"Too much gain"? (Cary SLP05 question)

@docroasty, I've never heard any Cary electronics. I've used the Rothwell attenuators (single-ended, rated @-10 dB) only on the Kinki Studio THR-1 headphone amp/preamp. In that application, the Rothwells did nothing I could detect to the overall sound, beyond lowering the gain somewhat (as intended).

I'd have to hear them in a larger 2-channel system to dial in their transparent. But in in my pretty resolving, high quality desktop system, they did exactly what they're advertised to do and seemed quite transparent.

@desktopguy ah thanks man. I read your previous post too fast. appreciate the reply though. I just ordered a set of Rothwell attenuators, so hopefully they'll do the trick. 

@desktopguy 

could you explain to me what you mean by this?

but it also risks the audibility of any channel-tracking non-linearity in any give volume pot.

Thanks.

@immatthewj, sure. If gain issues exist in the system (in my case, due to relatively high voltage output of the upstream DAC), this results in my using the downstream volume pot (of the headphone amplifier/preamplifier being fed signal from the DAC) rotated nearly all the way counterclockwise. That means if I rotate that pot very far at all in the clockwise direction--to increase volume--the already borderline-excessive volume increases quickly and to an intolerable level.

Traditional wiper-type volume pots often exhibit sonic nonlinearity at this extreme counterclockwise rotation. Typically this is experienced as poor channel tracking, with one channel sounding louder than the other. Depending on the specific volume pot, there also might be higher than usual audio distortion at extreme counterclockwise settings.

One goal of reducing system gain via devices such as the Rothwell attenuators (installed in the RCA inputs of the amp/preamp) is to reclaim some of the lower roatitonal range of the amp/preamp’s volume pot, so I can adjusting the desired volume a little further up from the farthest counterclockwise position, thus avoiding any non-linearity at that position.

Note: with certain other types of volume pots (ie, stepped, reed-relay, or digital domain designs) there is no apparent non-linearity at the pot’s rotational extremes. Thus these pots exhibit little or no nonlinearity with in systems with excessive gain, Howeverr, there may still remain the issue of having "too few steps" for effective volume adjustment.

@desktopguy

thanks for the explanation.

I am actually the OP on this thread, & one of my questions/concerns was "am I losing anything, sonically, by having to keep my volume pot backed off to a low setting?" It sounds as if I may be.

6 oclock is my volume pot backed all the way off. Normal listening volume for me depends upon the CD (how loud, or I guess how much gain(?) of the CD itself) but it is usually at or about 9 oclock & sometimes, but not often, as high as 10:30 or 11 oclock. I would think it would be screaming at me if I ever put it at 12 oclock. (Part of this is probably due to the small listening room I am presently in.)

As far as what you said about nonlinearity at volume pot extremes, a little while back ago I was messing around with a Sheffeiel Labs test CD that I bought a long time ago & I came upon a test I had never done, & that involved a test tone & the instructions were to put the leads of a voltmeter on the speker wire terminals & compare the readings of both speakers. I did note that one was a bit higher than the other, so I used one of the balance pots of the preamp to make them even. This was a while ago, but I think I remember doing tube swapping on the preamp to see if the discrepancy followed the tubes, & I was thinking, at the time (if I hadn’t confused myself) that it was following the position of 2 tubes (L & R) for the balanced inputs of the preamp.

After reading your replay, I guess I should repeat that test & see if I was correct about it following those tubes.

Anywy, thanks again for the explanation.