Speaker end attenuation?

Discussion in 'DIY Discussion' started by boon, Jun 23, 2005.

  1. boon

    boon

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    Hello ZeroGain Forum.

    I have been trying to record a audio signal from a hifi amp onto a computer. The amp has quite a loud noise floor and so in order to mask this its volume has to be turned up to 12, which is far too loud for the computer. What do you reckon would be the cleanest way to lower the signal between the hifi amp and the computer?

    My friend recommended building a pair of potential dividers like Blue Max suggests at
    http://zerogain.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1461&highlight=attenuator
    But I have to come out of the headphone jack
    & elsewhere in the forum, Thespirit3 says

    "by ... using resistors on the speaker end, you're effectively changing the load on the amplifier. Most amps are designed to drive between 4 and 8 ohms... and if you change this, the audio quality may suffer as a consequence."

    Is the headphone jack more suited to my purpose than coming through the speaker outs? Headphones have a wide range of impedances, don't they?

    Can you think of an alternative method?

    :confused:
     
    boon, Jun 23, 2005
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  2. boon

    Anex Thermionic

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    Why are you plugging the amp into the computer? What are you recording? You want to plug source into the PC which is at line level. Unless your using an all in one mini system type thing? In which case I'd use the headphone out.
     
    Anex, Jun 23, 2005
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  3. boon

    zanash

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    spot on anex
     
    zanash, Jun 23, 2005
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  4. boon

    boon

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    I'm actually mixing.
    I want to use the bass boost on the amp after my mixer.
     
    boon, Jun 23, 2005
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  5. boon

    Anex Thermionic

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    that sounds like a bad idea, turning up the bass in the mixer and the amp will be too much, it'll clip. Can't you eq it in the recording prog? If you bass boost in the amp, when you try to play back with bass boost it'll die
     
    Anex, Jun 24, 2005
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  6. boon

    ChrisPa

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    use the tape output if you have one
    otherwise use the headphone o/p in preference to the speaker output
    and either way, you will lose quality by recording from the speaker terminals
    and if you really want bass boost then
    - boost the signal on replay back through your amp (ie. after the recording)
    - or try and find some PC-based graphics equalizer package to do the boost after recording
     
    ChrisPa, Jun 24, 2005
    #6
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