LightSpeed Attenuator vs. GoldPoint SA1X

Thank you! So lightspeed is ldr based? How about the tortuga preamp?

Yes there are a few clones trying to get around having not to quad match the LDR's which is very labour intensive.
Ones I know just dual match (the series and the shunt ldr's) which is half way there to get the best out of it.

And then some now don't match at all, and use a forced matching auto calibration type circuit circuit (like a active feedback circuit) to force match the LED/LDR's. This saves a lot of labour. But this can be desctructive over time to the led/ldr's (as I stated in the Lightspeed diy thread linked) and then it can also lead to not having a very low lowest level volume. Like revving your car passed it's redline all the time, something's got to give after a while.

http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/analog-line-level/80194-lightspeed-attenuator-new-passive-preamp-276.html#post4475116

I have found quad matching is the only way to go, to still use the labour intensive way of hand quad matching the series and shunt led/led's over 5 different current points, it the only way for me, and gives the best reliability, lowest low level volume and a nice logarithmic feel to the volume control progression, and best sound.

Cheers George

Is it impossible to do a balanced version of LDR passive volume control? Thanks.

XLR has an advantage only over single ended if the interconnects are very long (EG: 5-10mts) then it's only a noise advantage, if anything single ended in most cases sounds better because of less electronics in the signal path that XLR needs at both output and input of the source and poweramp.

Also to make a passive Lightspeed balanced it's exponentially much harder, these are the reasons I don't make them, and they're not suitable for 10mts of interconnects in SE or XLR form.
I have put up a diy circuit for builders to make their own XLR (balanced) Lightspeed if they wish here.

http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/analog-line-level/80194-lightspeed-attenuator-new-passive-preamp-192.html#post2396316

Cheers George

How can a ldr resistor be stable over time? I think the ldr preamp are very subtle since it needs to convert electric to photo and then convert photo to resistance.