priclie ones being noise, distortion and headroom (the first two as low as possible and the third as great as practical). You will NOT read even a hint that design A sounds analytical while design sounds more musical. Ie, Self has zero sympathy with audio subjectivism. In past publications he may have argued the subject but now he has no patience for it at all. Early in on the first pages he dismisses the subjective approach with contemp and disdain. After that it all by the numbers. If this offends then look for a different book!Fringe benefit: if you have a taste for understated Brit humor you find it keeps on occasionally when you least expect.Personal quandary: I date from before the CD was even conceived. I remember LPs are irritating noisy devises. The whole thing was Rube Goldbergish and shouldn’t have worked in a rational universe. The sound quality from the best equipment and LP’s degraded with multiple playings. In my opinion the quality of the typical sound is so poor that that it submerges the benefits of the low noise and distortion achieved by Mr Self’s designs. I suspect that the pleasures optimized audio design accrue more to the designer and builder than to the user.Additional thought for 2nd edition: show a complete phono preamp schematic with “devinylizer” inserted. I know I shouldn’t need to be told how to do that but I’m far to likely to overlook something that Self finds obvious.

Electronics For Vinyl is written in Doug Self's usual very clear and easily assimilated style, and contains a wealth of information for those who wish to build record playing preamps in a cookbook approach to circuit, and those who wish to design/engineer their own circuit. Note that some of the material was published in Doug's previous book Small Signal Audio Design. It's not for hobbyists that are beginners in the electronics game, but for those who are experienced in electronics generally, it contains in one volume all you really need to know about preamp design.

A completely exhaustive study on preamplifier design. If you are a professional or simply a DIY'er, this book is something you must read. It covers every nuance, complete with theory and testing to back up the facts presented. The book is well worth the cost of admission.

This is a great book with plenty of information about vinyl circuits. It's easy to read and understand, even if you are not an expert in audio electronics. My only issue with the book is that if you already own Small Signal Audio Design 2nd Edition than this book is basically pointless. 90-95% of the information in here is word for word from SSAD 2nd Edition. The text is also split into 2 columns per page, unlike SSAD, which makes it somewhat harder to read.Overall, if you're interested in phono circuits only this is a great one-stop shop. However, personally I would recommend Small Signal Audio Design 2nd Edition instead. It has 90% of the same info from this book plus much more about more general preamp design. Don't get SSAD 3rd edition, they removed most of the phono stuff so you would have to buy this book.

Excellent progressive learning starting from established common circuits and progressively improving them to theoretical best. Just when you think he's done with upgrades he pulls another out the bag.The information, techniques and conclusions contained in this book would otherwise take years of research to obtain, but you can learn it in a few days.Love the no nonsense dialog. Highly recommended!

Alle relevanten Themengebiete werden besprochen: Komponenten, Topologien und Architekturen sowie eine große Anzahl von Schaltungsmöglichkeiten. Interessante Aspekte werden mit SPICE und mit Messungen des Autors begleitet. Wie man ein RIAA-Gegenkopplungsnetzwerk für nichtinvertierende Verstärkerschaltungen analytisch berechnet, verrät der Autor aber nicht, um bei diesem Thema im Beratungsgeschäft zu bleiben, wie er schreibt. Aus demselben Grund verrate ich es hier auch nicht.Es gibt aber in dem Buch jede Menge fertige Dimensionierungen von RIAA-Gegenkopplungen für unterschiedliche Verstärkungen, deren Impedanz der Leser zudem nach Bedarf skalieren kann. Für die Entwicklerpraxis reicht das auch aus.Verblüffend ist der Umstand, dass MM-Eingänge mit einer aktiven Last weiter im Rauschen optimiert werden können, aber das funktioniert tatsächlich und das Thema wird ausführlich besprochen.Neben "The Sound of Silence" sollte daher dieses Buch in jedem Entwickler-Bücherregal stehen, wenn Vinyl-Elektronik ein Thema ist.

I wanted a full picture of TT operation and thereafter circuitry.This book generally deals with circuitry only.Did not suit me.It is good if you are looking only for electronics.

My partner was extremely happy to have received this book.

This book makes the claim to be the most comprehensive book ever produced on the topic. This is not a difficult claim to justify as there is no competition. My biggest criticism is that for a book published in 2017 there is nothing in it that is not the best part of 20 years old. OK, Vinyl has seen a revival after being largely obsolete for 20+ years but, in the meantime, enthusiasts have been developing novel solutions to the age old problem of amplifying the often low signal levels produced by Moving Coil and Moving Magnet cartridges.The bad points:-- Absolutely nothing on FET pre-amp designs; this is a serious failing given that there have been several good FET based designs in the literature over the last 10 years - these only get a mention in the footnotes. As stated in the section on bipolar amplification of MC signals, all the bipolar transistors used in past designs are now no longer in production wherasa number of low-noise FETs are still in production and suitable for new designs.- Self offers a review of Linear ICs that doesn't include anything released in the last 20 years; he just presents a reprint of work done decades ago.- The section on Moving Coil pre-amps is based on components long since obsolete without any significant effort to offer practical alternative solutions.- The section on discrete circuitry is similarly ancient; if it had included a design based on the OC71 it would have at least warranted an award for nostalgia.- The 'six practical projects' are just a rehash of previously published designs covered in two of Self's other books.Perhaps his approach is summed up in his comment in the chapter on 'Signals from Vinyl' - "However, for reasons that have little to do with logic or common-sense, vinyl is still very much alive." One senses that Douglas views the revival of vinyl as subjectivist audiophile snake-oil. Since there is a market - he might as well add his objectivist oil to the products on offer.The Better points:--There is some entirely new work on subsonic, ultrasonic and scratch filtering. However I can't see many enthusiasts getting round to realising these. Self is a professional designer and these are the sorts of things you'd expect to see in a pro setup; however the vinyl resurgence is mainly domestic. Similarly the sections on line outputs and level indication beg the question on who is seen as the target audience.- If you want to get the RIAA curve accurate to <0.1dB, this is the book to get you there.- There is some useful stuff on power supplies not covered in other works.If you have not got any other of the Douglas Self titles this is a good compendium of his existing work for those interested in this specific field. Similarly if you have the vinyl bug sufficiently to have spend serious money on an audiophile system this book costs less than Van Den Hul's cheapest phono cable.As most of my school reports read "could do better".