Volume Knob help

jjh221 · 10-07-2004, 09:21 AM

Im a bit confused what this guy is doing here. Can i put the knob in the middle of the Y Audio Cable? Know what i mean. I bought this ,but its kinda hard to fit that into the dash and look good. So id rather use the knob. Any help?

kiltjim · 10-07-2004, 10:18 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by jjh221

Can i put the knob in the middle of the Y Audio Cable?

Yes. Just put some resistance between the incoming (sound card) and outgoing (amp/headunit) and ground the two shields together. Thats it.

turbocad6 · 10-26-2004, 03:55 PM

that knob you have is perfect for what you are trying to do, there are stand alone options that are already assembled though, I know alpine makes one, as does many others. you should be able to find an alpine one on ebay for around 20 bucks, with an awsome looking knob & rca in & out already attached & ready to go, not to mention they use a ground shield scheme in there assy that will help avoid noise introduced into your system,

jjh221 · 11-07-2004, 02:56 PM

I have searched for alpines knobs but couldnt come up with anything. So what i need to do now is this. I have this , how do i put the volume knob in the middle? I have a spare cable but still to worried about cutting it. But guess i can to test it if someone knows how to do it.
Thanks guys,
J

jjh221 · 11-07-2004, 03:13 PM

k ima just cut the extra one i have and use that so i could just but it and connect it to the one in my truck so i dont have to cut that one. Ill post pic of what the cable looks like if i cant figure out how to do it.

jjh221 · 11-07-2004, 03:19 PM

Well no need for pic i guess. It has there wires one red, yellow and black. Im assuming that the black and ground and the red and yellow are the left and rights. Ima hook it up and see if it works. brb

Dracos · 11-07-2004, 03:26 PM

R is always for 'red' and always for 'Right'

So;
Black - GND
Red - RIGHT
Yellow - LEFT

jjh221 · 11-07-2004, 04:01 PM

Well i did it but its all screwy. I did exaclty how it showed the left channles being down. Also i did the exact same thing on the other three posts for the right. The sound is all distorted?

Edit: Although i did the right on the bottom three and the left on the top three.
Know what i mean? would that do anything? Where he shows he did the left i did my rights there.

jjh221 · 11-07-2004, 04:06 PM

OH i have one ground on the top and one on the bottom would that mess it up?
and I dont get sound till i turn it all the way to end(all the way to the right)

jjh221 · 11-07-2004, 04:16 PM

ok i fixed it. I have to conned both of the grounds. But it I still have to turn it to the end to get sound. The knob is pretty much pointless? I mean there is not enough turning for me to adjust sound. Its just on and off?

Edit: ok i get better sound from my desktop rather than my laptop. Would ya suggest gettin a different volume knobby thingy(potentiometer)?

jjh221 · 11-07-2004, 04:41 PM

Doh im a big dummy it works perfect in my truck with the amp. Awesome. Now i just need to find a matching volume knob. Sorry for all my ramblings its a sunday evening. IM SO HAPPY it works.

Thanks for the help guys

Found one, my factory stereos

Jackso · 11-08-2004, 09:47 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by Dracos

R is always for 'red' and always for 'Right'

So;
Black - GND
Red - RIGHT
Yellow - LEFT

Just for clarification purposes... Red is not ALWAYS for Right. In most unbalanced audio (rca cables and such) red is right, but in most balanced audio cables the red/black pair is Left and the other pair (often green/white) is right. This goes back to the time when audio was mono and there was only one channel red/black. When stereo came around it was popularized that Left would be the "mono" channel and thus left was the red/black pair and the new pair would be right.
Just sharing

As for the Pot to add resistance to lessen the volume, make sure you're using an audio taper pot instead of a linear taper. If you use a linear taper pot, there will be a large area of the turning that seems to do nothing and a small area that makes it go from full to silent. Audio is logarithmic not linear.

Just sharing again.

turbocad6 · 11-09-2004, 11:02 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by Jackso

Just for clarification purposes... Red is not ALWAYS for Right. In most unbalanced audio (rca cables and such) red is right, but in most balanced audio cables the red/black pair is Left and the other pair (often green/white) is right. This goes back to the time when audio was mono and there was only one channel red/black. When stereo came around it was popularized that Left would be the "mono" channel and thus left was the red/black pair and the new pair would be right.
Just sharing

As for the Pot to add resistance to lessen the volume, make sure you're using an audio taper pot instead of a linear taper. If you use a linear taper pot, there will be a large area of the turning that seems to do nothing and a small area that makes it go from full to silent. Audio is logarithmic not linear.

Just sharing again.

this guy is 100% correct, I just assumed you were starting with an audio pot, but if you have a linear taper pot you will experience the symptoms described...