Hi, i recently built this passive preamp, but don't know very much about how to wire something like this nicely. The preamp has 2 10k resistors on the positive lead of the input coming in (attached to some more wire), and a 100k alps pot for the volume control. This thing looks like a rat's nest!
Also, if anybody has any suggestions about what could be done to improve the sound, that would be great too. For some reason there is a little bit of grain in the sound on certain cd's.. Thanks!
Dave
Also, if anybody has any suggestions about what could be done to improve the sound, that would be great too. For some reason there is a little bit of grain in the sound on certain cd's.. Thanks!Dave
Attachments
There is very little to this preamp. The signal path is rather long, and i would like to be able to shorten it a bit, which hopefully would improve the sound.. The resistors are metal oxide 10k, and the wiring is 20 guage solid wire.
bonsai171 said:Hi, i recently built this passive preamp, but don't know very much about how to wire something like this nicely. The preamp has 2 10k resistors on the positive lead of the input coming in (attached to some more wire), and a 100k alps pot for the volume control. This thing looks like a rat's nest!
Dave
Hi Dave, the pot is totally hopeless. Build something with a Shallco 47 position switch as a shunt attenuator. Fred Dieckmann had a passive preamp like that back in the days he was called Harry Haller. Michael Percy has the Shallco forUS$ 95.
http://www.percyaudio.com/
Forget about the Elma or DACT. Fedde has also a bad experience with the Elma.
pots
$95 is a bit steep for a pot at the moment, are there any decent pots for a reasonable price? In fact, the entire preamp cost $20 to build, so that would be almost five times the price of the preamp! Since I don't have the opportunity to listen to it also, it would be hard to justify that kind of purchase. The pot i'm using at the moment is an alps that ran somewhere around $5..
Elso- to answer your question, this preamp was based on the Harry Haller preamp. Except his was a dual mono design, with 2 resistors in parrallel to make an 11k resistor instead of the 10k in this preamp. If i were to switch to a different pot, what kind of changes to the sound/benefits could be expected? I have heard that the Alps blue velvet is a fairly popular and decent pot, and with a pretty good price too.
Does anybody know if a buffer circuit has to be run by a power supply? (i.e. are there passive buffers??) Also, how would a different value pot change the sound ? Thanks
Dave
$95 is a bit steep for a pot at the moment, are there any decent pots for a reasonable price? In fact, the entire preamp cost $20 to build, so that would be almost five times the price of the preamp! Since I don't have the opportunity to listen to it also, it would be hard to justify that kind of purchase. The pot i'm using at the moment is an alps that ran somewhere around $5..
Elso- to answer your question, this preamp was based on the Harry Haller preamp. Except his was a dual mono design, with 2 resistors in parrallel to make an 11k resistor instead of the 10k in this preamp. If i were to switch to a different pot, what kind of changes to the sound/benefits could be expected? I have heard that the Alps blue velvet is a fairly popular and decent pot, and with a pretty good price too.
Does anybody know if a buffer circuit has to be run by a power supply? (i.e. are there passive buffers??) Also, how would a different value pot change the sound ? Thanks
Dave
A passive preamp is a device that is used instead of an active preamp, in order to control the volume. They are useful #1 as a starter, so that you can listen to music from your amp if you don't have the $$ to get an active one with gain stages. One benefit of using a passive is the transparency/lack of coloration. The sound is very natural and easy on the ears. However, if you are looking for extreme amounts of volume, or want to run a powered subwoofer, you should look to an active preamp. There is one notable problem with passives-the variance in the output impedance. Variances in the output impedance can cause certain frequencies to become more pronounced than others-hence the need for a buffer. A buffer circuit will keep the output impedance fairly constant, therefore delivering a more accurate reproduction of sound..
Dave
Dave
a little coloration please!
In a word, yes. Today i was thinking about how much i miss the sound that this one denon receiver i was using had. It had a little bit of coloration to it, but it was nice. It had sort of a silky sound to it.. This might sound strange, but is there a way i can put some of this coloration into the passive preamp to create this type of sound again? Also, the speakers i'm using (Advent 2002) are kind of muddy in the bass region (maybe there's a midbass hump in there somewhere), is there a way to get rid of that too? I know this runs totally against the audiophile grain
Dave
In a word, yes. Today i was thinking about how much i miss the sound that this one denon receiver i was using had. It had a little bit of coloration to it, but it was nice. It had sort of a silky sound to it.. This might sound strange, but is there a way i can put some of this coloration into the passive preamp to create this type of sound again? Also, the speakers i'm using (Advent 2002) are kind of muddy in the bass region (maybe there's a midbass hump in there somewhere), is there a way to get rid of that too? I know this runs totally against the audiophile grain
Dave
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