question for OSCAR...volume nob related

[hulkster]

alright, ive seen your volume control hack.  however i have a unique speaker situation and id like your advice on the hacking part.

i have a 4.1 speaker setup thing, which i bought a long time ago from EB games (so not the best, but it works).  this setup comes with a long volume control, but of course its not a cool nob to put on the outside of a cab.  and whats more, it has two volume controls, one for the front set of speakers, and one for rear, each can be turned up and down...so i can have no volume on the back, but blasting volume on the front, or vice versa, or both on equal levels.  so heres my question....what do i need to do, to create a volume control nob to be mounted on the outside of my cab, that will regulate both speaker sets.  so when i turn the nob one way (volume up) all 4 speakers go up in volume on the same intensity.  is this possible??  and im a retard when it comes to circuitry, so talk like im 4 years old when telling me how to do things. thanks so much.

[Goz]

Here's a link to the expensive alternative to a hack.

http://www.griffintechnology.com/products/powermate/

The software is pretty decent for it. You can litteraly defing the knob to do about 6 diff functions depending on pushing in, twisting, etc.

[hulkster]

cool....but damn....40 bucks!  geez, thats robbery.  im sure the hack isnt THAT hard.  

[crashwg]

If you have a soundblaster card I recal seeing somthing on the board about how you can attach two buttons to the card for up and down volume.

[BobbyG66]

Hulkster,  What you need is called a potentiometer with four "Wipers".
A "Pot" is something that has a shaft on it and the resistance varies as you turn the dial.
Look at the current pot in your speakers and see if you can find the resistance listed on it. This is called ohms and may have an upside down "U" next to it. If not you will need to get a voltmeter and measure the range of ohms from one extreme to the other.

Once you know that, you can then take a trip to Radio Shack or another electronics shop to look for the pot. I know they make pots with dual wipers, the four wiper versions may be hard to find.
If you find one with four you're all set. If not you may need to go with two controls, one for front, the other for back.
You can find knobs all over the internet, just need to find the right shaft diameter and that look cool. (I actually work with a bunch of knobs myself, but that's another story).

Hope this helps, Good luck

[hulkster]

hmmm, well im making a showcase cab....i have a set of Boston speakers (2) which are better speakers, but i have a generic 4 speaker set.  im wondering if i NEED 4 speakers, or if it will be overkill and 2 speakers will work just fine.

[Ken Layton]

Try automotive sound "faders".

[NoOne=NBA=]

If your volume control looks anything like the one that shipped with my Creative speakers, what I think you need is a big glob of epoxy.  
Just stick the thing to the bottom of your CP, way back where people can't see it.

Actually, you could probably use foam tape to do it, but you would miss out on:
1) Stinking up the entire house with the epoxy smell.
2) Tearing wood off your CP if you ever wanted to remove it.

[Goz]

I just remembered seeing this article on doing it. (hehe he said doing it)

http://www.techtv.com/screensavers/print/0,23102,3422185,00.html

Hope it helps,

Goz

[crashwg]

Thanks Gozur, that's exactly what I was talking about...