Comments on: Resistive ladder volume control

By: Grish

Grish — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 02:22:47 +0000

Mike,

You need to contact Symbol corporation and make arrangements to pay license fees for their patent, #7,248,195, which you are infringing upon with your rotary-switch and resistors idea.

Yes, it may seem trivial and obvious to a practitioner of the art (in fact, I just reinvented it myself last night, with the exact same circuit layout as the one in the patent, for a little project of mine), but that doesn’t matter to the USPTO. They want you to challenge the patent in court.

By: Wai Sartorius

Wai Sartorius — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 18:20:46 +0000

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By: Dorian Lagunas

Dorian Lagunas — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 17:35:23 +0000

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By: Mike

Mike — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 13:02:13 +0000

I know this comment is a bit late, but I just used this trick a few days ago. Not for volume, though. This allowed me to read a six position rotary switch with an AVR using only one analog pin. The levels returned are very consistent. I could easily read many more steps than that, but 6 was all that I needed.

Thanks Hack a day.

By: jcg

jcg — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 21:31:26 +0000

I’ve used this method before, not for the audio quality (audiophile? more like audidiots) but for the durablity. A cheap rotary switch will last longer then a cheap volumepot. And with well picked steps (not nessasarily logaritmic) it works great.

Don’t dismiss it just because the voodoo audio idiots use it. Judge for yourself if it’s true and if it’s any use for you.

By: Orv

Orv — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 21:41:26 +0000

I’m glad he spent the extra money on low-resistance oxygen-free wire to, uhm, connect up his resistors.

By: argh

argh — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 19:48:43 +0000

Is it that hard to mod the comments? 50% useful posts, 50% garbage.

By: none

none — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 05:06:23 +0000

lololololol
you all suck dick

By: Fiska

Fiska — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 05:04:35 +0000

As someone who enjoys listening to music, I can appreciate what this accomplishes. Ever adjusted the volume on an old stereo and heard a nasty crackling sound? Dust can get into some pots and make them useless — sound will cut out, and crackling is bad for speakers. As well, some stereos have a separate volume pot for each channel.. it makes sense to have each channel set at the same volume — but then again, people don’t actually sit down and listen to music anymore, do they :)
Just tired of people assuming that anything audio related is snake oil.

By: localroger

localroger — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 21:05:07 +0000

@ragnar, even if it’s relatively cheap and harmless ofc is one of thsoe things marketed to people who think they can hear a difference which sound physical analysis can prove does not exist, and proper engineering types tend to get bent out of shape that the whole market exists because it is, for the most part, a total scam. (The difference between an 8 ft and a 10 ft cable, or 12 vs. 14 gauge, is huge compared to the difference between normal copper, ofc, silver, and gold.)

By: Wwhat

Wwhat — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 20:25:46 +0000

If he cares so much then why use a plastic housing with unshielded wires? that’s the weird part to me, I bet its make a good AM receiver.

By: VonSkippy

VonSkippy — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 20:12:38 +0000

@njay: What? You didn’t notice the 0.0007 percent difference at the low end and the whopping 0.0014 percent difference at the high end? Audio Noobs – you’re just soooo naive.

By: andrew

andrew — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 20:11:17 +0000

@njay: it’s probably a difference too small to detect. which begs the question, why does it matter if the two are different if you never notice it?

By: Njay

Njay — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 17:31:14 +0000

That’s strange. I’ve never noticed any noticeable volume difference between 2 channels on any system, not even on 15+ year old walkmans. There must must be something wrong with my ears.

By: Ragnar

Ragnar — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 14:13:58 +0000

Stereopotentiometers tend to have different values between both channels, the more deer they are the less they have this effect. With resistors you can limit this effect (which will make one channel noticeably louder than the other) to a minimum. OFC cables are standard now and cheap, what is your problem, rasz?