Volume Control As Preamp

[spendorman]

Dogruff asked about eliminating the pre amp from his music reproduction equipment. Perhaps we have not yet given him the answer he wants even though Vinyl Grinder's clear sketch of how to connect a volume control is good.

It may still look daunting to anyone that is not an engineer and just interested in music. There is a simple way to do this of course. That is to connect the source direct to the power amplifier.

Obviously a volume control is needed somewhere. It could be on the source, some have this, CD players, cassette decks (if anyone still uses them) etc. or power amplifiers sometimes have them.

If either power amp or source has a volume control, he can just try connecting directly up. If the CD has a remote, volume may be on that.

Failing the above, perhaps Maplin or some other supplier have a cheap simple audio attenuator (volume control) with phono connectors that could be experimented with.

As for Creative sound cards being of "shite quality", everyone is entitled to their own views of course, but several years ago I did fairly careful tests putting high quality audio into this type of soundcard and comparing the output with the original. Good quality ancillary equipment was used (speakers and amplifiers etc.) Neither I nor several golden eared friends (including musicians and audio enthusiasts, one a BBC Sound Engineer) could hear any difference. It is unlikely that they were all wrong in their conclusions or that the equipment was poor/faulty.

Furthermore, I have built many PCs using this same soundcard, and a lot of them are integrated into Hi Fi systems (mainly containing excellent equipment like Quad ESL63s, Radford amplifiers etc. etc.) of discerning friends and they very satisfied with the audio quality.

Just for the record, I have not blocked any of Vinyl Grinder's e mails. Only just checked my PMs (Private Messages on this forum) and there is one from Vinyl Grinder dated 22 Feb. which I have now replied to. I do not seem to get an ordinary e mail to inform me when a PM is to be read. This does happen with other forums that I am on. Perhaps someone can advise on this.

[Marco]

Regarding your latter request, Paul - done!

Marco.

[spendorman]

Thanks Marco

That should be good now.

Should it be by default to receive an e mail to indicate that a PM is waiting to be read?

[Marco]

You can control it from your 'User CP' menu, Paul. I have enabled the option for you, but you can change it if you wish at any time.

Marco.

[spendorman]

Why did I not think to look!! Must be my age!. On some other forums this is default setting, so I've never needed to worry.

[Marco]

LOL. Remember also that under 'Welcome, spendorman' at the top right-hand of your screen you have 'Private Messages'. If it says 'Unread 1' then you have one to read

Ahem...

Marco.

[spendorman]

Point taken, perhaps I need new glasses!! This is probably true as well. Some years ago I wondered why the writing on fuses was getting less distinct. I then realised the truth of the matter and had to get glasses. I find that repairing faults on printed circuit boards more difficult these days, possible they are getting smaller!! Even the older ones!!!

The e mail notification of PMs is useful, especially if one does not enter the Forum frequently.

[Vinyl Grinder]

As for Creative sound cards being of "shite quality", everyone is entitled to their own views of course, but several years ago I did fairly careful tests putting high quality audio into this type of soundcard and comparing the output with the original. Good quality ancillary equipment was used (speakers and amplifiers etc.) Neither I nor several golden eared friends (including musicians and audio enthusiasts, one a BBC Sound Engineer) could hear any difference. It is unlikely that they were all wrong in their conclusions or that the equipment was poor/faulty.

Furthermore, I have built many PCs using this same soundcard, and a lot of them are integrated into Hi Fi systems (mainly containing excellent equipment like Quad ESL63s, Radford amplifiers etc. etc.) of discerning friends and they very satisfied with the audio quality.

Might be the greatest sound card in the world but your using the PC power supply to power it, this to me is the problem (there noisy & of poor quality), there never seems to enough output from these cards anyway, setting this to higher output through your PC settings just induces more noise...I have one of the best 'M' audio soundcards, i can detect a minute amount of power supply noise, hardly worth moaning about but still there.I think i'd rather just use the PC to control the files only, everything outboard even the hard drive containing.

[spendorman]

Yes I agree with the PC power supply being a weak link. Also motherboards vary a lot in noise, not always the most expensive being good. I have to admit that I have only a standard quality power supply in my PC. I may think about getting a better quality one.

No problem with limited output though, drives all the amps I have tried. I was surprised that it worked well the the Quad II power amps because they need quite a lot of input.

One obvious tip for anyone using PC sound cards for fairly serious audio quality, make sure the inputs that are not in use are muted, so as to keep noise down. eg. If the Microphone slider is up and mute box not ticked , this may add noise to the output. I have been guilty of doing this after using Skype.

Oh yes, the 3.5mm sockets on soundcards are a pain, perhaps I should mod mine to bypass them. I know some cards do have phonos.

Still, we are likely to see improvements in PCs in the future that will be good for audio.