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Post by jelosno on Aug 8, 2006 10:31:54 GMT
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rickcr42
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Post by rickcr42 on Aug 8, 2006 12:43:04 GMT
almost every human on the planet loves stepped attenuators as an upgrade to the volume pot.......except me 1-they never seem to give me exactly what I want in volume 2-have one go south and it is the devil to track down the problem 3-on paper perfect left/right tracking is ideal,makes for beatiful graphs.Unfortunately my hearing is not perfect left to right and neither is audio equipement.add up all those +/- 0.5dB 20-20,000hz specs and you may find at the end one channel is out of whack by up to 3dB (worst case accumulative). 4-more connections means more that can go wrong 5-expensive Ilike an old fashioned volume pot either as dual mono pots (one for each channel) or with a balance control so it is ME that determines what is perfect left/right balance and not some model of perfection that my hearing and no system I have ever owned can come close to plus being a cheap bastard no way i spend that much ;D glad you asked ? Ask anywhere else and you will get "best upgrade ever !" "do it !" "go for it " "made my system sound better than it ever did" but then maybe that is the real reason I am anti-stepper.Different drum and all.........................
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Post by jelosno on Aug 8, 2006 13:09:39 GMT
Yeah,
the reason why I wouldn't go for a SA is that I fear that I always want the position of the attenuator be between fixed stepps.
Hmm, during my next listening session I will have a 'close ear' on the balance issue. Never figured I wanted one so far.
Stefan
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xerxes
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Post by xerxes on Aug 8, 2006 13:36:10 GMT
How about these remotely operated stepped attenuators: welbornelabs.com/remote.htm. They also supply a complete passive pre-amp kit: welbornelabs.com/zephyr.htm and I imagine they would pretty much supply it built to your specification, balanced operation, with balance control, input selectors etc. I've never actually heard one, but I like the idea of remote control as I often find that the level can vary quite drastically between tracks on some CDs, especially compilation albums and will often tweak the volume several times during an album. In addition there is a balance control and 60 discrete steps of attenuation ought to be plenty.
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rickcr42
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Post by rickcr42 on Aug 8, 2006 15:08:06 GMT
best remote volume control EVER ! Small,cheap,analog pot so no abnormal electronic crap in the signal path,cheap,has a choice of two inputs,cheap,can be put in the tape loop of a regular preamp allowing it to be totally bypassed for critical listening,cheap,is not ugly and will take up very little shelf space PERFECT ! and it's cheap
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rickcr42
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Post by rickcr42 on Aug 8, 2006 15:08:50 GMT
The assembled Welbourne Labs Zephyr actually works out at a similar price here in the UK. As standard it only one input, but it does include a balance control, which the Creek doesn't.
Zephyr £288 : Creek: £299
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xerxes
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Post by xerxes on Aug 8, 2006 17:27:38 GMT
The assembled Welbourne Labs Zephyr actually works out at a similar price here in the UK. As standard it only one input, but it does include a balance control, which the Creek doesn't.
Zephyr £288 : Creek: £299
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xerxes
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Post by xerxes on Aug 8, 2006 17:29:55 GMT
Whooops!
I don't know what happened there, I seem to have modified Rick's post rather than replying. When was I made a moderator?
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rickcr42
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Post by rickcr42 on Aug 8, 2006 18:29:51 GMT
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rickcr42
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Post by rickcr42 on Aug 8, 2006 18:31:14 GMT
and oh yeah..... "whoops" my ass !
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rickcr42
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Post by rickcr42 on Aug 9, 2006 18:26:07 GMT
back on topic................. I have and do use steppers in a limited way which is as gain trims or left/right balancing,never as the "every day use" main volume control where I like continuous rotation but if I did I personally think this one is well thought out and is reasonable enough in price to make some sense store1.yimg.com/I/glass-ware_1905_570044glass-ware.stores.yahoo.net/aikampstepat.htmlglass-ware.stores.yahoo.net/aikampstepat1.htmlThe 100k attenuator impedance is fine if part of an actual amp but even better if you just purchase the boards you can customize the impedance to suit any audio product needing either a volume/balance control or better yet as an external attentuator/balancer add-on box preceeding your amp to control excessive gain at the input and/or balancy the left and right channels or any combination of the above by just scaling the resistors general info on matching impedances www.goldpt.com/info.html
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rickcr42
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Post by rickcr42 on Aug 9, 2006 19:18:52 GMT
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FritzS
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Post by FritzS on Aug 11, 2006 14:44:51 GMT
best remote volume control EVER ! Small,cheap,analog pot so no abnormal electronic crap in the signal path,cheap,has a choice of two inputs,cheap,can be put in the tape loop of a regular preamp allowing it to be totally bypassed for critical listening,cheap,is not ugly and will take up very little shelf space PERFECT ! and it's cheap I bet - inside are Penny+Giles www.pennyandgiles.com/ 2nd bet Noble www.nobleusa.com/ or TKD www.tkd-corp.com/02_products/p_04variable_a.html
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rickcr42
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Post by rickcr42 on Aug 11, 2006 15:44:06 GMT
my guess would be Alps since they have a motorized potetntiometer as a standard part offering. I like the Welborne a lot on many levels but still have an aversion for anything electronic in the signal path that is not needed so prefer the simple "'variable ressistor voltage divider" of a potentiometer over ANY electronic volume control (though would like to whip up and try an optical control one day). My personal experience is if you have only digital sources,sources where the audio signal has already been hacked up then re-assembled it matters not if you hack it up again with the chances of actually hearing any degradation slim at best. But if your sources are analog such as vinyl or analog tape you noticeably lose signal quality with anything but linear analog passive devices in the signal path.This is a thing you would usually not notice unless you did an actual head-to-head evaluation but once you do would run from anything in the path that is an active device not there to perform an amplifying function. I have no remote control in my system other than my TV feed and yes it can be a real pain in the ass at times to have to jump up and fly across the room to lower volume (telephone,door knock,etc) and makes balancing the left and right channels impossible at times with loudspeakers but I will take inconvenience over sonic quality or why bother spending all that long green to begin with ? Having said that,the Welborne would possibly be the ideal if put into a tape loop where it can be activated when conveneince is the way (my family HATES my minimalist approach and complicated control scheme ) yet totally bypassed when not wanted or needed though that would mean adding a tape loop to the device to retain the function on my control center. A simple matter of parallel RCA jacks to the input and a "monitor" switch to select between the remote volume control and a "new" set of input jacks (tape input).So for the price of a DPDT switch and four RCA jacks defeatable while retaining full recording facilities.Plus it IS a cute bugger
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FritzS
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Post by FritzS on Aug 12, 2006 13:44:02 GMT
costs about EUR 29,00 RS Poti,27mm,50mW,motorisiert,50K 234-6617 The "Rolls Roice" from potentiometers Penny+Giles www.pennyandgiles.com/ costs much more, there gives only 10kOHM log. They are hard to get in small number of pieces
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rickcr42
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Post by rickcr42 on Aug 12, 2006 16:40:51 GMT
No thanks man.Quite content using these puppies at $10 per single section pot : Great detail,sonics no stepper can touch,built like a damn tank........cheap
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rickcr42
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Post by rickcr42 on Aug 12, 2006 17:10:41 GMT
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