Adding Vintage VU Meters to an Aleph J

[eliasb1979]

I recently picked up a pair of vintage Weston VU Meters from a Quad Eight.

I am hoping I can add them to an Aleph J that I am building. (I previously built and F5 without issue.)

Has anyone implemented vintage meters of this type? I'm wondering if I can use this PCB board to do it.

I can run 15v from a small transformer or add a regulator and use the 24V from my existing power supply.

One thing I'm unclear on is where this could go in the chain from preamp to amp to speaker outputs. In other words, what is the input to the VU board?

Will it have any negative input on the sound quality?

This is purely for looks.

 

[rayma]

This is for line level signals, such as the preamp output. If you don't want to have to adjust the gain to see the
needles move (it would then be very loud), connect this to the tape out. You may still have to adjust the gain.
Looks like the meters won't load the preamp.

 

[qwertyl]

I used similar VU meters in my Aleph J build: Aleph J | diyaudio

 

[flancfuster]

I used similar VU meters in my Aleph J build: Aleph J | diyaudio

Nice build. What is the part number for bridge rectifiers?

 

[Zen Mod]

simplest thing, and good enough for amp is Fig.5 here : Project 128

put trimpot in place of series resistor

 

[qwertyl]

Nice build. What is the part number for bridge rectifiers?

Thanks. I think it is APT30DF60HJ from Microsemi.

 

[eliasb1979]

Does anyone have a view on whether that PCB board would work and is worth using?

 

[Zen Mod]

schematic is much more worth than nice pcb pic

 

[eliasb1979]

Unfortunately I don't have the schematic. None of the VU meter boards on that auction site seem to provide them.