Russ Andrews In-Line Attenuators - Are they worth the premium?

[admin_exported]

Hi

Following a previous post relating to the
'Rothwell In-Line Attenuators'
im wandering whether the high price difference for the
'Russ Andrews In-Line Attenuators'
can actually be justified!

Im interested to hear people's opinions on this matter.

Any feedback from anyone who own's some of these 'Russ Andrews' in line attenuators would be very good

Thanks in advance

c_m

 

[ElectroMan]

I've no idea really, although I did have a Rothwell valve power amp and passive preamp, which were both excellent (and much cheaper than the nearest competitor, in terms of sound quality).

Personally, I'd like to know what the actual component and assembly costs are of expensive plugs, cables etc, just to be sure we're not being ripped off!

 

[Anonymous]

In short, I would say no, although I haven't heard them. There is another make called 'Goldenjacks' many find better than the Rothwells (I had a pair and they were better constructed and smoother IMHO - no affiliation by the way). There are about £24 against Rothwell's £39 - and I think the RA price is way too high for basically a connector with a resistor in it.

 

[Anonymous]

Agree 'Graham_Thomas'

Dont think in my whildest dreams i could actually be whilling to cough up that much cash for the Russ andrews Attenuators.

Just got myself some of the 10dB GoldenJacks, from eBay.

was pondering over whether to purchase the 16dB ones or not,, Rotel's sensitivity is bordeline what they recommend for 10dB, cant imagine it would make a dramatic difference, but i guess if im really desparate i can get another pair at 16dB, still about half price of the Russ Andrews

Thanks for the advice people!

James

 

[Anonymous]

You're whelcome. Oh, that was cheeky, sorry

 

[gbhsi1]

The answer is no. I have had both and I am better without them. They just seem to make the music boring, all excitement lost! But if you really want a pair- I would settle for the Rothwells....RA's is no different only that it has WBT 110AG connectors and you have a choice of attentuation from -10db upwards.

 

[idc]

I had RA attenuated interconnects and they made a difference to the better, as ever improved clarity and better volume control. They were less tha £50 and I see now the cheapest cable with attenuation is the Tonik at £79, which is less than the £97 attenuators. So buy the Tonik attenuation for £79 and get a free cable!

 

[SteveR750]

Why would you need one of these when using modern even budget kit? I have never experienced any of my sources overdriving the pre-amp, and surely something as basic as this would ever be a problem for any amplifier designer.....????

EDIT: plus I'd like to know how the cost / price is made up for these:

http://www.russandrews.com/product.asp?lookup=1&region=UK&currency=GBP&pf_id=2031&customer_id=PAA1697076109851DCBXKFUDHFDPYZLW

£43 for 6" of cable jumper!!!!!

Certainly the raw materials and assembly costs cannot possibly get close to justifying the price, and how much R&D gos into that product? The margins simply have to be close if not more than 100%. Nice business of course for RA, but there is absolutely no way I am ever going to pay that much for that, no matter how damn good they sound. Even more amusing is the reference to NAD amps, as if NAD make anything sufficiently esoteric to warrant such an expensive IC.

Rant over...

 

[Anonymous]

c_m,

I think they are worth it if they work for you. Also I see you have a pre-power set up so you could try them between the CD and pre and then between the Pre and Power and compare the results. Are you sure your pre input is being overdriven - maybe the gain later on is too great for your amp/speakers and thus putting the attenuators between pre and power may be better.

As an aside and as a proud Micromegan, how does the CD132 compare against the DACMagic ? Personally I still like the sound of my ancient machine - Neon K.

 

[rod1429]

I tried both the Rothwell & the Goldenjacks, the Goldenjacks sounded better to me & were somewhat cheaper! With my Marantz kit they made a real difference, however with my Primare kit I felt they made it sound flat & I did away with them.

 

[Anonymous]

Hello 'Neon k'

My plan was indeed to use them between the Pre/Power, as ive heard this can also lower the noise floor of the system, which is also a bit to high for my liking.

Funny you should mention about the DACMagic. It's actually being used now as part of a Headphone Set-up as i didnt find the difference great enough when used together with the CD132, it already has a good DAC in it.

Decided to do Laptop > DACMagic > Lehmann Audio Black Cube Linear > Sennheiser HD650.

The DACMagic i think is more useful in the headphone set up.

The only differences the DACMagic made with the CD132 was it seemed to open up the soundstage a little, and improve the timing a bit.

James

 

[idc]

SteveR750:

Why would you need one of these when using modern even budget kit? I have never experienced any of my sources overdriving the pre-amp, and surely something as basic as this would ever be a problem for any amplifier designer.....????

My experience of attenuation is that it allowed greater control with the volume. Have you ever noticed that your hifi only comes alive at a certain volume? I certainly found that. Attenuated cables between an Arcam CD62 and Rega Mira meant that the alive point kicked in lower down the volume scale. That had obvious benefits for late night listening and living with a family.

I did not notice a flatness with attenuation. But I was upgrading cable at the same time, from some unbranded ones I was given whem I bought my first amp to Kimber. So that should account for the improved clarity I noticed.

 

[SteveR750]

idc:SteveR750:

Why would you need one of these when using modern even budget kit? I have never experienced any of my sources overdriving the pre-amp, and surely something as basic as this would ever be a problem for any amplifier designer.....????

My experience of attenuation is that it allowed greater control with the volume. Have you ever noticed that your hifi only comes alive at a certain volume? I certainly found that. Attenuated cables between an Arcam CD62 and Rega Mira meant that the alive point kicked in lower down the volume scale. That had obvious benefits for late night listening and living with a family.

I did not notice a flatness with attenuation. But I was upgrading cable at the same time, from some unbranded ones I was given whem I bought my first amp to Kimber. So that should account for the improved clarity I noticed.

Possibly with my NAD since all of the useable volume was done by about 1/5th of the volume knob. The K2 is different - its muted at 25 minutes to, medium level background levels its at 5 to 12, serious listening at about 5 past 12, and the mighty DC at about 3 am where it starts to bring the house alive somewhat excessively which ruins the sound. This position is about the same relative volume as my guitar amp (in 15W class A mode) at about half volume. I'm not even sure that at full whack my hi fi could go as loud as the same guitar amp in 30W mode - and I'm talking about simply playing a guitar through both systems so the comparison is fair.

 

[seasiders rock]

if you want to pay for RA 2 world cruises per year carry on.

world designs.co.uk... input attenuators £12.67 + p/p....