Making an amp using TPA3116 - help with pots

[vmorbin]

Hi, I've working for the past month on building an enclosure for a TPA3116 amp

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I've been using the amp for a few months now hooked to a pair of Pioneer SP-BS22-LR and it sounds great. Now that I'm building an enclosure and trying to make it look nice to have it in the living room, I decided to add pots to control the speakers individually. I'm pretty much new to pots. Here is the POT I tried using.

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I soldered the positive wire from the amp onto pin 1 and a wire from pin 1 to the positive in the speaker. Then a wire from pin 2 to negative in the speaker and form pin 3 to negative in the amp. It actually worked, but only when the knob was turned all the way to the right. It also stopped working after a few minutes listening to music 🙂

Does anybody know what is the right pot for the job and if I'm wiring it incorrectly?

As I'm new to the subject, I'm not sure if I included all the specs needed. I can upload some pictures.

 

[wintermute]

That is a pot for line level applications (ie pre amplification). What you actually needs is an LPAD. They provide a constant impedance to the crossover, and are built to handle the power levels of a speaker. something like this Speaker L-Pad Attenuator 100W Mono 1" Shaft 8 Ohm

Tony.

 

[vmorbin]

Thanks! I was able to find one that isn't too expensive and will give it a try. Hopefully I'll be back soon with a good update. I'm guessing the maximum power the LPAD can handle should match the output power of the amp?!

 

[easp]

Why are you adding individual pots for the speakers, and why are you adding them to the outputs, rather than the inputs?

Perhaps you'd be happier with a balance control on the input?