Easy volume control

[rucyrius]

Hi Guys:
I have two mono paramour amps and a foreplay pre amp... the lowest volume setting on the foreplay sometimes is too loud for my turntable and my cd. is there a simple way to address that?
thanks
john

[Paul Joppa]

The simplest method is to reduce the output from the volume control. The Foreplay I and II had 100K potentiometers, some have the optional Sweet Whispers stepped attenuator, and the current Foreplay III has the new Sweetest Whispers with a modified shunt mode topology. Which one do you have?

[rucyrius]

i believe its the foreplay III with clicking volume controls...

[Grainger49]

Page 24 of the manual for the Foreplay III explains "padding" for inputs that are too loud.  It allows you to use many more of the volume clicks before it gets loud.

Each input can be tuned individually.  A very nice feature.

[bobster]

Hi,

I finally finished the paramours and the first click on the volume control on the FP III is as loud or louder than I would like to play the music (phono or CD).

Unfortunately, I can't find my fp III manual or CD (seduction and paramour manuals no problem).  Therefore, I can't take advantage of the instructions in the previous post.  Is there another way to figure out how to do this - we are dealing with a neophyte here.

I searched this and the old forum but can't seem to come up with specific instructions on what resistors to put where - thanks.  I suspect cutting the volume in half will be a good place to start.

Can anyone help? 

Thank you,

Bob

[bobster]

Ackkkkk - nevermind - found the manual.  I see the instructions on page 24 are for padding each input.  I want to pad the foreplay no matter what input I am using.  Is there a "central" place to do this - maybe at the output jacks?  If so, can anyone provide some guidance on how to do it?

In my thrashing around, I also uncovered a Foreplay extension kit that I don't remember buying and hasn't been installed. 

Anywho, should I tame the volume before adding the extension or add the extension and then come back to tempering the volume?

Any thoughts?

Thank you again,

Bob

[Paul Birkeland]

I would tame the volume first.  You certainly don't want to do this at the output, that will likely have unintended consequences on the Frequency response. 

If you want to pad all of the inputs, observe the shielded twisted pairs that leave the selector switches and feed the volume controls.  You can either take them out completely, or just remove the red wire from each twisted pair.  Replace the red wire with a high valued resistor, and that will pad all your inputs.  Not knowing what you have in there now, it's tough to say what that value should be.  I would generally suggest you start with maybe 250k and clip leads to find a happy medium. 

-Paul

[bobster]

Hi Paul,

Thank you for your comments.  I have the stock 33K ohm resistors in there now.  In the manual, it says that the included additional resistors can be used in place of the stock resistors to pad the stock 10 dB gain by the following amounts -6dB (80.6K ohms); -12 dB (182K ohms) and -18 dB (360K ohms).

I don't know how to convert dB drop to a percentage of the volume that I have now.  If I wanted to cut it approximately in half, would I replace the 33K with the 80.6K - reducing 10dB by 6 dB to end up at 4 dB?  I vaguely recall that there is a logarithmic function in there somewhere so suspect it may not be just simple subtraction. 

Do I have it right?  If not, can you or someone help with which spare resistor to use in place of the 33K resistors in there now to cut the volume approximately in half?

Thanks again,

Bob

[Paul Joppa]

Converting measured voltages, in dB or in volts, to the subjective assessment of loudness is  - shall we be nice and say, "imprecise"?  :^)

The best way is to use the existing controls since they have known step values.

The lowest setting is "off"
The first step should be very quiet - useful for when the phone rings.
The second step is 12dB louder - intended to be for late-night listening.
The third step is 6dB louder than that.
All the rest of the steps are 3dB each.

An easier approach is to start with your observation that the lowest level (first step above zero) is as loud as you want. That step is 39dB below the highest step. I'd start with the maximum supplied attenuation, 18dB using the 360K resistor. That my or may not be enough attenuation - you must have a high-output CD and phono setup, or sensitive speakers, or both! If that's still too loud, you could use a larger resistor, up to 1Megohm, but you'll probably do better to reduce the Paramour gain - see my white paper linked off the Community page for more details.

[bobster]

Hi Paul,

Thank you for your comments.

I will try the 360K resistors.

I don't know about the output of the cd player but the phono input is via the seduction from a (Rega P2 with Ortofon 520 cartridge).  Don't know if the turntable/stylus combo would result in what is considered high-output or not.  All played through a pair Klipsch Heresy speakers.

I will also head off to the "Community" page to see if I can understand your white paper on reducing the paramour gain.

Thanks again.

Bob

[Grainger49]

I'll bet your Ortofon has the suggested 2.5mV or higher output for the Seduction (I couldn't find the specs).  I also see you have the Seduction C4S which gives another 6dB of gain.  It also gives additional noise supression.

The Seduction and FP III are excellent together.  The Klipsch speakers are pretty efficient, called sensitive today.  Kindly Bottlehead supplies the resistors to put your volume controls back where they should work well.  I think, just my opinion, you would be happy where at 3:00 on the volume controls you are as loud as you ever want to be.