btw: What do you have to lose, by trying your Morrison? I used to own a Placette Passive Volume Control. Unfortunately; the rest of my system, at the time, didn't have enough gain, for the SPLs I enjoy, with many of my CDs and vinyls. With recordings done at higher levels and no compression; I loved the transparency.
... Should I be concerned?
Hello to all...
So here I am, back again, still trying to "tune" my budget rig to the max "best to me sound":
CD only setup with over 10 yr old Marantz SA8001, into a Tube Line-level preamp, into a Parasound HCA-750 power amp, with homemade speaker cables (12g solid core copper wire, twisted; bare wire on both ends), at back of speaker same wire bent into C-shapes as jumpers... Speakers are KEF Q1s (luv'um).
On the back of the Parasound, there are volume knobs (so you could use the amp direct without a preamp) which I have up full ( as recommended to me thru another topic line). When I play music, I have so little volume adjustment available: I can't really get past 8 o'clock (from starting at 7) without it being too loud...
One question I have is: will I be degrading the sound if I " adjust" the volume pots on the rear of the power amp, so that I can have more control over the volume knob on the pre? I guess I' be shooting for a 10-11 o'clock on the pre, and I'll assume it means a great decrease in the setting on the power amp.
Could another tact be: to replace the volume knob/pot with an articulated one, one that would click increases as I turn it?
This may be a foolish question - but any info or suggestions (other than criticism or sarcasm) would be greatly appreciated... Best Wishes to all - Be Well.
So here I am, back again, still trying to "tune" my budget rig to the max "best to me sound":
CD only setup with over 10 yr old Marantz SA8001, into a Tube Line-level preamp, into a Parasound HCA-750 power amp, with homemade speaker cables (12g solid core copper wire, twisted; bare wire on both ends), at back of speaker same wire bent into C-shapes as jumpers... Speakers are KEF Q1s (luv'um).
On the back of the Parasound, there are volume knobs (so you could use the amp direct without a preamp) which I have up full ( as recommended to me thru another topic line). When I play music, I have so little volume adjustment available: I can't really get past 8 o'clock (from starting at 7) without it being too loud...
One question I have is: will I be degrading the sound if I " adjust" the volume pots on the rear of the power amp, so that I can have more control over the volume knob on the pre? I guess I' be shooting for a 10-11 o'clock on the pre, and I'll assume it means a great decrease in the setting on the power amp.
Could another tact be: to replace the volume knob/pot with an articulated one, one that would click increases as I turn it?
This may be a foolish question - but any info or suggestions (other than criticism or sarcasm) would be greatly appreciated... Best Wishes to all - Be Well.
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- 39 posts total
Here’s a thread that mentions the Wolze as using two 12AU7s: https://www.audioshark.org/pre-amps-9/wolze-triode-line-level-preamp-4421.html Dave Wolze actually replied to the post and didn’t dispute the mentioned tube compliment. Confirmation, perhaps? |
You never want your volume control to max out at a low volume point. You want your volume control to be anywhere between 4 and 6 if the volume control starts at 0 and the max would be 10. Check with your preamp/integrated manufacturer to determine what is the optimal setting. For example, there are many threads on how to balance the volume output of your dac into your preamp with the volume control setting of the preamp. My McIntosh preamp optimal setting for the volume control was with it running between 50-60% |
I had a similar issue when changing to far more powerful amps recently. I could barely get volume knob to 9 o'clock without nearly breaking a window. Opened up my preamp and to check the gain setting dip-switches (options for 0, 6, 9, 12 an 18db) and they were at max 18db. Brought it down to 0 and it's back in business. |
- 39 posts total