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General discussion

External Volume Control. (please help!! dorm stereo!)

Jan 10, 2005 5:03AM PST

I recently purchased an Adcom GFA-1 poweramp and am very pleased with its power and SQ. The one major complaint is that it has no volume control. This was expected since it solely is an amp, and not an "integrated". The other minor problem is that I keep blowing my speaker fuses, but thats my fault, I need to protect my ears anyway. So anyway, I figured that I could hook this into the headphone jack of my current reciever and use its volume and tone controls. I neglected to think about noise. The headphone jack has an incredible amount of noise at low volumes. In order to not hear the noise, you have to turn the volume to deafening levels. That will not work in a dorm room. So anyway, does anyone know of an external volume control I could purchase, possibly remote controlled? If so, where to purchase one? I also have an EQ that works well to make a nice flat, smooth sound but it has some noise when enabled. So I figured that if I put this volume control between the EQ's out and the Adcom's Input, i could eliminate low level noise and listen to DVD's and SACD's at tolerable levels. Thanks again!

Discussion is locked

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ARE YOU ********?
Jan 10, 2005 5:45AM PST

You either need to buy a pre-amp to control your amp or if your reciever has low level outputs then you can hook it up that way!

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Not retarted . . .
Jan 10, 2005 7:02AM PST

I know what a preamp is and my ONKYO TX8211 has no preouts. There is the tape 2 monitor/loop option but that is just the line out which is no controlled by any volume or tone controls -- hence, way too loud for average listening. Why would I buy a preamp when I already have an EQ? I was wondering if I could save some money on something like an attenuator (cheaper and more practical), and if anyone had heard of a specific one. There is no need to be a smart *ss. I believe Yamaha had made one at a certain point but I don't remember the model or if it is still produced. Please do not make comments like that, its no help to others in these forums.

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sorry
Jan 10, 2005 11:27PM PST

Wasn't really meant twards you, more to your sales person provided you had one. Do yourself a favor, buy a cheap preamp. Ditch the Onkyo if it doesn't have it. You will get better sound without all the popping and noise you will potentially have doing it the other way.

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Passive Attenuator, Master Volume Control, or cheap PREAMP
Jan 12, 2005 11:26AM PST

OK, now does anyone have a recommendation of one of the above, if so where to look for it? Thanks again

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passive
Jan 13, 2005 2:40AM PST

Even passives aren't cheap. QED had one called the MA-34 I think, but it was close to $300. Creek and Antique Sound Labs both have them in the $400-500 range. If you're at all handy, you could try something like this kit for $85: http://www.apogeekits.com/preamp.htm

If you Google "passive preamps," you'll find a wealth of projects to build. Another alternative is to look for one on Ebay or a used equipment site.

It seems to me that the headphone out should work in theory (isn't it at line level?). Perhaps you should clean it up with contact cleaner and give it another shot.