Volume Control?

[Refefer]

Hey guys,
I'm looking for a good volume control. Just a volume control. I am helping a friend build a 2 channel system who is looking for a way to control the volume going from his source to amplifier. He's looking for something cheap and only has one source to deal with, so I was thinking that there might be a good component which has only one input/output attached to a high quality dial? However, I don't know of any and am looking for suggestions or other work arounds.

Thanks

[Frank Z]

Why in the world would you (he) want to do that? There is no volume to control from the source. Volume is a function of the amp, it is controled by the preamp.

[F1nut]

There are some sources (cdp's) that have the ability to control the volume, bypassing the need for an pre amp.

[Dennis Gardner]

This isn't really cheap at $250 retail, $150 used when you can find it, but I would consider it good quality as Channel Island makes nice stuff.

http://www.ciaudio.com/vpc1.html

If you are going to lay out that much for a passive preamp, I would look into a simple quality linestage active preamp from any of the higher end companies on the used market. More control IMO.

[F1nut]

Ah, good on ya Dennis.

[drew spelts]

I am truely amazed, Dennis seems to know about every little thing we have questions about. WOW. I think he just sits at home or work all day and browses the internet for audio stuff.

[Gaara]

When I was looking into this my searches always led me to EVS Ultimate Attenuators. These units are supposed to be the best sounding attenuators out there, but the are no longer being produced. They pop up on Audiogon every once in a while, its sad that Ric Schultz no longer makes them.

A good alternative that is also cheaper and more ergonomic would be Endler Audio Attenuators, you can get a stereo volume control for less then $100.

Jared

[tryrrthg]

There is also the passive line stage that Zero had a while back. I think it's around $50 or so

found it: Monarchy Audio Passive

Creek makes some pieces also, OBH-something or other.

[faster100]

The Monarchy was cool and worked but was IMO not that great to look and was something someone could easily do themselves. I have and used a dynakit dsc-1 passive pre.. I know its old but it has only one input and is very small (maybe 5" wide x 8' deep) volume control and balance only basically run from 20 in bad shape to 50 -60 in mint shape.

[Refefer]

Wow, Many thanks guys. More responses than I expected, and exactly what I was looking for. Thanks again.

[dorokusai]

Creek has been doing this idea for quite some time with the OBH-22 and OBH-22SE. I'm not sure what the previous model number was...OBH-12...but it's a helluva lot cheaper than buying a new source.