vol pot on Zhaolu 2.5C: NASTY

[schro20]

I think the first thing I have to do is to mod this volume pot. At very low settings it is very imprecise with a very large difference between left and right channel. Ouch. I mean, BIG difference.

My setup: Roku M1000 and Oppo 971H as sources fed into the Zhaolu and then into Linkwitz Plutos. At high volume this works nice, but in the morning I gotta go lower... and that leads to ridiculous imbalance.

Anyone mod this part of the Zhaolu 2.5C? The right answer is probably to just replace that whole section. But right now I want some simple even if temporary fix. Any suggestions?

peter

[DcibeL]

That volume pot is for the relatively poor headphone preamp built into the Zhaolu 2.5. I wouldn't use that preamp for my amplifier, or anything really.

My recommendation is to use the regular analog out of the Zhaolu into a proper preamp.

[schro20]

Originally posted by DcibeL
My recommendation is to use the regular analog out of the Zhaolu into a proper preamp.

My original goal was to reduce clutter and cut down on the all the boxes of gear... So having *some* volume control on the inside of that case (seems like there is plenty of room) is an appealing path. One possible answer is to rip the headphone amp put and put in a passive stage with just a discrete "pot." Since the speakers are active I need to get a volume control somewhere in the path and would rather not have an additional box...

Maybe one of the Dantimax kits?

Peter

[DcibeL]

Originally posted by schro20
My original goal was to reduce clutter and cut down on the all the boxes of gear... So having *some* volume control on the inside of that case (seems like there is plenty of room) is an appealing path.

I've installed the kookaburra preamp (readymade pcbs no longer available) inside the Zhaolu where the headphone amp was, and run it off the Zhaolu's power supply. Works great. I'm sure there are lots of active preamps that would fit in there and could run from the +/- 15V supply available.

Originally posted by schro20
One possible answer is to rip the headphone amp put and put in a passive stage with just a discrete "pot."

Also a very possible solution. I'm not sure a big pot like an Alps Blue Velvet would fit though due to the height of the chassis.