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Velleman k8098 audio analyzer kit?

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Wow, no interest! Well, I ordered them, mine should be here Saturday, my brother's Monday. Also ordered a couple power supplies for them. I'll post pics even if nobody cares during the assembly.
 
I built one, I dig it. Was a fun little build- but be aware that there are 10 surface mount capacitors you’ll need to solder, as well as a number of small very close together pins.
Make sure you’ve got a fine tip for your soldering iron.
 
Definitely post pics, I enjoy following along with other people’s builds and generally learn something that will help me with my next.
 
I have a few tips, and a decent Weller soldering station. Pretty sure I'll manage. Hope my brother pulls it off. He's built a few kits now, so he should do ok.
 
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Power supply is here, and it works. 12v 2a adapter switching supply wall wart doohickey. Actual voltage is 12.22v. Loaded it down with 1.75a load, and it barely got warm, and dropped to 12.1v. Should be fine, I think the analyzer draws 375ma.
 
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Kit is here, gave it a once over. Doesn't look too difficult. I'll post some pics when I get it all unpacked, and my bench is cleaned off.
 
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20200224_070033.jpg

Well, got the main board assembled. It was pretty easy. I freaked out when the quartz crystal and caps for the oscillator weren't in there. Turns out they switched the pic to one with an internal oscillator. Nothing in the documentation about this, and they're still shown on the schematic.
 
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The display board was definitely a challenge. The surface mount caps weren't bad, but the leads to the LCD were kind of a pain. First time I tried to fire it up, I got a blank screen. Then I spotted a tiny solder bridge on the lcd. Cleaned that up, touched up a few other spots, and it worked!

Not a fan of the way the face plate is attached, soldering those bolts is jangy. I would rather have 4 small stainless, or black oxide bolts through the faceplate.
 
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I had to clean up a couple solder bridges on mine as well, those things were far too close together for my liking.
 
I bought a project box, and a terminal strip for it. Will post pics when I get that done. Hooked it up to the headphone out of an old radio I had laying around. It works great!
 
I’m thinking about buying another so that I can measure each channel at the same time without blending them.
 
I picked one of these up someplace -- To be honest, I cannot even remember where. I think I got it from a vendor at the "Worlds Longest Yard Sale" a few years ago. I'll also be honest in that I had no idea what it was when I bought it. I just knew it had something to do with audio, and it had an LCD screen, so I went for it.

Mine does work, and I'm impressed with it's functionality.

I've also been struggling to come up with a budget design for a tube amp appropriate dummy load -- In other words something relatively low power. I think I have a solution for this on the way in the mail.

Then I got the idea to throw the dummy load and the Velleman in the same box. It will be similar to, but a little larger than what @dB happy made. It will also have a switch for 4 ohm, 8 ohm, or No Load, and a switch to connect the Velleman to the left or right channel (AFAIK, the Velleman only has one input.). I will have 2 sets of Speaker terminals to make connecting it "pass thru" to speakers/and or to a separate wattmeter easier/neater.

Other ideas include a Lithium Polymer battery in the same box with appropriate USB charge/boost modules, or perhaps just a USB socket and a boost module.
 
Scrap above project.

I was planning on using Metal film resistors (The things in a TO-220 case, but missing a leg). I have since read that these devices are easily blown by transient loads. Even though what I was planning would have been rated at 60W, and I was only planning on using it with a 20-30W tube amp, I decided to not start a whole new project around something that may not work.

I've ordered more appropriate resistors, which will just stay "loose".

My Velleman audio analyzer will also remain "stand alone" for now.
 
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