Excellent work there!
I did tried this but based as per diyparadise's circuit.

This is the best yet as far as passive attenuators are concerned.
Some people like the sound, some people don't.
I personally like active attenuators..

Keep us posted with a full review ya!

Bernie7,
Yes, I am aware of the limitations that was based on a simple LDR circuit but that was not my issue. It's just that I simply don't like (the sound of) passive attenuators.

Funny. As the PSU is just to supply power to the LEDs affecting the intensity of the output light, which does not affect the quality of the variable resistance directly.
A simple DC power supply should suffice without going overboard.

My LDR attennuator was modified as the LED (I experimented with all kinds of LEDs and colours I can lay my hands on) used does not provide a good linear light source, coupled with a non-linear resistance behaviour of the LDR, thats where the 'system' misbehaves.

I used an incandescent light source with a fully regulated and variable bench power supply to give me a precise control of light intensity, hence precise 'volume control'.
No doubt the background is 'dark' and all the goodies associated with good passive attenuators, but...
As I said earlier, I just don't like the 'flavour' of passive attenuators..
Passive attenuators do not have the 'punch' that I want.

Its a matter of preferences. One man's meat is another man's poison.

To each, his own!

I am aware of the Silonex. I wasn't born yesterday you know!
Hey if you like how it sounds , go right ahead. Enjoy the fruits of your labour. It's worth it, in your case.
For a slightly more than USD50 I could build a darn good tube preamp

Pretty good poison I'd say!
Thanks for the write up..

Had a chance to test out the lightspeed attenuator last Merdeka day.
Used it to power a T-AMP (TA-2020) and a DIY Discrete power amp.
Speakers used were Gale 3030 and TDL's RTL3..
Also a B1 buffer(Solas) was later added to the setup.

Just to make it interesting, a tube preamp based on diyparadise's 5687 preamp was also used.

To cut the story short, the lightspeed attenuator performance is definitely what users claimed to be.
As much as I like the overall sound(it is excellent), it is just my preferences(with my type of music) that I am more satisfied with an active preamp system.

This post has been edited by jazzy939: Sep 2 2010, 12:07 PM


Attached thumbnail(s)

Bernie,
That is certainly a great idea! Yup, the volume pot would be the bottleneck for 'improved' performance!

I will certainly look into it.. now to get gabanyayaya to part with his lightspeed temporarily for me to check the idea out. What say you, bro gabanyayaya?

gabanyayaya,
Don't give me that 'whatt....?????" thingy!
I'll response the same the next time you SMS me