So I did try all those different potentiometers

[rich121]

Konnichiwa,



Big Money?

My best Interconnect can be made per 1m pair for under £7/$14.

For that you get goldplated fine silver (99.995%) wire, "zero connector" RCA Plugs and Airdielectic with phantastically low capacitance to boot.

Takes less than 15 Minute per pair with a modicum of practice.

Big Money?

Sayonara

I am very interested in your interconnect, if you don't mind sharing?

Thanks...

 

[Nuuk]

Don't hold your breath Rich. The poster is now involved with commercial hi-fi and hardly ever posts on the DIY forums.

 

[chuck55]

So how about TDK? Or Did I miss it in the shuffle?

 

[martinbls]

PEC pot & impedance

Hello!

I just found a store (online, called Banzai Music), located in Berlin, Germany, who sells some PEC carbon pots of MIL-STE series. They offer values of 1kohm, 5kohm, 10kohm and so on, log. Now I'm asking myself the folloing question:

Wouldn't it be the best thing to go for a source with a really low output impedance (e.g. below 100 ohms), then add a 5 kohm pot, and then a power amp with a rather highish input impedance, say, something around 30 kohms?

I mean, wouldn't this be the best way to really avoid any active pre or buffer stage, without the usual drawbacks of a passive pre?

Please guys, let me know what you are thinking about that! The PEC stereo pots cost 47,30 Euro each, so I have to decide carefully which value might be the right one in my case.

Thanks!

martin

 

[udailey]

I would buy your PEC pots elsewhere. Thats a huge amount of money for them. www.tubesandmore.com sells them, single pot not stereo, for 6.60USD each. I imagine after buying two, paying shipping and duty fees you would be way cheaper than buying that stereo pot.

 

[Peter Daniel]

The problem with stereo PEC pots is poor channel matching. I had pots that had 6db tracking mismatch between channels and were completely useless for audio.

So while I was quite excited about them initially, I completely abondoned them later. If you buy 5 of them, chances are you'll find one with pretty good tolerance though 😉

Using single, preferrably linear pots, solves this problem and you can source them cheaply from DigiKey, however two separate pots for frequent volume adjustment are very unpractical.

I mean, wouldn't this be the best way to really avoid any active pre or buffer stage, without the usual drawbacks of a passive pre?

The best way would be placing potentiometer directly at the amp.

 

[martinbls]

Hi udailey, Hi Peter,

thanks for your answers! The problem is, that there are not many pots available that have such a low impedance value like 5kohm. Usually the whole thing starts at 10kohms and up.

I really don't like the idea of heaving two mono pots, so I guess I'll have to go for something else here. And I totally agree: I was shocked about the prices for the PEC pots!

But ok then, perhaps a TKD stereo 10kohm pot will also do the job, I'll try.

Regards - martin

 

[Peter Daniel]

I never tried TKD, although heard good comments about it.

Another option would be building your own discrete attenuator.

 

[Peter Daniel]

BTW, there is a second part to this thread: http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=73538&highlight=