[Oublie]

Hi,

I'm planning to swap out the attenuator on one of my stax amps. I'm going to go from the standard pot to a decent stepped attenuator around the $300 mark. how do I choose which rating to go for with the pot and what difference will it make if i choose a 50k over a 100k etc.

Or would the tentlabs attenuator be a better option? http://www.hificollective.co.uk/comp...tl_volume.html

Thanks.

 

[MoodySteve]

This may seem obvious to the point of banality, but it would be best to replace it with whatever value is currently in there.

Otherwise, 50K seems to be a good value for headphone amps/preamps. I'm not sure what's different about a Stax amp though.

 

[Oublie]

I thought the same myself, but wanted to know what the difference would be. In other words is it sometime better to use a 100k pot over a 50k or should you always stick to whats inside with the original spec. I suppose the best option would be to find your ideal volume setting and stick a couple of resistors inside hence removing the need for a pot completly but thats probably insane

 

[TimmyMac]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Oublie /img/forum/go_quote.gif I thought the same myself, but wanted to know what the difference would be. In other words is it sometime better to use a 100k pot over a 50k or should you always stick to whats inside with the original spec. I suppose the best option would be to find your ideal volume setting and stick a couple of resistors inside hence removing the need for a pot completly but thats probably insane

The real best option is to tweak the gain to get your desired volume. But then you lose the ability to adjust for albums mastered at different levels.

 

[digger945]

Is there a certain stepper your looking at now?

 

[Oublie]

There are a couple with shinko resistors i've been looking at or the possibility of one of the new style of electronic post from tentlabs or twisted pear. To be honest though it's not something i know a lot about so i'm a bit in the dark. I also looked into some of those external rca connected dual mono stepped attenuators. Then of course there the title of the thread my current amp an stax srm1 has a 50k pot , ill be receiving a srm t1 in a few day and plan to tweak it. Chances are it will also have the same 50k pot but i was thinking of improving on it but i dont quite understand the whole 10k, 50k thing. The reason for this all stems from when i ran some tests using a power amp directly without any preamp stage but attenuating the audio via my computer in foobar and then resampling it. The sound was a lot better with no pot or other junk in the way but as always im just after an improvement in audio.

 

[amb]

How about searching the forum? This question has come up many times before (not specific to the stax, but in general).

 

[MASantos]

Quote:

Originally Posted by amb /img/forum/go_quote.gif How about searching the forum? This question has come up many times before (not specific to the stax, but in general).

x2!

 

[spritzer]

Just stick with a 50k pot as that's what all of the Stax amps use. The old rule of thumb is that the ratio between the output impedance of the source and the input impedance of the amp should be 1:10 or greater.

One thing to know about the Stax amps, you will have to find a new volume knob if you change the pot. The split knob will not work with a normal pot or a stepped attenuator.

 

[DouglasQuaid]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TimmyMac /img/forum/go_quote.gif The real best option is to tweak the gain to get your desired volume. But then you lose the ability to adjust for albums mastered at different levels.

Then it's not the real best option.