As far as rotary volume controls go, I find that TKD, Penny and Giles, Spectrol multi-turn wire, and custom discrete switches made into volume controls lead the list of 'A' rated attenuators.
'B' rated might be Alps, Noble, Bourns, etc. Not perfect, but pretty darn good.
'B' rated might be Alps, Noble, Bourns, etc. Not perfect, but pretty darn good.
I'm interested into what makes these particular brands A or B rated.
I would say that every brand has good and less good parts so if find the generalisation a bit difficult to accept 'As is'.
Can you be more specific, John? Application, environments...?
I would say that every brand has good and less good parts so if find the generalisation a bit difficult to accept 'As is'.
Can you be more specific, John? Application, environments...?
Listening experience is the best bet. Internal construction, especially substrate for conductive materials is another clue.
I work in a very competitive environment, and the best of the best, always goes for the A rated stuff, including the CTC Blowtorch (TKD), and the Ayre preamp (custom resistors and switches) We win listening contests with this as we challenge each other in the process.
Alps, for example, is in my 'B' line of products and has been for the last 30 years or so.
The Parasound JC-2 falls in this group, along with many other products, by other noted manufacturers. I have been able to hear the sound of the Alps BLACK dual pot in my STAX headphone amplifier, and I don't use that pot, anymore. The BLUE are pretty good, but if I can, I use TKD or P&G.
I work in a very competitive environment, and the best of the best, always goes for the A rated stuff, including the CTC Blowtorch (TKD), and the Ayre preamp (custom resistors and switches) We win listening contests with this as we challenge each other in the process.
Alps, for example, is in my 'B' line of products and has been for the last 30 years or so.
The Parasound JC-2 falls in this group, along with many other products, by other noted manufacturers. I have been able to hear the sound of the Alps BLACK dual pot in my STAX headphone amplifier, and I don't use that pot, anymore. The BLUE are pretty good, but if I can, I use TKD or P&G.
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Thanks, what about step ladder attenuators as the best? Of course, I realize it comes with a different price tag.
John:
I had a different experience with P&G in particular. I never liked what they sounded like and can't pin it down. The Alps and Nobels always seemed good as did the TKD's. but for the serious work we build controls from Tech Labs switches (similar to Daven) and either Holco (for the cash strapped) or Vishay resistors. 29 per switch and really tedious to build. The Vishay control sounded the best by far (totally subjective). I found a conductive plastic control from Bourns that seemed to be on a par with the Vishay. It was only available as a single gang. I don't know the part number any more. However at $1.50 ea. vs. about $300 ea. it was a very attractive solution. I had moved on from working with preamps at the time. I think this was the part: http://www.bourns.com/data/global/pdfs/Slimline.pdf
I had a different experience with P&G in particular. I never liked what they sounded like and can't pin it down. The Alps and Nobels always seemed good as did the TKD's. but for the serious work we build controls from Tech Labs switches (similar to Daven) and either Holco (for the cash strapped) or Vishay resistors. 29 per switch and really tedious to build. The Vishay control sounded the best by far (totally subjective). I found a conductive plastic control from Bourns that seemed to be on a par with the Vishay. It was only available as a single gang. I don't know the part number any more. However at $1.50 ea. vs. about $300 ea. it was a very attractive solution. I had moved on from working with preamps at the time. I think this was the part: http://www.bourns.com/data/global/pdfs/Slimline.pdf
Well, Demian, this is what makes a 'horse race' Personally I find P&G a little 'soft' sounding, but that is OK for most program material.
I don't have much experience with commercial Ladder or shunt attenuators to be able to say anything important. It would be wonderful to know WHY volume controls make as much difference as they do. Still, I can't measure the good ones as especially different from each other, yet they sound different. I know that SY likes BLUE so that might be a factor for him. ;-)
A lot of those have a very limited bandwidth! Only a few Db. I have a box of them!!! They were I believe used in radar circuits.
They work fine for me. But I'm running tubes, so who knows?
My faves are the big, clunky Cinema Engineering switches set up as attenuators.
Well, this pretty much concludes my knowledge of volume control pots and their characteristics. There are, of course many other different variations of gain controls, including 'electronic' that include optical, bipolar, cmos and jfet, but I have never found one quite as good as the old fashioned potentiometer, when made properly.
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😕 Why?
I really enjoying A21 driving my pair of Parsifal Ovation by Canadian Verity Audio
Dreaming of upgrading to JC-1..
Effortless sound. Very detailed, clean.. Airy, precise imaging..
I compared A21+Verity against Vac and Octave.. Netherless it was the least expensive, it was the best
-- Michael
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