Citrus Hill Studios

This is a project that i have wanted to tackle for quite a while. The basic sketch idea is to have a completely passive monitor section for a DAW with all of the functionality of the big money consoles and the quality signal path of a mastering console. I really like the aesthetic of the Shadow Hills and Universal Audio gear, so I’m going to try and get to look as retro as possible. Here are the basic design ideas that i’m going to try to tackle.
1. All audio paths to be fully balanced all the way through the signal chain.
2. stepped audiophile quality volume knobs. probably stereo only. possible to upgrade to 5.1 or 7.1 at a later date.
3. speaker selector switch for 3 pairs of outputs for the amplifiers.
4. Three input selectors with four inputs each. one for the mains, one for cue one, and one for cue two. These will have one input solely for each selector, and three inputs common to all three selectors. I.E., the Mains selector will have the DAW main output, plus the three common inputs on it’s selector switch.
5. Talkback with 30db dim for cues.
6. Mono switch for the mains output.
7. 20db dim switch for the mains output
8. old school RCA console knobs.
9. Sifam Vintage series VU meters.
10. Heavy duty case with a thick front plate. probably powder coated with a muted retro color.
11. If it all goes well, i’d ultimatly like to have switchable multiple transformer outputs like the Shadow Hills Equinox. Steel, Iron, Nickel, or no Transformer. This might be a little much to tackle for the first go around as i haven’t done much design with transformers. we’ll see how it goes.

I’ll try to post a few pics as i start sketching out the front plate layout. Then comes the schematic and interior layout. Hopefully i can get to this pretty soon, as i need to start building something and stop just talking about it.