i thought there was only one TKD pot? Mines says 2CP-2511 and I got 3 of them. The tracking is virtually perfect on all 3, something I can't say about the Alps pots.
i think what you like about the carbon pots has to do with them being more lively and distorted. dry and sterile is how music is supposed to sound. carbon anything just adds distortion because of the way they work. They are also very noisy.
i think what you like about the carbon pots has to do with them being more lively and distorted. dry and sterile is how music is supposed to sound. carbon anything just adds distortion because of the way they work. They are also very noisy.
There is nothing dry & sterile about my music I play. My guitar tone is of the opposite.,I would have to say distortion of certain kind is allways good, I played the world beating spec amps for to long, they all were dry & sterile SS & or hybrid things. & have only found hope in real music with tubes....distortion & all..
Based on my personal experience selling Goldpoint level controls (attenuators) online on Ebay, customers have told me they really do make a difference and I haven't heard otherwise. Many of them have been surprised at the amount of difference. For more technical information you can visit http://www.goldpt.com/compare.html.
I personally believe that Goldpoint attenuators really are the best attenuators in their class, and the price, although higher than pots, could be well worth it if you want the best sound.
Denise
Ebay ID: goldpointstore
I personally believe that Goldpoint attenuators really are the best attenuators in their class, and the price, although higher than pots, could be well worth it if you want the best sound.
Denise
Ebay ID: goldpointstore
http://www.vt4c.com/shop/program/main.php?cat_id=60&group_id=2
Saw some nice low cost attenutor switches here...
Saw some nice low cost attenutor switches here...
I know this is an old thread but maybe someone can help me out.
For a simple passive pre taking in 1.5v max from my DAC (Schiit Modi), what value should I use? For simplicity's sake I'm leaning toward Alps blue or black. Would 100k be enough?
And is the circuit as easy as in, out, and ground wipers? (provided I'm not bridging with resistors)
For a simple passive pre taking in 1.5v max from my DAC (Schiit Modi), what value should I use? For simplicity's sake I'm leaning toward Alps blue or black. Would 100k be enough?
And is the circuit as easy as in, out, and ground wipers? (provided I'm not bridging with resistors)
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It's not so much a matter of voltage as it is a matter of matching the source's output impedance to the load.
I'm pretty sure a 10k pot would work fine driven by a DAC. The output impedance of most contemporary sources is 1k ohms or lower, sometimes much lower. The rule of thumb is to keep the load impedance ten times higher in value than the source's output impedance. So if your source (say, the DAC) output Z is 1k, then you'll want a 10k load on it, or a 10k potentiometer/volume control.
If you also use something like a phono preamp made with vacuum tubes that has a high output Z, like maybe 5k ohms, then you'd need to change the rule to accommodate that. For a 5k ohm source, you'll need at least a 50k ohm load.
100k ohm potentiometers are commonly used in tube audio gear, but I think that's just a habit from the old days when there were sources that had very high output Z.
At least, that's how I understand it.
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Hmm ok. So signal is measured by impedance? Or voltage?
I'm trying to figure out if I need a preamp gain stage between DAC and power amp but I'm not sure which numbers Im looking for. Currently using a mega-simple op amp pre and loving it, but I'm wondering how it'd feel to go even more minimal with just a passive attenuator.
And I checked my DAC data sheet, output impedance is 75ohms! Much less than 1k, as you allotted for
I'm trying to figure out if I need a preamp gain stage between DAC and power amp but I'm not sure which numbers Im looking for. Currently using a mega-simple op amp pre and loving it, but I'm wondering how it'd feel to go even more minimal with just a passive attenuator.
And I checked my DAC data sheet, output impedance is 75ohms! Much less than 1k, as you allotted for
It's measured by both. They're in a relationship to each other.
That depends on the gain of your power amplifier. How many (milli)volts of signal input does it take to drive your power amp to full output? If less than about 1V RMS signal input, AND your cable runs are fairly short, AND the input impedance of your power amp is fairly high (10k ohms at the very least, but better would be 47k ohms or so) then you can probably use a 'passive preamp' (stereo attenuator plus input selector switch in a box).
I see that the DAC is rated to put out 1.5V RMS signal, maximum. That means your power amp will need to be able to reach full output with 1V RMS or a bit less, for best results.
75 ohms is nice and low. That DAC could easily be used with a 1k volume control, but 10k seems to be the most commonly used. Too high a value is not a problem (within limits), it's if the resistance of the pot is too low then that would be a problem.
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It almost seems as if it's the guitar amp industry that is keeping through hole pots alive in the market place. I need 50KB double section (for stereo) PC mount pots with a good feel (like Alpha) and good tolerance and tracking (is 5% asking too much?), for a tone control system I've designed, for less than $10 per... and I'm not sure if there is such a thing any more. I had circuit boards made for the Vishay pots, but then they became only available is large quantities from England... Some of the Panasonic PP 1% caps I was using dried up too. I like building things that don't require you to read the manual to figure out how to work it... Knobs are cool, buttons and sub-menus eh...
Ok cool. I'm thinking I'll give a passive pre a chance with the 10k and maybe swap my active pre attenuator from the 10k to 100k as it's currently way too hot
I bought a bunch of Chinese 24 step rotary switches to use for attenuation, with gold alloy contacts, but they didn't have any specs about how thick the gold plating was, or anything about the alloy, so gold being a very soft metal, I lost interest and gave them away. They probably would have worked great at first, but what about a year later after daily use? I use cheap Alpha pots, selected for decent tracking, and have no problem. My system sounds better to my ear than most others at any price.
I have one of these too. I guess, what really matters is not the thickness of the alloy, but the fact that it is sealed. Other brands, well known in did, that I've had in hand before, were not and I was not so happy with.
Thickness of alloy, and whether they're sealed or not, are two different things. One is a function of impurities in the air and the other is about contact wear from use. Every pot I've ever had in any of my many projects that was sealed, became noisy within a decade. Now I just use Alpha pots which can be spray cleaned since they're not sealed, and it's been very rare that I've needed to spray clean any of them.
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