[AudioCats]

Thinking about making one in the near future since the Alps are pretty expensive, I might as well spend a little more and do a 12-step....

my question is: which resistors shouldn't I use? (which of the boutique brands are bad for such application)

Thanks

 

[luvdunhill]

well, any resistor line that doesn't have enough spacing between the values to make a sensible attenuator. However, if you're wanting to spend say less than double the price of a suitable Alps, there aren't a whole lot of options out there...

 

[digger945]

Do you have a budget? Is there a certain manufacturer your leaning toward? PRP, Vishay, etc.
I agree with Luvdunhill, it's a pain to order resistors for a project and discover that you have to make a second order from another suppier for the values that aren't carried by suppier number one.
Also, you might think of ordering a kit maybe.

 

[AudioCats]

looks like I will be using PRP. How good/bad are they?

and what value do I need? for both 12 and 24 steps.

 

[AudioCats]

by the way, I am looking to make a ladder type

 

[Uncle Erik]

If I were doing that, I'd order several of each value and match values as closely as possible between channels. For me, matching would be more important than the brand.

 

[AudioCats]

hehehe, found the little program that calculates the need values...

 

[luvdunhill]

some people argue that the quality of the switch is of great importance. I'm inclined to agree. I feel the PRP are of good quality. Again, you may not find all of the needed values in PRP, this happens to me a lot.

 

[AudioCats]

good point. Maybe the series type is not any worse than a ladder type in a low budget DIY plan. Even though the signal goes through more resistors in a series stepper, it only goes through one contact, vs the two contacts in a ladder stepper. Without the extra high-end silver switches, the extra contact in a ladder type might generate more problem than the extra soldering joints in the series stepper.

Maybe I should make one each to see....

 

[mrarroyo]

Are your guys aware of: DIY Fidelity

I just ordered a 50K built one for $75 AUD about $50.4 USD, shipping is extra.

 

[digger945]

AudioCats, I was doing some googling and looking around.
Is there a particular attenuator that you were looking at?
The ones I looked at first were on hificollective, among others.
Are you building an attenuator to install in an existing amp?
I have thought about just building an external one to go inline from source to amp. Something that could be used with several amps.

 

[AudioCats]

I am not sure what switch to use yet, high quality ones seem to be very expensive.

If I ever build one, I will use it in a tube pre.

 

[AudioCats]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mrarroyo /img/forum/go_quote.gif Are your guys aware of: DIY Fidelity I just ordered a 50K built one for $75 AUD about $50.4 USD, shipping is extra.

that is very good price. considering there will be about 100 resistors involved, I am not sure if it can be cheaper to order loose parts and build one myself

How much is the shipping though?

 

[mrarroyo]

I am waiting for DIY Fidelity to let me know the S&H. I had a blip on my computer and the transaction did not go through. When I find out I will post it.

 

[jamess71]

I got a quote from them

"Hi James,
1 x Stereo Stepped Attenuator 100K Kit $50.00 AUD
Shipping cost $12.00 AUD (up to 2 kits can be
send for this price)"

So for under $8 you can get 2 shipped.