[ldj325]

This is especially geared to Singlepower owners as I understand that the 24 stepped attenuators used are custom to Singlepower. (Of course, other amp owners are free to participate, just be sure to vote in the appropriate category.) I have a Supra XLR being built currently configured with a 24 step attenuator, I'm still a little nervous about this as my hearing can be very volume sensitive. I've have some postiive feedback via PM from some Singlepower owners that the attenuators work just fine, but I thought I'd throw this open to a wider sample (hopefully).

Does anyone regularly experience issues where your ideal volume seems to be in between two steps? And if you're just fine with the stepped attenuator you can indicate that as well.

If you were once an owner of Singlepower with stepped attenuator, but don't own one now, you can vote in the Singlepower category. It would be nice if you posted in the thread the Singlepower you owned.

Thanks.

 

[guzziguy]

I have a stepped attenuator on my Extreme. I've never had a problem where I wished I could have set the volume between two steps. IMO, stepped attenuators solve a lot more problems than they create.

 

[Sovkiller]

That is the big problem of the stepped attenuators, and why many manufacturers avoid using them...you can not get the right volume all the times for all the recordings, specially while they differ so much in volume, labels (recording companies), mastering engineers, different countries, etc...

If you let me choose, I would get a few ALPS black beauties (or even the blue velvets), match the two channels as much as posible by hand, put them again together, and IMO you will not get better channel matching or performance with an sttepped...

 

[pageman99]

My Beta22 will have a stepped attenuator, but it will also have a 3 position gain switch.

If I can't get the right volume between those two, I'm going to be one unhappy camper.

 

[ldj325]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sovkiller /img/forum/go_quote.gif That is the big problem of the stepped attenuators, and why many manufacturers avoid using them...you can not get the right volume all the times for all the recordings...

Yes I've known that there can be some issues, which is the reason for my caution. I've been told that Singlepower steps are 1.5 dB apart, which was described to me as the threshold of perceivable volume change. In PMs several Singlepower owners have indicated no problems--so maybe Singlepower has the potential issues under control. But I thought I'd throw this open to a wider sample to see if a concensus emerges. Because of the custom attenuators, that's why I decided to split the poll into two categories, Singlepower owners and NON-Singlepower owners.

 

[ldj325]

Quote:

Originally Posted by pageman99 /img/forum/go_quote.gif My Beta22 will have a stepped attenuator, but it will also have a 3 position gain switch. If I can't get the right volume between those two, I'm going to be one unhappy camper.

Yeah, the 3 position switch is an option that would "fix" this (.75 dB between "steps" in the case of the Singlepower). For reasons of cost (I'm already way overbudget) as well as signal purity (although I expect that the effects of the switch would be slight if at all), this is something I "won't fix if it ain't broken."

 

[Icarium]

Well, I wanted to vote here but it's tough to since I have two singlepower amps and one has a 24 stepped attenuator (one per channel on the ES-1 which is a balanced amp) and a 45? or more stepped one on my SDS.

With my SDS I have all the control I could ever want. It's simply great.

The ES-1 though is a different story. I don't really need to go past 6 clicks ever and usually listen at 4-5, but I notice that there's a good amount of volume change where I do wish I could hear in between clicks sometimes and there's an especially big difference between clicks 3 and 4. It is hugeeee almost like 2 or maybe even 3 of the other clicks. Of course this is an electrostatic amp so this may not apply to your dynamic headphone amp.

Edit: This may be solveable by using lower gain tubes so there can be more finetuning with the attenuator by subdividing listenable volume over more clicks. Also, if I am listening with computer as a source I can adjust volume in foobar (Does this cause a degredation in sound? I have no idea).

 

[ldj325]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Icarium /img/forum/go_quote.gif Well, I wanted to vote here but it's tough to since I have two singlepower amps and one has a 24 stepped attenuator (one per channel on the ES-1 which is a balanced amp) and a 45? or more stepped one on my SDS. With my SDS I have all the control I could ever want. It's simply great. The ES-1 though is a different story. I don't really need to go past 6 clicks ever and usually listen at 4-5, but I notice that there's a good amount of volume change where I do wish I could hear in between clicks sometimes and there's an especially big difference between clicks 3 and 4. It is hugeeee almost like 2 or maybe even 3 of the other clicks. Of course this is an electrostatic amp so this may not apply to your dynamic headphone amp. Edit: This may be solveable by using lower gain tubes so there can be more finetuning with the attenuator by subdividing listenable volume over more clicks. Also, if I am listening with computer as a source I can adjust volume in foobar (Does this cause a degredation in sound? I have no idea).

That's interesting on your ES-1 24 stepped. I thought the point of the steps was to give very controlled even spaced volume changes. If I understand correctly you have 2 attenuators on the ES-1. Does the same "big step" happen on both attenuators? Have you ever talked to Mikhail about this?

 

[darkless]

My new Singlepower amp will have a custom 24-step attenuator designed to have a wider range of usable steps. Coupled with a 5 position gain switch (±20 dB in 10 dB increments) I believe that should cover all bases.

My old MPX3 SLAM XLR had an ordinary 24-step attenuator from Singlepower. Using that one I often felt that I needed "in-between" steps to hit the right volume.

 

[n_maher]

Quote:

Originally Posted by pageman99 /img/forum/go_quote.gif My Beta22 will have a stepped attenuator, but it will also have a 3 position gain switch.

I'd be interested to hear how you (or the builder) did this since switching the gain on a beta is not a simple matter. If implemented as a true gain switch it would require switching both resistors on caps.

 

[Icarium]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ldj325 /img/forum/go_quote.gif That's interesting on your ES-1 24 stepped. I thought the point of the steps was to give very controlled even spaced volume changes. If I understand correctly you have 2 attenuators on the ES-1. Does the same "big step" happen on both attenuators? Have you ever talked to Mikhail about this?

Yeah, so there are two attenuators one for left channel, one for right channel they were matched so both have the same issue. I got this amp like 4th hand. I may send it to Mikhail at some point to have it upgraded and at that point I'll either have it adjusted or go for the 45 step business.

 

[PFKMan23]

I have 2 Singlepower amps. One of my amps I had the stepped taken out as I felt that I couldn't get the right volume level. That said , while I realize that theoretically a stepped is more trnasparent than a potentiometer, I also felt that it smoothed things out a little too much, which sacrificed dynamics. To me is worth the loss of theoretical transparentcy. That said, my other Singlepower still has the stepped, and I feel the steps are mouch closer than in my other amp, when it had the stepped. At the moment, I don't see myself needing to get it swapped out.

 

[vcoheda]

getting a stepped without a gain switch could go either way. on most amps i have heard with a stepped, i needed the gain to zero in on a comfortable level.

 

[lextek]

I tried a stepped attenuator in a Headroom Max. I really didn't care for it. I seemed to want to listen between the steps.

 

[ecclesand]

I have the Corda HA-2 MKII SE which has the stepped attenuator and for me the volume levels are perfect!