8th April 2008
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#1 | | Lives for gear
Joined: Oct 2006 Location: Cotswolds, UK
Posts: 1,439
Thread Starter  | Transparent DAW Monitoring Volume control
Hello,
I'm looking for suggestions for, well, basically just a volume knob to go between my soundcard and monitors.
Not after frills (talkback, mono, multiple outs etc), whats paramount is that its as transparent as possible, as if I was plugging the monitors directly to the soundcards output.
Preferably not too expensive.
The reason why I'm not keen on going direct from soundcard is because last night I actually fried my monitors doing just that :( , my soundcard went bezerk and sent a massive DC offset style signal to my Dynaudios. It was soo intense my left ear still hurts like crazy 24 hours later.
Off to the repair shop tomorrow, really dont want to repeat it in future, but at the same time don't want to degrade the soundpath too much by putting in the safety net of a volume control in between (I read some reports on Mackie's Big Knob that it coloured the sound a little too much).
Suggestions please  | 
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8th April 2008
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#2 | | Lives for gear
Joined: Jun 2004 Location: London
Posts: 2,057
| Quote:
Originally Posted by Arksun  Hello,
I'm looking for suggestions for, well, basically just a volume knob to go between my soundcard and monitors.
Not after frills (talkback, mono, multiple outs etc), whats paramount is that its as transparent as possible, as if I was plugging the monitors directly to the soundcards output.
Preferably not too expensive.
The reason why I'm not keen on going direct from soundcard is because last night I actually fried my monitors doing just that :( , my soundcard went bezerk and sent a massive DC offset style signal to my Dynaudios. It was soo intense my left ear still hurts like crazy 24 hours later.
Off to the repair shop tomorrow, really dont want to repeat it in future, but at the same time don't want to degrade the soundpath too much by putting in the safety net of a volume control in between (I read some reports on Mackie's Big Knob that it coloured the sound a little too much).
Suggestions please |
SM Pro audio do some cheap passive volume controllers that do not change the sound
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8th April 2008
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#3 | | 70% Coffee, 30% Beer
Joined: Dec 2006 Location: Quincy, MA
Posts: 9,135
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Coleman Audio M3PH MK2 thumbsup
Coleman Products feature the least amount of electronics in the signal path.
The Passive M3PH MK2 would be the direction I would point you in,
Check em out here, Welcome to colemanaudio.com
__________________ Adam Brass adam@dspdoctor.com  DSPdoctor.com "Where High End is Still King" 
__________________ "Any opinions above are worth exactly what you paid for them." Anonymous "If I find 10,000 ways something won't work, I haven't failed. I am not discouraged, because every wrong attempt discarded is another step forward. Thomas Edison
RTFM
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8th April 2008
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#4 | | Lives for gear
Joined: Apr 2005 Location: San Diego, California
Posts: 972
| NHT - Now Hear This ®
I have a few and they are excellent....nothing more than a quality volume pot....VERY reasonable price...
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8th April 2008
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#5 | | Lives for gear
Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 859
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I just replaced my big knob with a ( passive ) SM M-patch2, definitely cleaner sounding, plus it has reasonable switching / i/o capabilities
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8th April 2008
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#6 | | Lives for gear
Joined: Oct 2006 Location: Cotswolds, UK
Posts: 1,439
Thread Starter | Quote:
Originally Posted by duckoff I just replaced my big knob with a ( passive ) SM M-patch2, definitely cleaner sounding, plus it has reasonable switching / i/o capabilities |
This looks very interesting indeed!. Very cheap too, seems to have some good reviews on its transparency.
Hmm actually so does that NHT PVC Pro too, nothing but a potentiometer based volume knob, perfect.
I wonder which one would sound better...
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8th April 2008
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#7 | | Jai guru deva om
Joined: Feb 2003 Location: South Carolina
Posts: 12,921
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SPL Volume 2.
It's the good shit, lollipop.
War
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8th April 2008
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#8 | | Lives for gear
Joined: Oct 2006 Location: Cotswolds, UK
Posts: 1,439
Thread Starter |
Hmmm, having a very hard time finding anyone selling either the SM Pro M-Patch 2 or NHT PVC Pro in the UK. Does anyone know any stores in the UK that sells either?
*goes to check out the SPL....*
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8th April 2008
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#9 | | Lives for gear
Joined: Apr 2005 Location: San Diego, California
Posts: 972
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the SPL products are fantastic....FANTASTIC.....but expensive...
you could always build this yourself....buy a good stepped attenuator (vishay is very nice)...buy some connectors (neutrik combo plugs are great, but hard to work with)....buy a pre punched box for the parts to go in and throw in a little solder, a little audio cable....put it all in the blender on "liquefy" and you will have the cleanest most silent volume control on earth....
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8th April 2008
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#10 | | Lives for gear
Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 859
| i think i got mine from millenium ( music / audio ? )
the real bad-boys of volume control are transformer based models - they're not widely available yet but are supposedly awesome & remove the impedance issues that other passive methods create
i think on a budget a passive attenuator is always gonna sound better
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8th April 2008
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#11 | | Lives for gear
Joined: Oct 2006 Location: Cotswolds, UK
Posts: 1,439
Thread Starter |
SM Pro seems like the way to go, Thomann in Germany have it in stock and the delivery cost to UK is very reasonable.
So now its just a question of cable impedance, Most of the cables I have are balanced Van Damme microphone type ones, wonder if they'll be suitable.
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8th April 2008
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#12 | | Lives for gear
Joined: Apr 2005 Location: San Diego, California
Posts: 972
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what is the concern about impedance??
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9th April 2008
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#13 | | Gear addict
Joined: Dec 2004 Location: L.A.
Posts: 386
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I have a Goldpoint SA2X - http://www.goldpt.com/ - Expensive but works great. I've had it for about 3 years in my dusty L.A. studio (Los Angeles is a very dusty town) and absolutely no scratchy-ness.
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9th April 2008
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#14 | | Lives for gear
Joined: Apr 2005 Location: San Diego, California
Posts: 972
| Quote:
Originally Posted by NoizyNinja I have a Goldpoint SA2X - http://www.goldpt.com/ - Expensive but works great. I've had it for about 3 years in my dusty L.A. studio (Los Angeles is a very dusty town) and absolutely no scratchy-ness. |
WOW....I didn't start this thread, but I have to say thanks for this info...I will try one of these ASAP....very similar to the quality standards of the stepped attenuator in the SSL console "mains" volume pot (which is now discontinued and or horribly expensive)....THANK YOU  | |
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9th April 2008
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#15 | | Lives for gear
Joined: Jun 2002 Location: West Coast Central Florida
Posts: 7,677
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SPL Volume 2 is about as pure as it gets. I would call the mid $400's expensive though. If this was an 'audiophile' instead of a 'pro' piece it probably would be triple for the same damn thing.
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9th April 2008
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#16 | | Lives for gear
Joined: Apr 2005 Location: San Diego, California
Posts: 972
| Quote:
Originally Posted by NathanEldred SPL Volume 2 is about as pure as it gets. I would call the mid $400's expensive though. If this was an 'audiophile' instead of a 'pro' piece it probably would be triple for the same damn thing. |
it would probably be more than triple....but then again it would be made of solid gold and hover on your desk using rare earth magnets.... 
on the other hand audiophiles are suckers for constant upgrading so I usually go in and buy their EXCELLENT gear when they get tired of it for pennies on the dollar....I pay less for my fancy cables than most retail customers do for a decent "studio" cable....
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9th April 2008
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#17 | | Lives for gear
Joined: Jun 2002 Location: West Coast Central Florida
Posts: 7,677
| Quote:
Originally Posted by Ari-M. it would probably be more than triple....but then again it would be made of solid gold and hover on your desk using rare earth magnets.... |
The solid gold rare magnet version is 200x's more.  | |
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9th April 2008
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#18 | | Gear addict
Joined: Dec 2004 Location: L.A.
Posts: 386
| Quote:
Originally Posted by Ari-M. it would probably be more than triple....but then again it would be made of solid gold and hover on your desk using rare earth magnets....
on the other hand audiophiles are suckers for constant upgrading so I usually go in and buy their EXCELLENT gear when they get tired of it for pennies on the dollar....I pay less for my fancy cables than most retail customers do for a decent "studio" cable.... | Where do you find this used audiophile stuff?
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9th April 2008
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#19 | | Lives for gear
Joined: Apr 2005 Location: San Diego, California
Posts: 972
| Quote:
Originally Posted by NoizyNinja Where do you find this used audiophile stuff? | a good friend of mine owns the local "BIG DEAL" hi-fi shop...(and no he's not the friend that told me to stay away from GS)....I bought a used set of Mark Levinson monoblocks from him (they were $30,000 new) for $2500....thats around the price of a new bryston 4b (give or take)....WOW (I am not so crazy after all)  | |
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9th April 2008
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#20 | | Lives for gear
Joined: Apr 2005 Location: San Diego, California
Posts: 972
| Quote:
Originally Posted by NathanEldred The solid gold rare magnet version is 200x's more. | I bought one of those from a guy who claimed it gave him liver disease. Funny thing is he was drunk when I went to pick it up....
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