Attenuation - getting more from my knob

[ALF in AUS]

I'm using a full range driver plus 2 bass drivers in OB, biamped thro' an active Xover.

When I play my stuff through my active Xover, I have the Xover attenuation turned down so that the volume control on my pre-amp gives a useful range ... max vol at about 11 o'clock...

This arvo, after the storm, I have experimented running the fullrange speaker full range (novel huh - dunno why I haven't done it before ) and I gotta say it doesn't sound all bad...

OK, sounds like a good idea ... only the bass amp running thro' the Xover, and the full range straight from the other amp... problem being that max listening vol comes in at just under 9 o'clock ... not much room for adjustments

How can I attenuate this so I can have my vol control a bit more spread out?

I don't want to buy a new amp ... and I don't want to fork out much dosh...

Oh, the source is a CD player - no output control.

ALF (drowning in post storm humidity ... time for a cooling ale) in AUS

[AndrewT]

Hi,
can you confirm a couple of things?
Volume control on the preamp is 7o'ck to 5o'ck? are these AM or PM ?
What is the active crossover max gain? or min cut?
Why is the full range speaker louder after you take out the crossover? This seems odd unless the crossover is set to cut voltage!

[ALF in AUS]

G'day Andrew
"are these AM or PM " ... I find that the setting gets higher the later the time is
The full range is louder after I take the Xover out because I have the crossover gain control set to - 6dB ... this way I can get more control via the volume knob.

ALF

[AndrewT]

Hi,
sounds like you need to add an attenuator of about -6db or possibly -12db before the straight through amp to the full ranger.

4k7 line resistor and 4k7 grounding resistor will cut about 6db. but the source impedance will be high and needs to be right at the amp input terminals (it will fit inside the RCA plug).


for -12db try 7k5 line and 2k4 grounding resistors.

The cuts will be slightly higher (less volume) due to the loading from the input impedance of the power amp.