Tarquinh:
Yes, idc, thought your info might have come from that website!
Put bluntly only in rare cases do you need attenuators and certainly nowhere near as much as the RA website seems to indicate. I won't comment further other than to suggest his website is a poor source for information on anything technical.
The issue of mostly budget amps having unusable volume controls at low volumes, and my NAD suffered from this, is caused mostly by using cheap pots. The attenuator does work, in the sense it allows greater control at lower levels, but it also cuts down output at all levels. It's a band-aid solution.
I've heard claims that attenuators make the amps work harder thus producing better sound. This is little more than a myth. The amp may work harder but it's just raising the level of your electricity bill, that's all. The attenuator should be absolutely neutral and have zero impact on the quality of the sound, full stop.
Finally, if you want to hear the affect of badly matched output/inputs on a massive scale it's unfortunately all too easy to achieve but don't even think of doing it deliberately as it may have calamitous consequences on the rest of your system. Anyone who has accidentally connected a line output to a phono input will know what I mean.
As a footnote my amp has an attenuator which I accidentally switched in the other day. Initially thought the problem was with a quieter than normal CD - it was one I hadn't played for a while - so I turned the volume up to what would normally be alarming levels. The amp sounded fine as it always does, but it was only when I put on a CD I knew well that I realised what the problem was and turned off the attenuation. The amp sounded just as it did before, only louder. It was a decent, if inadvertent, blind test all the same.
I know your reply wasn't directly aimed at me but would just like to make the following observations after 2 days use.
Being able to turn the amp up as definitely improved bass and mid-range, but to be honest I have noticed something of a SLIGHT lessening in the treble. Only really noticed this when listening to "Gypsy Love Songs" by Richard Thompson about 30 min ago when the guitar solo didn't quite reach it's usual highs. Not a great change - subtle, but one nevertheless.
If I didn't have to listen at relatively low volumes they're really not something I would have considered - let alone bought - but so far my overall impressions are pretty damned good.
I'll get a better impression when I replace the amp with one with a "normal" volume control, but until then I'm sticking with them!
Yes, idc, thought your info might have come from that website!
Put bluntly only in rare cases do you need attenuators and certainly nowhere near as much as the RA website seems to indicate. I won't comment further other than to suggest his website is a poor source for information on anything technical.
The issue of mostly budget amps having unusable volume controls at low volumes, and my NAD suffered from this, is caused mostly by using cheap pots. The attenuator does work, in the sense it allows greater control at lower levels, but it also cuts down output at all levels. It's a band-aid solution.
I've heard claims that attenuators make the amps work harder thus producing better sound. This is little more than a myth. The amp may work harder but it's just raising the level of your electricity bill, that's all. The attenuator should be absolutely neutral and have zero impact on the quality of the sound, full stop.
Finally, if you want to hear the affect of badly matched output/inputs on a massive scale it's unfortunately all too easy to achieve but don't even think of doing it deliberately as it may have calamitous consequences on the rest of your system. Anyone who has accidentally connected a line output to a phono input will know what I mean.
As a footnote my amp has an attenuator which I accidentally switched in the other day. Initially thought the problem was with a quieter than normal CD - it was one I hadn't played for a while - so I turned the volume up to what would normally be alarming levels. The amp sounded fine as it always does, but it was only when I put on a CD I knew well that I realised what the problem was and turned off the attenuation. The amp sounded just as it did before, only louder. It was a decent, if inadvertent, blind test all the same.
I know your reply wasn't directly aimed at me but would just like to make the following observations after 2 days use.
Being able to turn the amp up as definitely improved bass and mid-range, but to be honest I have noticed something of a SLIGHT lessening in the treble. Only really noticed this when listening to "Gypsy Love Songs" by Richard Thompson about 30 min ago when the guitar solo didn't quite reach it's usual highs. Not a great change - subtle, but one nevertheless.
If I didn't have to listen at relatively low volumes they're really not something I would have considered - let alone bought - but so far my overall impressions are pretty damned good.
I'll get a better impression when I replace the amp with one with a "normal" volume control, but until then I'm sticking with them!
ray:
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