Can anyone help me with wiring this volume control

[bumpy]

There are three terminal

1. Red speaker wire connected as input from amp
2. Red speaker wire connected as output to driver
3. This is where I am stuck. Google says connect to earth??????

30526

[Ali Tait]

1 is normally earth, 2 out and 3 in.

[bumpy]

Thanks but what is earth? Is it the black wire?

[Ali Tait]

Dunno, bit more info and pics might help. :-)

[bumpy]

Looks like I am making it too complicated :)

Picture a single full range speaker driver fed by the conventional red and black speaker wires - all totally normal, but it needs a volume pot in line to turn it down a bit.

1 is normally earth, 2 out and 3 in.

So cut the red wire and feed it into 3 and re make the circuit by connecting 2 to the speaker

BUT speakers don't have an earth connection so where do you connect 1.

[struth]

problem using a pot as opposed to an l pad is you will f**k with the impedance of the circuit as you'll be messing with crossover etc.

[walpurgis]

This may help.

https://soundcertified.com/how-to-reduce-tweeter-volume/

A potentiometer is connected the exact same way as a variable 'L' Pad attenuator, but maintaining the correct impedance is preferable, so use an 'L' Pad if possible. A fixed value 'L' Pad can also be created with resistors, but you'd need to know the values.

https://i.ibb.co/k0DZ31p/Screen-Shot-09-04-22-at-08-19-AM.png (https://ibb.co/TR0yKLZ)

[bumpy]

That looks exact what I want. Thanks

The volume pot is merely to instantaneous adjust and perfect the level, after which I will replace it with an L pad, using quality components. :)

[walpurgis]

If you fancy a tinker, here's an interactive calculator for a resistor 'L' Pad.

http://www.sengpielaudio.com/calculator-Lpad.htm

Use wire-wound power resisters of a minimum of 3 Watts power rating.

[Qwin]

For anyone else doing this an easy way of working it out is with an ohm meter.

The resistance across the input and ground will be constant and the max ie. the value of the pot regardless of position so measure the various combinations till you establish this pair. The third one will be the variable output. Now which one of the pair is input and which one is ground is pretty much unimportant as it will work both ways. Wired one way you will turn the pot clockwise to increase volume and by reversing this pair, turning anti clockwise will increase volume.

The positive is the + output from the amp going to the speaker.
The ground is the - or negative speaker wire returning to the amp.

So the speaker - (neg) is attached to the pot terminal then from this same terminal back to the amp.