[dsavitsk]

Hi, I have an old Grado RA-1 (a real one) which has the problem that the volume pot does not track well until it is too loud to listen to. While I could replace the volume, I think this might be a big pain.

Instead, I am thinking that I might just modify some interconnects with a few resistors to send some fixed portion of the input signal to ground thus cutting the volume by some amount. So, would this work, and if so can anyone give me an idea of how to go about it -- where to put resistors, what value to use, etc?

Also, if there is a better way to do this, please tell me that instead.

Thanks,

-d

 

[Megaptera]

If you don't mind playing with the internals, you could just swap a few resistors and lower the gain. That'd probably be technically easier than replacing the pot and less complicated with attenuating the signal to ground.

For the interconnects, you'd have to experiment to determine what value resistors to use. I'm not sure how it would effect the amp's impedence, but I would put them on the input side just to be on the safe side. Putting them on the output might (I'm not sure) drive up the output impedence in a way you don't want. It might be tricky to avoid accidentally shorting the signal to ground completely, and actually it might be a little safer to put the resistors on the RCA inputs of the amp, where they wouldn't be bent or moved around.

That said, the ideal solution would be to replace the pot. That's where the problem is, and anything that doesn't fix that is ultimately not really "fixing" anything.

 

[13405]

If you care about the sound, I would not do anything other than replacing the pot.

1/ It is relatively easy to replace the pot anyway, neither is it expensive. The one used in the RA-1 is a cheapy.

2/ By attenuating the input or output, you are just adding another stage in the system. This will not benefit the sound atall, and if done incorrectly will alter the sound significantly.

3/ By lowering the gain, you will alter its sonic characteristics. The corresponding values have been chosen using a couple of classical 'rules'.

The identical pot can be found from radioshack, part number 271-1732