Has anyone found an affordable(less than $100), available in the USA, 4 gang conductive plastic element level control for the Balanced Bride of Zen preamp? Stepped attenuators are nice and I understand the potential sonic benefits but price wise are out of the question.
I just want a reasonably priced,good quality 4 gang pot that will be used at the output. I thought I was onto something with Clarostat but the distributor quoted me $47+ a $50 setup fee for 1 quantity.
I can readily find Alps 2 gang conductive plastic pots but I am not willing to use two stereo pots(one for each channel) as I find this method anti-convenient and frankly kind of silly.
I also want to keep the project simple and avoid the various other methods described here like IC or electronic control of volume.
With that in mind, has anyone found a reasonably priced 4 gang pot for their Balanced Bride preamp projects?
Thanks kindly for your help.
I just want a reasonably priced,good quality 4 gang pot that will be used at the output. I thought I was onto something with Clarostat but the distributor quoted me $47+ a $50 setup fee for 1 quantity.
I can readily find Alps 2 gang conductive plastic pots but I am not willing to use two stereo pots(one for each channel) as I find this method anti-convenient and frankly kind of silly.
I also want to keep the project simple and avoid the various other methods described here like IC or electronic control of volume.
With that in mind, has anyone found a reasonably priced 4 gang pot for their Balanced Bride preamp projects?
Thanks kindly for your help.
Timo,
Yeah, you and me both! So, the Clarostat route was a dead end? Did you try potentiometers.com? I was thinking of getting in touch with them about Clarostat's modular pot series. I think they can supply 4 section pots, but I don't know if they deal in low quantities. I've almost seriously considered building a mechanical link that would run 4 pots off of one shaft, but the matching would be poor. I think there may be no other way than to go electronic on it. Did you see the relay setup that uses 8 relays for 1 db steps? I think I will probably incorporate that into my 6 channel preamp when I build it.
Steve
Yeah, you and me both! So, the Clarostat route was a dead end? Did you try potentiometers.com? I was thinking of getting in touch with them about Clarostat's modular pot series. I think they can supply 4 section pots, but I don't know if they deal in low quantities. I've almost seriously considered building a mechanical link that would run 4 pots off of one shaft, but the matching would be poor. I think there may be no other way than to go electronic on it. Did you see the relay setup that uses 8 relays for 1 db steps? I think I will probably incorporate that into my 6 channel preamp when I build it.
Steve
That's exactly who I tried. potentiometers.com is State Electronics.
They were helpfull and prompt but $50 just for set-up fees? This was for the clarostat 388 series. I wouldn't call them a dead end just a poor dollar to value ratio because the one-off nature and small quantity of the part we need.
I initially requested the clarostat 580 series but they only sold those in a minimum of 100 quantity...ARG!
I too have seen on the web(Germany I think) a set up to gear drive 2 separate, 2 gang Alps pots side by side off of one shaft but how the heck do you order something like that from overseas?
I really want to stay away from relay control. I want to keep it as simple as possible and this pot is the only thing in the way of completing my project.
I'm glad I'm not the only one with this dilema.
They were helpfull and prompt but $50 just for set-up fees? This was for the clarostat 388 series. I wouldn't call them a dead end just a poor dollar to value ratio because the one-off nature and small quantity of the part we need.
I initially requested the clarostat 580 series but they only sold those in a minimum of 100 quantity...ARG!
I too have seen on the web(Germany I think) a set up to gear drive 2 separate, 2 gang Alps pots side by side off of one shaft but how the heck do you order something like that from overseas?
I really want to stay away from relay control. I want to keep it as simple as possible and this pot is the only thing in the way of completing my project.
I'm glad I'm not the only one with this dilema.
Stepped Attenuators
Have you tried wiring your own stepped attenuator? You can buy them pre-soldered with 5k or 10k set.
There are many places online that sell Claristat products without the stupid $50 setup fee (ie. www.alliedelec.com), Digikey.com, Mouser.com may also carry the line.
For my BOSOZ pre-amp (url below) I used the ElectroSwitch 4 gang 23 step attenuator. It took me a long time to match all the metal film resistors and neatly as possible, solder them in place.
http://www.geocities.com/super_bq/BLS1.html
You can buy the attenuator BLANK (no resistors) at www.partsconnexion.com for about $70usd. However, I was able to buy my last year at almost half the price when they had a close out sale (kicking myself for not buying more of them at the time).
I've found another place that sells a cheap attenuator that might do the trick - although you will have to solder your OWN resistors to get the right value.
http://store.yahoo.com/triodeel/4pol24posals.html
I'm in the market for an 8 gang switched attenuator to see if there's much gain going away from a "series switched" resistor network.
Brendon
Have you tried wiring your own stepped attenuator? You can buy them pre-soldered with 5k or 10k set.
There are many places online that sell Claristat products without the stupid $50 setup fee (ie. www.alliedelec.com), Digikey.com, Mouser.com may also carry the line.
For my BOSOZ pre-amp (url below) I used the ElectroSwitch 4 gang 23 step attenuator. It took me a long time to match all the metal film resistors and neatly as possible, solder them in place.
http://www.geocities.com/super_bq/BLS1.html
You can buy the attenuator BLANK (no resistors) at www.partsconnexion.com for about $70usd. However, I was able to buy my last year at almost half the price when they had a close out sale (kicking myself for not buying more of them at the time).
I've found another place that sells a cheap attenuator that might do the trick - although you will have to solder your OWN resistors to get the right value.
http://store.yahoo.com/triodeel/4pol24posals.html
I'm in the market for an 8 gang switched attenuator to see if there's much gain going away from a "series switched" resistor network.
Brendon
Check out Volume control schematic of Pass Labs DAC1
Timo,
For further reading on another way of doing the 4 gang pot volume control, please check out the link as shown below. It was suggested by "HPotter" and was posted on 5/02/2002 at 3:31pm (sorry ... that's the best way I can describe it ... so that you can find it)
http://diyaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=3385&perpage=15&pagenumber=2
I myself have not tried it yet. I think the reason was because I have a hard time finding a 2 gang 5K pot! There are lots of 2 gang pot but not in 5K value ... at least to my knowledge. And I have not tried to rewire one of the the existing 2 gang 10K pot (as suggested by HPotter too) at the input because I'm too pre-occupied with the Aleph 2 construction. I'll try it once the Aleph 2 is done.
Timo,
For further reading on another way of doing the 4 gang pot volume control, please check out the link as shown below. It was suggested by "HPotter" and was posted on 5/02/2002 at 3:31pm (sorry ... that's the best way I can describe it ... so that you can find it)
http://diyaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=3385&perpage=15&pagenumber=2
I myself have not tried it yet. I think the reason was because I have a hard time finding a 2 gang 5K pot! There are lots of 2 gang pot but not in 5K value ... at least to my knowledge. And I have not tried to rewire one of the the existing 2 gang 10K pot (as suggested by HPotter too) at the input because I'm too pre-occupied with the Aleph 2 construction. I'll try it once the Aleph 2 is done.
6671
Nick,
I've download the pdf file for 6671 pot. It's available from 1K to 300K but the data provided on the pdf file sure looks like a 2 gang pot. Is there another number that's a 4 gang pot? Thanks.
As for the Elma 04-4130, I know that it's easily obtainable for high resistance value (say over 20K) but I'm not sure for 5K value.
Nick,
I've download the pdf file for 6671 pot. It's available from 1K to 300K but the data provided on the pdf file sure looks like a 2 gang pot. Is there another number that's a 4 gang pot? Thanks.
As for the Elma 04-4130, I know that it's easily obtainable for high resistance value (say over 20K) but I'm not sure for 5K value.
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