Does the volume control effect sound quality?

We've done a lot of mods on Dynaco equipment over the years in fact that is how we got started back in the 70s. The volume control on the older PAS-3 was always a problem. Eventually we had some custom switches made up so we could install a stepped control in the unit.

The impedance of the control is important. The stock control on the original PAS-3 was 250K. If you install a larger value it will mess with the 12AX7 at the input of the circuit as the volume control and the input capacitance of the tube interact (Miller Effect). However if you go below 100k don't expect any bass out of the phono section!

IOW you do have to choose the value carefully. BTW it will not matter how nice the control is if these parameters are not observed- the same electrical rules apply to the best controls as the do to the cheapest.

I believe that the volume potentiometer (pot) is the single most important component that can have detrmental effect on sound quality, this is why they all sound different to each other.
All volume controls have pin point touch contact that are purposely made light in pressure as not to wear out the resistive track or contact points, all the music signal has to try to pass through these contacts.
These contacts/track are also mostly made dissimilar elements/metals which can have a "diode effect" which tries to rectify the ac music signal, this is a form of distortion.
In order what I believe is the best type of volume controls.
1: Lightspeed (ldr based) Attenuator or TVC (transformer based) = no contacts in the siganl path.
2: Mercury Wetted Relays = with gold or silver contacts in a mercury bath, they also resist tranishing /arcing, also are becoming illegal.
3: Good quality relays = with gold or silver contacts
4: Switched resistor = double leaf, each side of the wiper contact
5: Switched resistor = single leaf on one side of the wiper
6: Potentiometer (Pot) = conductive plastic track
7: Potentiometer (Pot) = carbon track

Cheers George

After two glasses of wine, no way ;)

Atmashere, you raise an important point. I was thinking of replacing the stepped resistor attenuator (Goldpoint, 100kOhm) with an inductive volume control in my amp that uses a 12AX7 followed by 12AT7. The stepped attneuator sounds great. I want to see the sound can be improved by using an inductive (autoformer) volume control. However, the inductive volume control impedance is highly dependent on frequency. At 1 kHz it is about 1 MOhm (yes, megaOhm) and at 20 Hz about 20 kOhm. There is a 3.3 kOhm input resistor that goes to the grid of the 12AX7. Can inductive volume control significantly affect the frequency response in this case?

I know we aren't supposed to be off topic here but is the Pope Catholic?? IOW, yes.

Georgelofi, we've done a lot of experiments with controls and I find that I can't agree with your regarding relays. Universally they were inferior to a good quality rotary stepped switch. However, switches are quite variable so I can see good relays being better than some switches. But if you have higher quality switches the relays don't stand a chance.

From what I understand of light-activated devices, one would have to be quite careful in doing a substitution in the case of this preamp! The light activated devices I have seen can cover a pretty wide range of resistances- the higher values, even if a better device, will still introduce coloration that an inexpensive control of the right value wont have due to the Miller Effect issue. IOW things are getting dicy if the control is able to exceed 250K.