On Tue, 11 Dec 2012 15:35:09 -0600, Darrall Dougherty wrote: > Well I have some 5532's on order. Should get them next week. > Never done much soldering. So I hope that goes well...LOL The soldering is easy; it's the desoldering that can be a pain, especially if you try for getting the old IC out in one piece, and you just have a regular soldering iron tip. (There exist special soldering iron bits that can heat the pins of an IC all at once). Definitely, you need a spring-loaded solder pump. Also, solder-wicking braid (the finer the braid, the better it absorbs). You after pumping away the solder from all the joints on the bottom side, you may find it necessary to do some wicking around the pins from the component side. One thing that is quite indispensable is a finger drill, and a set of fine drill bits. After you get an IC out, you may find that some holes are plugged up with solder that won't yield to pumping or wicking. The easiest thing is to re-drill them with a 25 mil bit. You need patience. Take the time and don't force anything. Swap one thing at a time and test in between, making sure that chip is doing its job before replacing the next one. When soldering an IC in, do not apply too much heat to a pin for too long. Also, I prefer not to go from one pin to the next, but to spread the heat around in a pattern, the thinking being that adjacent pins convey heat to adjacent areas on the chip. For something with 8 pins, I do increments of 3 around the circle: pins 1, 4, 7, 2, 5, 8, 3, 6. If you find yourself heating for more than two or three seconds, back off, let everything cool, then do another pin and come back to that one. Flux is your friend. Apply flux to pins and pads. Installing sockets is something to think about. I don't do it for audio, in order not to introduce mechanical contacts. We already have contacts in numerous jack-plug connection, tube sockets and potentiometers.