Amp/Preamp Asylum Looking for a new Amp or Preamp? If you're after tubes, post over here.

---

[ Follow Ups ] [ Post Followup ] Thread: [ Display  All  Email ] [ Amp/Preamp Asylum ]

---

[ Alert Moderator ]

---

RE: motorized volume control

Posted by Charles Hansen (M) on October 29, 2017 at 15:46:51

In Reply to: motorized volume control posted by altecboy on October 28, 2017 at 16:11:10:

Twenty years ago, you could find all kinds of them. Now most things use digital or chip-based volume controls - cheaper but they don't sound as good. The only player left from the Far East is Alps. They used to make three for four different models at various price points, but to the US market they only offer the 16mm size with dual concentric tracks sharing a common ground. You can find this on the Alps USA website. It is amazingly good, but difficult to find from US suppliers. Mostly you have to contact the local US representative and order 1000 piece minimum, as there are literally hundreds of options and variations, and Alps will build exactly what you want - with a lead time of 16 weeks.

The larger 22mm size was called the "Blue Velvet" and I'm told that many European companies still use these, but I don't know if you can get them in the US. According to the PartsConnexion website they use a conductive plastic element that may or may not sound as good as the regular carbon track in the 16mm model (quite good sounding).

Bourns got back into this game a few years ago, although pretty much all of their trimpots and likely these motorized pots are made in Mexico under Nafta. In my experience Mexican-made parts simply don't have the precision quality of Japanese-made parts. I have been amazed at the close tracking on the Japanese Alps parts. One thing to be careful of is getting a fake Alps made in China. China will make fake anythings. If it comes shipped direct from Hong Kong/China, you can pretty much count on getting fake parts.

Any of these pots will likely sound much better than switched relays with metal-film resistors. I've never heard a relay that didn't completely screw up the sound. The absolute worst switching device for audio I've ever heard. The only time I will ever use one for an audio signal is as aa mute device, when it is shorting the audio signal to ground. Then you can't hear how bad it is screwing up the audio quality.

This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors:

Sonic Craft

---

[ Top of Page ] [ Contact Us ] [ Support/Wish List ] [ Copyright © 2025, Audio Asylum, all rights reserved ]

---

[ General ] [ Speakers ] [ Tubes ] [ Vinyl ] [ Digital ] [ Hi-Rez ] [ Video Asylum ] [ Cables ] [ Tweaks/DIY ] [ Music ] [ Films ]

---