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Tweaks for systems, rooms and Do It Yourself (DIY) help. FAQ.

Automformers sound much superior (IMHO)

I have experimented with several resistive attenuators, including DACT, Goldpoint, TKD, Alps, Noble, etc.
I have not tried the EVS Ultimate attenuator. I have also experimented with very compact DIY shunt attenuators with DACT / TKD and tantalum or Riken resistors, also DIY shunt with carbon pot and tantalum resistors, all soldered inside my tube preamp.

IMO and IMS ALL resistive attenuators decrease dynamics and soundstaging, soften bass and treble at lowish volume settings, because they act as resistors in series with the fragile music signal.

If you are able to live with a 600 ohm attenuator at 3/4th rotation (close to maximum), then I bbelieve you will like it (for the cost). However, all your sources must have less than 100 ohms source impedance.

OTOH, an autoformer is a continuous length of wire wound around a high quality magnetic core. Its frequency response for the two brands that I tested is typically DC to 100 Khz, in ANY attenuation position.
I do not hear a reduction of dynamics or "small" instruments at low volume settings. An autoformer attenuates by changing the impedance ratio between input (usually 10K ohms impedance) and output.
Better still, a typical TVC autoformer has only 30 to 50 ohms of series resistance.
At sane volume levels, I measure 7 ohms of AWG 32 copper wire in series with the signal, not 2-3K ohms of crummy resistive material.

Believe me, that slight detail makes a huge difference in dynamics, size /weight of the instruments and soundstaging.

Standard caveats: source must be less than 1 k ohms, load must be 10K or more. My 2c. worth...

System:
Audio Aero Capitole MKII CDP, tube output
DIY Autoformer preamp
DIY silver / copper cables
DIY Power cables
BEL 1001 MK II class A amplifier
Van den Hul Inspiration speaker cables
Tweaked Thiel 3.5 (a classic)
3.000 Watts AC regenerator feeding three dedicated 20 A power lines
ACME Silver outlets




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