Hi everybody.
I am happy that V281-LE is now delivered to the customers.
There had been lots of delays during production and delivery.
But it still seems that there are some complaints about the 128-step reed-relay volume control.
Like before inside the "old" V281 with the 128-step relay attenuator option, the volume control of V281-LE offers 128 steps of 0,8 dB each, but now it is made with reed-relays. And it is no option anymore but always part of the amp.
The reed-relay attenuator offers the advantage of reduced noise while in action and lower hearable “glitches”.
Also, because reed-relays are much faster than standard relays, now all 128 steps are active – whether this is reasonable for low volumes or not …
The standard relay version of the “old” V281 combined several steps at lower volumes in order to reduce switching action and switching noise.
Here (again) some words about the working principles:
The advantages of a system like this are that there is definitely no channel mismatch between the left and right channel.
This is because the 128 attenuation steps are made with very low tolerance resistors, tolerance is 1% or 0.1 %.
So, best channel balance is maintained even with lowest volume settings.
A "normal" potentiometer will show growing channel mismatch with lower volumes.
The crosstalk between left and right is dramatically minimized compared to “normal” Potentiometers.
This is because the circuits for the left and right channel can be separated from each other in a better way than it can be made with "normal" potentiometers.
There will never be some scratching noise known from old or cheap manufactured potentiometers.
This is because there are no large carbon surfaces from "normal" potentiometers which will suffer from aging or worn-out carbon surfaces.
There are audible enhancements for a relay attenuator compared to "normal" potentiometers.
This is because there is only a voltage divider made of two two resistors active at a time instead of the large carbon resistor area with a slider on it of a "normal" potentiometer.
But: no light without a shadow.
During turning the volume knob from left to right, 128 switching actions for the left channel and 128 switching actions for the right channel will take place.
These switchings can be quite loud for standard relays ("old" V281) but this noise is much lower when using reed relays (V281-LE, Violectric V550, V590, Niimbus amps).
A reed relay features its switching contact in a small glass tube filled with protective gas. The switching action is forced by a magnetic field.
Unfortunately, a reed relay only allows for single throw action. For volume attenuation a double throw action is needed which is quite normal for standard relays.
So, a double throw action with reed relays needs two contacs, one of them NO (normally open), the other NC (normally closed).
Additionally, there are always small amounts of DC current part of the signal.
This DC current together with the action of the switches causes little clicks or glitches when revolving the volume knob.
They will disappear instantly when the spinning has stopped.
We think that these issues are acceptable for a technical and audible outstanding volume control with many advantages over standard approaches.
There are many positive customer opinions about the 128-step volume control from the old (and noisy) Violectric HPA V281 in this thread and the 256-step volume control from Niimbus US 4+ and US 5 Pro, as well as positive opinions from Violectric HPA V550 PRO and DHA V590 PRO concerning the sonic improvements versus the standard volume control.