Dear DIY Audio builder!
This RN73 Building Guide was created to help you make your own mic preamp based on the famous British class-A design. Many people agree that this is one of the most difficult do-it-yourself projects and it is not recommended for the beginners. However, we feel confident that even builders with little experience can make themselves this beautiful preamp using our Guide.
Before you start the build please read this introduction. You will find some useful information that will help you structure your build process so that it suites you best.
In the RN73 there are several different tasks to accomplish:
- Working with PCBs. This is quite standard and is not very difficult.
- Making switch assemblies. This is the most difficult part and something that stops many novices. We will guilde you step-by-step through each and every switch assembly to make sure that everything is done correctly.
- Wiring the pieces together. This step requires attention because of many different wires and connections. Wiring is not very difficult but it is time and energy consuming.
- Testing and adjusting the preamp. There should be no difficulties with that. You will need a DMM for this step. We also suggest using Audio Precision (hardware) or SpectraPlus (software) analyzers for measuring the unit specs.
Before we start, a couple of words about the structure of the Guide. There are several sections that describe all tasks listed above. You can find all the links in the menu to the left. We recommend that you start with the easiest one and complete the PCBs first. The next step is making switch assemblies. We suggest that you make the Gain switch assembly the last because of its complexity. All other steps are pretty straightforward and you should not have any difficulties with them.
Please note: access to the Guide will be provided with the RN73 PCBs set.