How to attenuate source so amp has more volume play??

[n_maher]

Don't give yourself too much credit;

Uh, pardon me but what the fuck is up with your attitude? Are you trying to piss me off?

I was still talking about the output side. If you had to attenuate at the output I'd imagine a voltage divider is still better than an inline attenuator, that are just series resistance - like you yourself said, screwing up the output impedance.

I knew why it was a shitty idea and told you as much, output impedance and damping factor are linked concepts and was exactly what I was referring to when I said:

I'd only do it on the input. From where I sit the output would be a very bad idea since you'd be destroying the output impedance of the amp.

The whole point of amps like the beta22 is that they present a near-zero output impedance which allows them to have very tight control over the headphone regardless of the headphones impedance. Change that and by default you affect the damping factor and the amp's ability to control the headphone. Now, there are those that would argue that having too high a damping factor is a bad thing, but that's another discussion.

How do I know? Because I took the time to do the research.

I understand and entirely appreciate n_maher's efforts to the community. But credit where credit is due - not when somebody is being elitist. I'm just trying to help, discuss and learn here, and getting slammed for no apparently good reason.

I really don't understand this place......

Credit where credit is do? I gave myself essentially no credit. And how am I being an elitist? You made a comment about people crapping their pants with reference to output attenuation, therefore I used the word shitty to describe the decision to attenuate on the output. Get it, it's a fucking pun.

[JBLoudG20]

I understand and entirely appreciate n_maher's efforts to the community. But credit where credit is due - not when somebody is being elitist. I'm just trying to help, discuss and learn here, and getting slammed for no apparently good reason.

I really don't understand this place......

Fuck you too, Asshat.

[Beefy]

Uh, pardon me but what the fuck is up with your attitude? Are you trying to piss me off?

Like I said, I'm trying to be helpful, discuss and learn. But its not a particularly conducive environment for that, apparently.

I knew why it was a shitty idea and told you as much, output impedance and damping factor are linked concepts and was exactly what I was referring to when I said:

Fine then. But it might be nice to help out the newb?

Get it, it's a fucking pun.

Fuck you too, Asshat.

"Welcome to Headcase, sorry about your thin skin."

Oh, the irony. Like I said, seems I don't understand this place

[JBLoudG20]

Oh, the irony. Like I said, seems I don't understand this place

Don't let it hit ya, where the good lord split ya.

[n_maher]

Like I said, I'm trying to be helpful, discuss and learn. But its not a particularly conducive environment for that, apparently.

No you're not, you're acting like a jackass.

Oh, the irony. Like I said, seems I don't understand this place

You clearly don't. Acting like a jackass is a privilege earned, not given when you sign up.

You want to discuss, fine, tell me how I wasn't discussing and where I allegedly took too much credit or whatever I did that was elitist?

There's precious little debate, attenuating the output of an amplifier (not a source) is a terrible idea no matter how you slice it. You might get away with it on a preamp if you carefully considered the input impedance of the following stage but again I'd question why someone would ever choose the least efficient path and one that is more likely to muck up the signal.

Perhaps I should have been more clear, based on my research and in my opinion using a resistor divider on the output of the source would be my first and preferred method for dealing with the problem of insufficient range of volume adjustment when changing the gain of the amp in question is not practical.

[deepak]

I understand and entirely appreciate n_maher's efforts to the community. But credit where credit is due - not when somebody is being elitist. I'm just trying to help, discuss and learn here, and getting slammed for no apparently good reason.

I really don't understand this place......

Woah no where in this thread was Nate being elitist.

[Frihed89]

I had this problem...several times, before I learned that the thing to do is call the preamp mfr and tell them what amps you will be using. Both Gilbert Yeung at Blue Circle and Kara Chaffee at deHavilland made sure the gain on their preamps (an SBT and a UV2) was OK for my 2 main amps. All the experience I had with attenuation was as described here. It choked the life out of my sound.

[Dusty Chalk]

(a) Have your amp modded with lower gain.

( Put attenuators between the two. Try to find the most transparent ones you can afford.

© Purchase different lower sensitivity headphones.