Foreplay 2.1 Volume Control Padding:
I had the output shunt (is that the term?) to ground by a single 10k resistor to ground connected to both output lugs. I thought the soundstage was kinda muddled in the middle although violins were mostly left and cellos right. Mostly.
Decided that maybe that was electrically the same as 2 discrete channel grounds but not the right way to go for channel separation and went into the circuit. While I was at it I removed the really great $25 Valab attenuator from my control box to switch it with the RS Pot.
Complicating matters, the Valab has SMD resistors which I somehow managed to solder connections to back when we were still young with Prayer and 28 ga. XLO solid core. How I miss it! Anyway, no way I was gonna try to solder those again and I left as much of the XLO as I could, connecting it to the switch and padding resistors. Since I couldn't join the shunt at the lugs, I thought running the outputs to the tube pins and a common wire to both tube pins connecting to the single resistor to ground would be the way to go.
Then I looked at the result. The left and right tubes are connected to each other at Pin 2, the grounding resistor downstream from there. That can't be right.
If I keep the individual connections of Left and Right ouputs to the respective Pin 2 inputs, then run a separate 10k from those Pin 2s to ground, would that be the answer? Keeps the channel separation AND the proper shunt?