Pot Value

[Bengali]

Hi,

I plan to get a motorized alps pot for remote control
of the volume level.

I plan to use it to control the line level output of the
cd player. The output of the motorized pot would
then go to my preamp.

Do you suggest a value of 10K or 50K? What would
I hear using a 50K vs. 10K?

thanks.

[FastEddy]

got a circuit diagram? ... as a rule of thumb, higher is better, but there are impedence matching considerations, in and out.

[Bengali]

no circuit, very basic. the output of the cd player goes into the high end of the pot, wiper to pre amp in and low end goes to gnd.

i'm just not sure what value is appropriate.

do you know what is the output impedance of a typical dvd/cd player?

[Eusebius]

Doesn't your preamp have a pot on its input? For input to a preamp most designs show 100k.

Or are you trying to match levels on the input to your preamp? what are you trying to achieve?

Another case which may occur to you is putting the output of the DAC or digital part of your CD player straight into the grids of a valve stage. That's a different scenario again.

What's your overall plan for joining all these stages up?

[Bengali]

yes, my pre amp has a pot in it. I want to add a motorized alps pot so I control the volume remotely. the preamp pot would act as the master volume control.

so I'm going to put the motorized pot in between the Preamp and the CD player. the motorized pot attenuates the output level of the cd player. I have a choice 10K, 50K and 100K. just want to get the appropriate value.

[Tube_Dude]

Originally posted by Bengali
I have a choice 10K, 50K and 100K. just want to get the appropriate value.

If CD is your source , 10k is the best choice...

[FastEddy]

" ... no circuit, very basic. the output of the cd player goes into the high end of the pot, wiper to pre amp in and low end goes to gnd. ..."

Use 50K ... it will work between a CD player (high Z output) and a solid state amp (high Z input) quite well.

In the case of the input of a tube amp, all the above bets are off as there may be several other impedence matching considerations ...

As Eusebius says above: " ... your CD player straight into the grids of a valve stage [?] That's a different scenario again. ..."

[soundbrigade]

as a rule of thumb, higher is better

Doesn't higher values mean more noise?

[stoolpigeon]

I'm fairly sure one of my old Marantz cd players used a 10K pot for the variable output.

[Tube_Dude]

Hi Bengali

10K is mandatory , if you have interconnect cables between the motorized pot and the input of your pre.