[sdiy] NE566 vs. LM566 (and the 555/556 too)

[Greg James]

Thanks to all (and esp. John) - I've ordered a bunch of NE566s from
Electronic Goldmine (below).

FWIW: the eBay chap sent me the following explanation:

A few years ago when Thomas Henry shut down Midwest-Analog, I wrote him to
see if I could buy his stock of 566 books or at least get permission to copy
them if they were going to be out of print. He denied permission stating he
had plans for republishing, so I only made references in my listings, no
copies. At the same time I asked his preference. He stated a preference for
the Signetics, but I do not remember why or how strongly. In his 'Making
Music with the 566' that I have, he doesn't seem to state a preference. All
I could find in it was a different 'k' constant (Ks=2 vs. Kn=2.4) in the
frequency formula [ I haven't checked, but you will probably see that same
difference in the two vendor datasheets.] If the difference was critical, I
figure he would steer you away.

I have also seen a preference for the Signetics mentioned on discussion
boards a couple of times, but that was too long ago for me to remember the
basis for them. I'm not part of the music business and have no personal
knowledge/opinion in those types of applications.

I've only had the Signetics and have never found a need to buy any Nationals
[or NTE] to compare them in any application.



So, his prices are about the same as Electronic Goldmine, he conducts
himself as a stand-up guy (I've bought from him in the past), but the NE566
"preference" looks like a bit of marketing spin. BTW: his area of interest
is HAM radio.

cheers,
Greg

-----Original Message-----
From: John Mahoney [mailto:jmahoney at gate.net]
Sent: Sunday, August 19, 2007 4:35 PM
To: synth-diy at dropmix.xs4all.nl
Cc: gjames at kddlab.com
Subject: Re: [sdiy] NE566 vs. LM566 (and the 555/556 too)



>As you know, the NE566 is really hard to find.
>There's a chap on eBay selling them for $6-$7 apiece....

The NE566 in 8-pin DIP package is $5.95 from The Electronic Goldmine:
http://www.goldmine-elec-products.com/prodinfo.asp?number=A10253

I'm with Tim: I doubt there's a functional difference between the NE
and LM chips.
--
john


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