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Cabinet speaker questions (what to do about volume)
Green Giant:
--- Quote from: eds1275 on December 21, 2011, 01:02:25 pm ---
--- Quote from: mamefreak2 on December 14, 2011, 03:53:34 pm ---Okay thanks, can you pleas explain how you'd do this?
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--- Quote from: Green Giant on December 15, 2011, 07:43:04 pm ---I came up with this idea quite a few years back. I have it similar to what I assume you are doing, 2.1 speaker system with sub in bottom and 2 above monitor.
I bought a stereo potentiometer similar to one of these: http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2062359
Then I got a stereo extension cable for headphones similar to: http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2103868
Cut the cable in half, soldered it to the pot, and done.
Now I turn the volume on the speakers up to full all the time and they are connected to a volume controlling cable. I also have a little knob like http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2102830 which is set between the speakers above the monitor to interface with the potentiometer.
It works great. About the only thing I think I should have gone with is a pot that has a longer turn down. Right now I twist it about 180 degrees from nothing to LOUD.
You can go more elegant, but this was the best solution I could think up at the time for a college kid's budget.
--- End quote ---
Pots are easy. If you are looking at the back side with the lugs down, then wire your inputs to the left lugs, outputs to the middle, and the right lug goes to ground. In a stacked potentiometer do the same for the stacked lugs.
--- End quote ---
--- Quote ---That looks like a cool way to do it too. Do you have a step by step for dummies like myself?
--- End quote ---
Basically what he said.
The input would be the male side of your stereo extension cable which you cut in half. A stereo pot has 2 inputs and 2 outputs for left and right or white and red.
So input is male side white/red and output is female side white/red.
magnetik:
another option would be to add a media center remote. (just hide the ir emitter somewhere) then just use the remote for volume
mamefreak2:
--- Quote from: magnetik on December 28, 2011, 05:14:38 pm ---another option would be to add a media center remote. (just hide the ir emitter somewhere) then just use the remote for volume
--- End quote ---
Can the emitter just stay inside the cabinet? Or does it need to be 'visible' to the remote?
yotsuya:
Lots of times IR is line-of-sight, so it would have to be visible somehow.
Afterburner:
--- Quote from: Green Giant on December 15, 2011, 07:43:04 pm ---I came up with this idea quite a few years back. I have it similar to what I assume you are doing, 2.1 speaker system with sub in bottom and 2 above monitor.
I bought a stereo potentiometer similar to one of these: http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2062359
It works great. About the only thing I think I should have gone with is a pot that has a longer turn down. Right now I twist it about 180 degrees from nothing to LOUD.
--- End quote ---
I like this solution. I just promoted an older 2.1 set of powered speakers to duty in my MAME cab. I was looking for a more convenient way to control volume. On older version of MAME I had a dedicated VOLUME button that would bring up the volume slider. But now MAME has switched to a VOL UP and VOL DOWN arrangement.
My remote speakers are connected using plain old speaker wire at both ends, so inserting a pot would be easy.
Regarding the range of the pot, you listed a 100k Ohm pot as your volume control. Should I go to a higher resistance pot....say a 250k or 500k pot to get more range in volume adjustment? Or am I thinking about this backwards and I really should go to a 50k pot?
I'll get a two channel pot and probably mount it to a small metal plate. Then I'll use my router to hog out a thinner area for the plate on the inside of the cab and epoxy it in place so that the shaft comes through enough for me to grab it and make an adjustment.
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