Quote from: dBel84 on February 10, 2013, 05:57:35 PM

I think for general decent quality , the TKD pots are reliable. They do have some imbalance right at max attenuation but as soon as you get it into listening range, it works a charm. I think worth the price difference from the ubiquitous RK27. I honestly wish the alpha pots that Birgir had made were generally available, I preferred them to the TKD and the one I had had no imbalance at max attenuation. @ $25 a pot, they were very hard to beat.

I have not played with relay based or digital attenuators at all , I have a few that I had been meaning to play with but other things always seem to come up.

..dB

I agree the TKDs are pretty decent when they were around $50 (though a few people on H-C have said they have gotten ones with noisy wipers, never had an issue with mine). Now PCX and Michael Percy sell them for $100. And I believe the quads are around $250 from Germany.

I have some imbalance in my quad alpha at the start. They are a tremendous value for $25.

i've soldered numerous TKD pots without noise issues.  i do wire up with temporary roach clips before soldering since PCX won't accept a noisy TKD that's been soldered.  i can only infer that PCX thinks it's the end user using too high soldering temps.  i'm not sure if this an issue of too high soldering temp or the manufacturer though.  the knob and pot shaft need to be tied to chassis as a general rule.  i assume they must use some conductive grease between the pot shaft and threaded mounting barrel. 

Quote from: fishski13 on February 11, 2013, 05:17:57 AM

Quote from: omegakitty on February 10, 2013, 06:35:42 PM

Quote from: dBel84 on February 10, 2013, 05:57:35 PM

I think for general decent quality , the TKD pots are reliable. They do have some imbalance right at max attenuation but as soon as you get it into listening range, it works a charm. I think worth the price difference from the ubiquitous RK27. I honestly wish the alpha pots that Birgir had made were generally available, I preferred them to the TKD and the one I had had no imbalance at max attenuation. @ $25 a pot, they were very hard to beat.

I have not played with relay based or digital attenuators at all , I have a few that I had been meaning to play with but other things always seem to come up.

..dB

I agree the TKDs are pretty decent when they were around $50 (though a few people on H-C have said they have gotten ones with noisy wipers, never had an issue with mine). Now PCX and Michael Percy sell them for $100. And I believe the quads are around $250 from Germany.

I have some imbalance in my quad alpha at the start. They are a tremendous value for $25.

i've soldered numerous TKD pots without noise issues.  i do wire up with temporary roach clips before soldering since PCX won't accept a noisy TKD that's been soldered.  i can only infer that PCX thinks it's the end user using too high soldering temps.  i'm not sure if this an issue of too high soldering temp or the manufacturer though.  the knob and pot shaft need to be tied to chassis as a general rule.  i assume they must use some conductive grease between the pot shaft and threaded mounting barrel.

One instance was solved by cleaning the wiper with some conductive goop, so probably something internal.

makes me want to call up PCX or Michael Percy to find out the scoop.  maybe Don can chime in with some insider knowledge considering Alex uses TKDs.

i soldered in yet another TKD pot tonight after roach clip testing and dead silent.

i like the PEC carbon pots as well, but 2 out of the 5 stereo log pots i bought are noisy.  the noisy ones were not a problem with a preamp/amp driving speakers from a distance.  i complained once to Digikey and they said it wasn't worth they're time or money to have me send it back, so they sent me a new one which turned out to be noisy too.  i've been meaning to rip then apart and clean with ProGold, but they're well sealed with bent steel locking tabs and without easy access screws. 

that's freakin' huge.  i'm still leary about the Khozmo.  has their QC improved recently?

i'm building a balanced amp and am exploring other options for a quality SA/pot that doesn't take up too much space.  i do really like the Goldpoints and think they're very reasonable.  i was quoted $445 for a balanced P&G with a 6wk lead-out time from the UK.  other options include a custom 4 deck Grayhill 53 series for a series configuration, or even 2 of these for separate L/R control and could go L-pad.  these are cute: http://www.acoustic-dimension.com/tkd/Tokyo-Ko-on-Denpa-TKD-36R-stepped-attenuator-kit.htm .

Wow, that thing is huge.

My last build had relays.  I think I'm sticking with that route, even if it means extra power transformers/circuitry.  I like the steps.  I've not had checked the TOTL pots before.  I can't really say I would be able to tell a difference without an ohmmeter.

How many steps in that thing?

Thanks fishski!  Good "seeing" some familiar names around!

I used DIYGene's V-03 (along with his chassis) for my EHHA build.  It has 100 steps @ 1dB.  That was my last build about 2 years ago.  I am going to finally build my Dynahi (old djgardner boards), and will look into that 8th note one if my transistors are real.  I was just wondering why there are no SMT stuff.  I was going to use a Joshua Tree.