Or try a bride T attenuator. . .keeps the impedance the same
while changing voltage level.
Good website for Bridge T Attenuator
Very tricky though. . .precision resistors required. . .
while changing voltage level.
Good website for Bridge T Attenuator
Very tricky though. . .precision resistors required. . .
Grounding fixed it!
Oshifis, your suggestion of grounding the point at which the two switch decks are connected worked. The system sounds great. Quiet at Pos. 0 and smoothly increasing in volume with each increased position. SPL levels running pink noise match left and right at every attenuator position (my meter is digital and reads in 1 dB increments, so the sound levels match to less than that).
Thanks again to all of you who contributed to this process.
Oshifis, your suggestion of grounding the point at which the two switch decks are connected worked. The system sounds great. Quiet at Pos. 0 and smoothly increasing in volume with each increased position. SPL levels running pink noise match left and right at every attenuator position (my meter is digital and reads in 1 dB increments, so the sound levels match to less than that).
Thanks again to all of you who contributed to this process.
Mixing and mastering
A precision stepped attenuator is used as a precision volume control when playing back thru studio monitors for mixing and mastering. It is critical that the balance between the left and right channels be consistent over the whole range of sound levels, and it is also important that the particular sound levels used for mixing and mastering can be reset with precision.
This is challenging for most continuously variable potentiometers, but relatively straightforward for a cascade of precision resistors wired to a rotary switch.
A precision stepped attenuator is used as a precision volume control when playing back thru studio monitors for mixing and mastering. It is critical that the balance between the left and right channels be consistent over the whole range of sound levels, and it is also important that the particular sound levels used for mixing and mastering can be reset with precision.
This is challenging for most continuously variable potentiometers, but relatively straightforward for a cascade of precision resistors wired to a rotary switch.
If I wanted to do something really simple, like copy sound from a reel-to-reel to a cassette, would I have to use an attenuator when connecting the microphone and speaker ports? Would the attenuator have to be variable to adjust for different volumes that the Reel-to-reel could be set to? Or could I get one that isn't variable? How would this type of attenuator be described in a catalog?
Line out to line in should work
There are lots of others on this site that know lots more about things like this than me. But I believe that if the reel to reel deck has a line out and the cassette deck a line in, then you should be able to connect them directly. My guess is that any input on the cassette deck that is NOT for a microphone is probably line level. You should not need to make any adjustments beyond what is built into the cassette deck to control recording levels.
I suggest that you post this as a separate thread so it gets some visibility.
There are lots of others on this site that know lots more about things like this than me. But I believe that if the reel to reel deck has a line out and the cassette deck a line in, then you should be able to connect them directly. My guess is that any input on the cassette deck that is NOT for a microphone is probably line level. You should not need to make any adjustments beyond what is built into the cassette deck to control recording levels.
I suggest that you post this as a separate thread so it gets some visibility.
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