"Iain Churches" wrote in message
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"west" wrote in message
news:uFLbi.6710$xg4.2401@trnddc08...
Can we take an off the shelf CD Player and install , let's say a 10K
stepped
attenuator or Alps type pot inside the CD player on the output line?
Would
this make a cleaner audio input to the tube amp? The 2 alternatives are
an
outboard passive "preamp" with let's say 100k attenuator or installing
it
inside the amp. I tried the passive preamp route with mixed results but
got
straightened out from info in a previous thread by using a much shorter
interlink cable.
The answer became clear in the previous attenuator thread, I think.
If you must have an attenuator followed by a long cable then it should
have a cathode follower.
I have settled on a cathode follower signal selector/preamp
(just less than unity gain) with a balanced line output so that I
can run a cable from the top of the house down to my music room
on the lower ground floor when required with no losses.
I lent this same preamp (FR 10Hz to 100kHz +/- 0.5dB) to a friend
who had been using a passive controller with a long cable. He
thought the CF was "bright" ! Draw your own conclusions:-))
Normally, if I had a single signal source, say a CD player
I would forget about the preamp altogether, and have a stepped
attenuator (100k) on the grid of the first stage of the preamp and
built in to the same chassis (leads as short as possible) I did
this on my 25W amp.
Iain, do you mean on the first stage of your amp?
west
I am still interested to try the transformer attenuator, but I guess
this will have to wait until after the summer now.
Regards to all
Iain