How do you control the volume of your Active studio monitors?

So how DO you control the volume of your Active monitors?

  • With a mixing board

    Votes: 97 49.2%

  • With a passive preamp

    Votes: 5 2.5%

  • With my computer's audio output faders

    Votes: 45 22.8%

  • other...

    Votes: 50 25.4%
  • Total voters
    197
A

ambi

New member
What do you use to control the volume of your Active studio monitors? If none of the above options, what do you do?
 
currently i just the DAW's master output, because going through my Mackie seems to put a pretty big "veil" on the sound. I know that it's a bad idea to let digital do so much reduction, but it sounds better than going through a 1604 VLZ.

i'm looking into just getting some 20db inline XLR pads to put on the main outs from the soundcard, but i can't find any with the correct impedance for line-level.
 
Oh yea, excactly does that do?

Yea someone said running it through the mackie would add too much noise and degrade the signal a lot. I'm trying to find a creative way that you could do this.

I maybe just get passive monitors with an amplifier to bypass this problem.
 
seems to me that putting a 20dB pad on your soundcard output would allow you to monitor at a reasonable level while keeping your soundcard output level fairly high, so you wouldn't lose any bits. an excellent idea.
 
Hmm, this may solve my problem. How can this be done? What is this pad device you speak of?

Just something that reduces the sound by 20dba. But what IS it? A box?
 
yes, a pad just reduces the signal level.

if i'm not mistaken, a pad is just a voltage divider, the simplest type of which consists of exactly two resistors -- maybe double that for a balanced signal. not exactly a high-cost item. the XLR connectors would cost more than the circuit.
 
WHIRLWIND_IMPPADLG.jpg



Really simple. Just a few wires and resistors in there.
This one, like all i've been able to find, is designed for low impedance (microphones). i haven't been able to find any line-level pads yet. i would build by own, but i ALSO haven't been able to find any formulas for finding the correct resistors for impedance vs. attenuation.
 
by the way, most balanced pads have 5 resistors. i think you can get away with 3, but it's better to have 5.
 
This would be VERY interesting. I am in the same situation as you.

I don't want to buy an expensive passive preamp, or buy a mixing board for the sole purpose of controling the volume of my monitors and degrading the signal quality.

I also don't want to control the volume digitall using windows. If i open winamp half the time it auto resets it to 100 percent, so i don't want to accidentally explode the speakers.
 
you know what? screw the fixed pad. make your own volume knob.

just get a logarithmic-taper potentiometer with enough overall resistance so that when it's off there is essentially no current drawn. i'm just guessing here, but something like 100 K-ohms should be more than enough. then try something incredibly simple like this:

(obviously test it first with some cheap equipment before you stick it on your real gear ... somebody please point out if this would be a bad idea for some reason. )
 

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Latin man. All greek.
I'm sure it's a great idea but it's not so simple to me considering i don't understand what you're saying.

Is the the same thing as building a passive preamp?

What do the limiters do? Just make it so if the windows volume does reset and try to make your speakers explode, it will activate the limiter and prevent that?
 
They're called volume knobs. They're right next to the on/off switch. Input volume can be controlled at just about every point. ie; instrument > mixer > interface...
 
Yes, but i need a volume knob.
There is no mixer.

Computer - active monitors.

There is a volume control digitally in windows. BLECH!

Thats what i need, a volume knob!
 
sorry.

i'm not sure what a passive preamp would be .... i see the phrase around here, to me, "passive" would imply that it didn't require any external power, but "preamp" would suggest that it did.

this tiny circuit would just give you an analog volume control for your soundcard output.
 
This article covers a lot of issues to do with building a passive preamp (volume control) eg impedence matching, high frequency roll off etc. There is also a design attached. You just have to get past the weird introduction.
http://www.stereophile.com/fullarchives.cgi?54

Building a high quality, transparent volume control is not as simple as it first sounds. There are a lot a passive preamp designs on the web if you do a search.
 
so a passive preamp is essentially just a volume knob.
But wouldn't it be hard to built with no equipment and no parts or experience or knowledge?

I mean my dad had tons of shit, soldering irons and what not, but more geared towards building, not electrical stuff.

Man that link is interesting but can i just buy one of these things, i don't know what i'm doing so i'm afraid i couldn't build one myself.
 
I wouldn't have a clue how to build one either. Thats why I'll pay money to buy a hifi preamp (passive or active) or integrated amp to get a decent volume control. Interesting though.
 
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Presonus is coming out with a solution very soon called the HP4. It's part of the "MaxRack" line. Here's little info about those products.

Presonus presented new stuff too, a line of 1/3 rack space comleting their TubePre:
- Comp16, a compressor, mono, with 16 presets (I/O 1/4" and XLR)
- EQ3B, an eq fully parametric, mono, 3 bands (I/O 1/4" and XLR)
- HP4, a 4 separe amps for headphones, individual volume control and stereo control of room outpouts, with a bypass to switch room monitoring off when needed.
- To carry all this a kind of minirack case 1/3 rack wide for 6 units, and a common power unit to feed all of them easily.

All units are 129$ and expected in April.
Click to expand...
 
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