Rothwell Attenuators - What are they? How do they work?

Uncle Ants

Uncle Ants

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Can anyone enlighten me? I've seen the little ads they put in various mags with a small diagram of a volume knob at 9 o'clock (loud) and 10 o'clock (too loud) and yes my system does suffer from this to some extent.

Something which would give better fine control would be great, but I don't know how they work and what the results are. Instant reaction would be that anything additional in the signal path might have a detrimental effect, but mebbe I'm wrong. Anyone tried them? Have views?
 
Thanks Osama,

Reading the links, it all makes a bit more sense to me now. Looks like you'll see the most benefit if you have a pre/power setup rather than an integrated (as I do), but could still be useful. Anyone out there used them and care to comment?
 
i have them and they work. They made my volume pot more effective and they didn't appear to affect the sound any.
 
I recently attenuated my cables myself, with good results. I attenuated by 16dB (more than the Rothwell 10).

First and foremost it adequately achieved the primary aim - to give me more volume control and allow me to use the remote properly.

Secondary, and possibly imagined, was an improvement in the bass. Before the attenuation it always seemed that at normal listening levels the bass dropped off quicker than at higher (neighbour annoying) volumes it would all come back. It seems that I now have that bass at lower levels. Everything seems a bit more 'in proportion' if you see what I mean.

If you want to have a go you just need 4 metal film resistors - 2 9K1 and 1 39K. Put the 39K in series with the signal, and the 9K1 in parallel withh signal and return. Cost of this tweak - 24p plus the price of the solder and the electricity for the iron.
 
The attenuators basically lessen the signal from your source.
This means that you have to turn the volume knob up further for the equivalent sound level previously obtained.

The idea is that your volume pot sits in it's preferred operating range for normal listening.

Some say that the Rothwells don't attenuate enough and someone (Bluemax?) had a tip on building your own.

Incidently Uncle Ants, on a side note. I also own a Focus One but with an SME arm. Have you made any mods to it other than the Rega?
 
Originally posted by Snoo
The attenuators basically lessen the signal from your source.
This means that you have to turn the volume knob up further for the equivalent sound level previously obtained.

The idea is that your volume pot sits in it's preferred operating range for normal listening.
Click to expand...


Hi snoo. So that means the attenuators do not simply "reduce loudness" but achieve proper gain originally intended by the design or something like that?
Excuse my technical ignorance about this, but what about resolution? Are there any difference(s)?

regards
 
Thanks for the replies all. Sounds like its worth a go. NOt sure I'd trust meself with a soldering iron mind. Maybe its time to learn. Shouldn't think a project gets much simpler than that.

Originally posted by Snoo


<snip>

Incidently Uncle Ants, on a side note. I also own a Focus One but with an SME arm. Have you made any mods to it other than the Rega?
Click to expand...

Hi Snoo,

A couple of very minor mods.

I've placed a 3mm spacer between the main bearing and the platter. The RB250 rides too high at the pivot end of the arm and I needed to either bring the arm down at the back or raise the platter a smidge to get the VTA right. Lowering the arm was not possible, so I raised platter instead. The spacer is actually a circular aluminium Linn armboard for the deck, which came as a spare when I bought it. I did worry that it might affect the speed (it going to add a very small amount of extra tension to the belt), but I needen't have as it doesn't seem to have affected it adversely.

Goomer spoke to Michell about using an RB250 with the Focus One and they said they didn't recommend it because of the VTA problem, but I seem to have found a workable way around it and the Rega does sound excellent on this deck.

I also found the bouncy feet rather disconcerting and given that the deck is very reasonably isolated anyway, I turned it into what is effectively a non suspended deck by using some solid coned Gyrodec feet instead. I found it also tightened up the bass a fair bit.

I've been thinking about maybe doing something with the motor (OL live maybe), but to be honest such a mod would cost more than the deck is worth, so I'm not sure if it would be a good move. Seems to me if I wanted to spend that kind of money then a new Tecnodec might be a better idea.

Another possibility would be to swap out the bearing for a Tecnodec bearing (apparently it'll work), but if you look at the Focus One bearing its very well engineered - the bearing and platter are pretty damned good in the first place, so not sure how much difference it would make.
 
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