[Joe Lau]

Quote:

Originally posted by wallijonn and for a cheap ALPS pot, go to Radio Shack. They have 100K stereo pot for under $3. #271-1732. yes, it even says "ALPS" on it. obviously it's not stepped.

Alps has stadard grade for industrial. It is not expensive. US$3 is possible. It will be round looking in back.

 

[Joe Lau]

Quote:

Originally posted by JMT Joseph Would it be possible for some of us here to order the knobs from you?

Yes ! You are welcome. Just send me a email. No minimun order but you should pay freight charge.

 

[JMS]

I bought the "ALPS pots" from hkleung on ebay a few months ago, and were shipped two 50K-ohm stepped attenuators (verified by opening the case). I got a couple more from the same guy a couple months ago, and they were both just pots, with about 20% mismatch between channels.

 

[Joe Lau]

Quote:

Originally posted by JMS I bought the "ALPS pots" from hkleung on ebay a few months ago, and were shipped two 50K-ohm stepped attenuators (verified by opening the case). I got a couple more from the same guy a couple months ago, and they were both just pots, with about 20% mismatch between channels.

It's so sad ! It have many many ! Immitation parts in China ! Some manufacturer try to copy look parts from famouse manufacturer but most of its can copy outlloking only but parts quality is difference ! So I never buy parts from China Domestic market !

 

[jeftsang]

Can someone tell me what's so great about having a stepped pot? Is it sound quality, feel, accuracy.........?

 

[HD-5000]

Stepped attenuators are precisely for sound quality. A series of resistors tuning the volume is cleaner than a smooth, conductive plastic potentiometer.

 

[jeftsang]

interesting, thanks. That makes a lot of sense. Are there any other popular brands other than alps that makes stepped attenuators?

I've heard of the alps blue velvet, they're discontinued right? Is there a replacement model coming up?

 

[tangent]

I called around a bit after hearing that someone said on Head-Fi that the ALPS Blue Velvet (i.e. RK27112) is being discontinued and haven't found anyone from ALPS or their distributors saying that. I just placed an order, and am not hearing anyone complain that they can't get them. If someone knows different, let me know, because I want to get them while I can!

Anyway, as for other sources of stepped attenuators which are far better and far more expensive than the fake ALPS thing, look into TKD, DACT and Goldpoint. These are all in the $100 to $200 range. The $6 pseudo-ALPS stepper is a cheap, flawed device which is interesting simply because it's cheap and it fits on any board made for ALPS Blues. It's not what I'd call a good stepped attenuator. It's a gimmick.

 

[Joe Bloggs]

How is it flawed? (sorry I had to ask again

)

 

[tangent]

Quote:

How is it flawed?

Oh, "flawed" is too strong a word. It works, it's a good value for the money, it's not a scam. But, it's not a miracle. People see "stepped attenuator for $6!" and have all these visions in their head of saving $100-200 vs. what we normally think of as stepped attenuators.

Here's what's wrong with it relative to more expensive parts:

1. It pops between steps. There are ways to cure this, but it's a pain.

2. The bushing is a strange size, so you have to have an odd drill size to make the hole. (23/64", as I recall.) The mounting nut is a strange size, too, so you probably don't have the right nut driver for it. You end up using a Crescent wrench. Bleah.

3. The shaft is long and splined, and below the splines it tapers to 5mm and then back up to 6mm. So either you have to find a very large knob for 18-point splined shafts for it, or your have to cut the splines off and deal with the 5-6mm shaft. Splined knobs are rarer than knobs for smooth-shafts, and you probably don't want a knob big enough to completely hide the shaft anyway. There are knobs for 6mm smooth shafts, but in my experience the short 6mm section isn't long enough to work with most knobs. There are no knobs for 5mm shafts that I can find. If you don't match the knob's hole to the shaft size exactly, the knob wobbles when you turn it.

4. It's a small annoyance, but you have to cut the loudness pins off for boards like the META42.

5. If you examine it side by side with a real ALPS Blue Velvet pot, the ALPS pot is built a bit better. I'm not sure if this really matters, but it's nicer to use a well-built part than one that's cheap-looking.

EDIT: 6. I have to admit, I'm inclined to negative feelings when I think about this part, because it's so clearly a cheap knockoff of a great part. It's not just the physical parts design, it's the fact that they stick these cheap Xeroxed pieces of paper on the back that are made to look like the professionally-printed stickers ALPS uses on their parts. They're clearly intended to deceive, and that bothers me.

 

[Squalish]

I wonder why the chinese knockoff company decided to use such unusual sizes.

 

[tangent]

These sizes seem to be metric in origin, whereas the ALPS pots use English system inspired units: 5/16" bushing, 1/4" shaft, that sort of thing. 23/64" is probably meant to be 9mm, for example. 23/64" is just the closest could come in the English system.

 

[doobooloo]

I just ordered two on ebay last week.

Guess what I got. Two stepped POTS.

When I opened them up there was this crappy looking round carbon strip instead of cute little resistors cramped in a circle.

I am so mad.

What I got now is a cheap knockoff that is clearly NOT worth ths $18+$7 shipping and all this waiting time! Heck, I could actually have gotten one genuine Alps Blue for that price!

By the way, I ordered mine from audiotronics_hk instead of wkleung because only they carried the 100K version at the time of purchase.

I see what JMS is saying now.

the Chinese factory must have stopped making the attenuators now, but instead is fitting them with crappy 20% mismatch pots...

 

[puppyslugg]

You pays your money, you take your chances! Sorry it didn't work out.

I guess I must have been lucky. I ordered 6 early on when they first appeared. At least they were stepped attenuators.

 

[00940]

that's strange

I've won an auction from audiotronics on two of these (100K, RH2702) and I've opened one.

It is exactly as on the pictures : multicolor resistors in circle, 21 steps. It looks like a crazy soldering job btw, that's so small