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Audio Research SP16 annoying volume control

I have recently added a Audio Research SP16, the most annoying thing is the volume control.
The volume steps are not well calibrated and is either too quiet or too loud, there's not subtle ajustments, the volume just jumps to loud.
I have heard great things about Audio Research but I never expected this sort of design flaw on such an expensive piece of equipment. I am not happy at all.
Any other SP16 owners have this problem?
kingmonkey88

Showing 2 responses by elberoth2

elberoth2's avatar
elberoth2
1,223 posts
 
Is it happening in the lower part of the scale ?
elberoth2's avatar
elberoth2
1,223 posts
 
Mating a preamp with an amp, you need to consider several things, such as gain of preamp, gain of amp, amp sensitivity, preamp output impedance, amp input impedance.

What Audiophile have said is very true (maybe with the exception of in/out impedances). I would also throw in a mix sensitivity of your speakers and output voltage of your CD player (I had this problem several years ago when I was using Theta Gen Va which had a generous, 6V output voltage).

To remedy the situation, you can (in general) do one of the following:

1. Reduce the output voltage of your CDP
2. Reduce gain of your preamp
3. Reduce gain of your amp
4. Reduce the sensitivity of your speakers

Reducing gain of your preamp seems to be the easiest thing to do (for example reducing sensitivity of your speakers would basicly mean that you would have to buy different speakers).
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