So I did try all those different potentiometers

[rich121]

Originally posted by Kuei Yang Wang
Konnichiwa,



Big Money?

My best Interconnect can be made per 1m pair for under £7/$14.

For that you get goldplated fine silver (99.995%) wire, "zero connector" RCA Plugs and Airdielectic with phantastically low capacitance to boot.

Takes less than 15 Minute per pair with a modicum of practice.

Big Money?

Sayonara

I am very interested in your interconnect, if you don't mind sharing?

Thanks...

[Nuuk]

Don't hold your breath Rich. The poster is now involved with commercial hi-fi and hardly ever posts on the DIY forums.

[chuck55]

So how about TDK? Or Did I miss it in the shuffle?

[martinbls]

Hello!

I just found a store (online, called Banzai Music), located in Berlin, Germany, who sells some PEC carbon pots of MIL-STE series. They offer values of 1kohm, 5kohm, 10kohm and so on, log. Now I'm asking myself the folloing question:

Wouldn't it be the best thing to go for a source with a really low output impedance (e.g. below 100 ohms), then add a 5 kohm pot, and then a power amp with a rather highish input impedance, say, something around 30 kohms?

I mean, wouldn't this be the best way to really avoid any active pre or buffer stage, without the usual drawbacks of a passive pre?

Please guys, let me know what you are thinking about that! The PEC stereo pots cost 47,30 Euro each, so I have to decide carefully which value might be the right one in my case.

Thanks!

martin

[udailey]

I would buy your PEC pots elsewhere. Thats a huge amount of money for them. www.tubesandmore.com sells them, single pot not stereo, for 6.60USD each. I imagine after buying two, paying shipping and duty fees you would be way cheaper than buying that stereo pot.

[Peter Daniel]

The problem with stereo PEC pots is poor channel matching. I had pots that had 6db tracking mismatch between channels and were completely useless for audio.

So while I was quite excited about them initially, I completely abondoned them later. If you buy 5 of them, chances are you'll find one with pretty good tolerance though

Using single, preferrably linear pots, solves this problem and you can source them cheaply from DigiKey, however two separate pots for frequent volume adjustment are very unpractical.

Originally posted by martinbls
I mean, wouldn't this be the best way to really avoid any active pre or buffer stage, without the usual drawbacks of a passive pre?

The best way would be placing potentiometer directly at the amp.

[martinbls]

Hi udailey, Hi Peter,

thanks for your answers! The problem is, that there are not many pots available that have such a low impedance value like 5kohm. Usually the whole thing starts at 10kohms and up.

I really don't like the idea of heaving two mono pots, so I guess I'll have to go for something else here. And I totally agree: I was shocked about the prices for the PEC pots!

But ok then, perhaps a TKD stereo 10kohm pot will also do the job, I'll try.

Regards - martin

[Peter Daniel]

I never tried TKD, although heard good comments about it.

Another option would be building your own discrete attenuator.

[Peter Daniel]

BTW, there is a second part to this thread: In search of a perfect attenuator