I agree, Atmasphere. There is a lot of ranting and raving on that site. Arthur is all subjective. I think it's an outlet for him to unleash his pent up frustrations in high end audio. Can't blame him for doing that. |
YES! Most amp manufacturers will put in the cheapest volume pot in their amps. You'll notice the biggest improvement by swithching to a stepped resistor or transformer/autoformer volume control. LDRs will also give you a big benefit, but I don't know of a kit designed will fit into an amp. |
Atmashere, you raise an important point. I was thinking of replacing the stepped resistor attenuator (Goldpoint, 100kOhm) with an inductive volume control in my amp that uses a 12AX7 followed by 12AT7. The stepped attneuator sounds great. I want to see the sound can be improved by using an inductive (autoformer) volume control. However, the inductive volume control impedance is highly dependent on frequency. At 1 kHz it is about 1 MOhm (yes, megaOhm) and at 20 Hz about 20 kOhm. There is a 3.3 kOhm input resistor that goes to the grid of the 12AX7. Can inductive volume control significantly affect the frequency response in this case? |
Guess I'll have to install the inductive volume control and see if there's any freq response problems. Some things in audio are just unpredictable. |
Inductive = Autoformer volume control. Example, Slagleformer in the Bent Audio Tap X, one of the best passive preamps around. George, I think you're thinking of the wrong volume control. |
I'm sure the signal is not as well preserved as resistor attenuator or LDR units. But music isn't composed of square waves and I don't make a of habit of listening to 20 kHz square waves. I have heard your LDR unit and like it a lot, but you don't sell a kit that can be installed in an amp..have you considered it? |
Hi Dave, thanks for posting the square waves. Have you ever had any complaints of frequency response loss due to Miller effect (raised by Atmasphere) from using your autoformer volume control at the input of an tube amp? Apologies to the OP if this is too off topic. |
Hi Dave, thanks for clarifying my confusion. I have your autoformer preamp(Bent Audio TapX), which competes with some of the best preamps out there (both active and passive), as long as you keep the interconnects short and impedances appropriately matched. However, I think an autoformer will work even better installed directly in the input of the amp, as I have found with resistor stepped attenuator. |
Atmasphere, I am not talking about a preamp. I'm talking about a stepped attenuator or autoformer in the input of a tube amplifier. I have a stepped attenuator in my amplifier, and this configuration sounds better than any preamp I've had in my system. Now, I want to try a autoformer in my amp. |
Yes, VC upgrade in M-60 are stepped attenuator using Caddock resistors, I think. |
Hi George, what isn't flawed in audio? From what I understand, even the LDR preamps have issue with impedance matching, drift, and tolerance (ie, difficult to make a balanced preamp using LDRs). LDR preamps do sound excellent, may even surpass the best resistor or transformer/autoformer based preamp, but I don't think they're for everyone, just as any other passive preamp. But I do appreciate the fact that you popularized this technology for us to enjoy. |
Are you saying Arthur's opinions are terrible or his website is not user friendly? |
