cd player + preamp = too much gain

Hi Vaughan,

Did you use good quality attenuators, such as the Rothwell's?

Did you use them at the end of the interconnect cables (i.e., at input jacks and not at output jacks)? The Rothwell's are designed to be used in that manner, and even apart from their internal design I would expect that their sonic effects would be quite different depending on which end of the cable they are positioned at. If the attenuator is located at the beginning of the run, the cable parameters would interact with the output impedance of the attenuator, which is likely to be considerably higher than the output impedance of the component.

Also, did you try the attenuators between power amp and preamp, as well as between cdp and preamp?

Best regards,
-- Al

Hi Vaughan,

I would suspect that the Goldenjacks and the Rothwells (and any other similar attenuators) all differ somewhat in terms of the resistor values that the designers chose, and possibly also in their internal circuit configurations. Those differences, and how they match up with the component impedances, would likely overshadow any differences in resistor quality.

And neither manufacturer seems to have internal design details presented on their website, which makes it all hard to predict.

If the 10db attenuators seemed to have minimal sonic impact, though, and if 10db attenuation was insufficient, why not try having 10db attenuation at the preamp input and another 10db at the power amp input?

Best regards,
-- Al

Hi Vaughan,

I would not recommend either of those devices.

The "Peripheral" is intended for car audio and sells for only $16, and appears to have nickel-plated connectors. Enough said!

The Alva is intended for use with pro equipment, and therefore may not have its resistor and potentiometer values chosen to be optimal with consumer equipment. Also the amount of hardware that it includes (lots of connectors, and several switches in addition to the volume control), in combination with its $100 price, would seem to suggest that quality may not be the greatest.

I would still suggest buying a pair of Rothwell's, and using them in conjunction with the Goldenjack's so that 10db is at the input to the preamp and 10db is at the input to the power amp. That avoids the necessity of additional interconnect cables that the other devices would require (which would very conceivably have significant sonic effects due to their interaction with the output impedances of the passive volume controls). And if the Rothwell's + Goldenjacks proves to be an unsatisfactory approach I would expect you to have no trouble selling them, considering how many other people seem to have similar problems these days.

Regards,
-- Al