Chinese 23 stepped volume pot?

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Joined 2007
Hay guys

I have a crazy low budget, and needed to replace the volume pot so grabbed on of these eBay Australia: Buy new & used fashion, electronics & home d?r
off epay, and am wondering if anyone else has used one the same?

It works, but there is an audible hum that is apparent at 12 o'clock and gets louder with further increase of rotation.

The diagram on the sale page is a little hard (for me anyway) to understand as far as hookup goes.

Yeah, some will say you get what you pay for, but I'm just looking for anyone that has any experience with these pots?

Cheers :)
 
Disabled Account
Joined 2007
Here is a pic that appears in the sale, I have arrows pointing to my hookup. So i have it as Green-ground, Blue-signal in and Brown-signal out.
 

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Disabled Account
Joined 2007
Ah... got it sorted mostly.

The fly wires that come from the pot need to be right away from the resistor array of the pot, very sensitive. just a bit of buzz on the last three or four steps now, and I'll shield the fly leeds if need be to kill that last bit.

Pretty transparent pot now :)
 
hello,
I haven't tried those particular attenuators, hows the grounding arrangement? I bought a balanced attenuator from this guy, and I've had no problems.
Valab 23 Step Attenuator Potentiometer 50K Log Stereo | eBay


I received a 100K dual log taper attenuator from this company a couple weeks ago. It however, looks like the one pictured on eBay, using SMD resistors, rather than the one you show.
I built one years ago, using a Switchcraft 23 position 2 gang switch, but the last I checked, they are now over $70. I decided that for $30, with shipping, the Valab one was worth a try. It's a pretty good unit, with very accurate resistors and tracking, and it has a good feel. I always thought the Switchcraft was too stiff, to the point of being annoying. The Valab appears to be well made, and I tend to think it will hold up for some time--but that's a guess.

I did, however have a problem when I checked it out. The position of two resistors, next to each other, was transposed on the rear deck. I didn't get a response from the seller after 4 emails in three weeks, so I posted negative feedback for him on eBay. Then I received two emails from him saying that he had been in the hospital and couldn't reply to my inquiry. He then refunded my money and offered a free replacement! I course now I wish I hadn't posted the negative feedback! But, I changed the position of the two resistors, (not too easy with SMDs) and installed it in the preamp.

The only caution I now have, is that it's not for the novice builder. No instructions are included for attachment points, so you have consult the diagram on eBay. The lugs are small and close together, and one attachment lug has a resistor soldered on it, so some care and soldering skill is needed.
With a few minor changes, I think the seller would have a very good product! I'd probably buy another one.
 
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Hi
I bought this :


Valab 23 Step Attenuator Potentiometer 100K Stereo Log | eBay

Before installing it , i made measurements with a multimeter for its resistance values in different positions. I don't know if I'm lucky, the measurements were identical with both channels. Total was 99,7k (for 100k pot), different measurements at 9, 12, 15 o' clock were identical.
Took me about 20 minutes to install it in my pre-amplifier & then started auditioning some very good quality cd's. I can tell you that this attenuator is worth every $ i paid for it.
First of all there is no crosstalk between the two channels.
Bass lines are present even from low volume positions, sound-stage is huge & overall it performs better than the ALPS my pre had.
I don't really trust Chinese products but this thing is a bargain. Go for the smd one, i also have the other huge one with the resistors , the one with the smd resistors is more accurate with the measurements & more compact, the one without the smd's is more sensitive with ground issues & hum noise.
10/10 for this attenuator. Now lets see how long it's going to last.
 

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Hi
I bought this :


Valab 23 Step Attenuator Potentiometer 100K Stereo Log | eBay

Before installing it , i made measurements with a multimeter for its resistance values in different positions. I don't know if I'm lucky, the measurements were identical with both channels. Total was 99,7k (for 100k pot), different measurements at 9, 12, 15 o' clock were identical.
Took me about 20 minutes to install it in my pre-amplifier & then started auditioning some very good quality cd's. I can tell you that this attenuator is worth every $ i paid for it.
First of all there is no crosstalk between the two channels.
Bass lines are present even from low volume positions, sound-stage is huge & overall it performs better than the ALPS my pre had.
I don't really trust Chinese products but this thing is a bargain. Go for the smd one, i also have the other huge one with the resistors , the one with the smd resistors is more accurate with the measurements & more compact, the one without the smd's is more sensitive with ground issues & hum noise.
10/10 for this attenuator. Now lets see how long it's going to last.


The step-ladder attenuator that Data got was from Analometric and is widely available on EBAY. Analogmetric is, as far as I know is a seller based in China and also has its own web stores in addition to selling on EBAY.

Valab is actually a seller based in Taiwan, not China (PRC). My brother has bought from them before and rate them high. I found that some components that Valab sells are not available from other EBAY sellers. Actually, audio diy is very popular in Taiwan (and in China too) and some of the components that Valab sells are "made in Taiwan". Audio diyers in Asia rank components made in Taiwan subtantially higher than that from China. My own experience seems to support this notion. For example, some reputable testing instruments e.g. GW Instek scopes, DMM etc., Brymen DMM's, some high end OEM LCR meters are all made in Taiwan.

By the way, for whatever reasons, there are very few Taiwan EBAY sellers of components. In contrast, if you visit the Taiwan diy websites in Chinese. there are many stores that sells all kind of stuffs - components, cables, finished products, e.g. clones of all kind (Marantz 7, Jadis preamps etc., Conrad Johnsons amps.........) and the prices are quite reasonable. Unfortunately, the shippping cost was always high.

Regards,
 
great !

Since this is made in Taiwan i feel much more secured about its built quality.
Overall it looks very well constructed & the rotation is very stable.
And you are right , it came from Taiwan not China. Sorry for the mistake.

The step-ladder attenuator that Data got was from Analometric and is widely available on EBAY. Analogmetric is, as far as I know is a seller based in China and also has its own web stores in addition to selling on EBAY.

Valab is actually a seller based in Taiwan, not China (PRC). My brother has bought from them before and rate them high. I found that some components that Valab sells are not available from other EBAY sellers. Actually, audio diy is very popular in Taiwan (and in China too) and some of the components that Valab sells are "made in Taiwan". Audio diyers in Asia rank components made in Taiwan subtantially higher than that from China. My own experience seems to support this notion. For example, some reputable testing instruments e.g. GW Instek scopes, DMM etc., Brymen DMM's, some high end OEM LCR meters are all made in Taiwan.

By the way, for whatever reasons, there are very few Taiwan EBAY sellers of components. In contrast, if you visit the Taiwan diy websites in Chinese. there are many stores that sells all kind of stuffs - components, cables, finished products, e.g. clones of all kind (Marantz 7, Jadis preamps etc., Conrad Johnsons amps.........) and the prices are quite reasonable. Unfortunately, the shippping cost was always high.

Regards,
 
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The Valab attenuator is a crap, I have two and both start to fail prematurely (in a few months) (Bad contacts)

Hmmm, that's interesting. Did you contact Valab and enquire? Usually there are two main causes for these type of failure 1) corrosion of the contact surfaces and 2) loss of mechanical integrity of the turning mechanism due to wearing out of pressure points.

When you first received the attenuator and install them, did you feel anything not right when you turn the shaft? I assume that the attenuator is used as a audio volume control, it is not likely that the mechanical failure is due to worn out of material (not in a few months). Any signs of corrosion at all? Even though the contact mechanism is inside, if it there is corrosion serious enough inside, there should be some tell tale sign on the outside, such as the soldering points of the resistors.

I guess mr I and ArtG would find out soon enough if their attenuator would suffer the same fate as yours.

Regards,

Lo_tse
 
Hmmm, that's interesting. Did you contact Valab and enquire? Usually there are two main causes for these type of failure 1) corrosion of the contact surfaces and 2) loss of mechanical integrity of the turning mechanism due to wearing out of pressure points.

Hi,

The first option is rare here, I have a very low humidity here in Madrid

The pots mechanical appears ok but sometimes lose contact in parts of the run


When you first received the attenuator and install them, did you feel anything not right when you turn the shaft? I assume that the attenuator is used as a audio volume control, it is not likely that the mechanical failure is due to worn out of material (not in a few months). Any signs of corrosion at all? Even though the contact mechanism is inside, if it there is corrosion serious enough inside, there should be some tell tale sign on the outside, such as the soldering points of the resistors.

I guess mr I and ArtG would find out soon enough if their attenuator would suffer the same fate as yours.

I didn't feel anything unusual in the on the pots, and yes is for volume attenuator. No corrosion, one of the units is mounted here:

5727200406_62421c5a2f.jpg


Cheers
 
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