This article hits upon some of the specifics of the various amplifier attenuators we carry, but first we'll explain some simple basics which many of you already know.
What does an attenuator do? Essentially, it allows you to drive your tube amp harder without the associated volume that comes with turning up. Why use an attenuator? It's well known that the harder a tube amp is driven, the better it sounds. With regard to tone quality, tubes love to be ran hard since they produce their best tone when ran at plate voltage.
An attenuator allows you to crank the amp up without blasting your ears because it bleeds off some of the wattage being sent to the speaker. The speaker then reproduces the tone of a cranked amp at a reduced volume.
How do they work? Attenuators are placed between the output of the amp and the speaker. They replicate the ohm load of a speaker so the amp doesn't "know the difference". Most then use a coil to reduce the wattage by converting the excess wattage to heat. When the attenuator circuit is made symmetrical, there will be no difference between the input port and the output port.
In that case as a general rule, the left port is considered as input and the right port is considered as an output. Attenuators are also found as built-in circuits in signal generators as well as stand-alone circuits.
Stand-alone attenuators are placed in series between a signal source and load circuit on the signal path. In such a case in addition to providing attenuation, it must match the source impedance and load impedance.
Attenuators are found in Radio communication and transmission lines to reduce the power of the signal. Attenuators are available as both fixed attenuators and adjustable attenuators. These are available for specific values from 0dB to dB. Attenuators are commonly found in Radio Frequency and Optical applications.
Radio Frequency attenuators are used in the electronic circuits whereas optical attenuators find applications in fiber optics. Few common layouts of attenuator are- T configuration, pI configuration, and L configuration. These configurations are of an unbalanced type. The balanced type is a symmetrical circuit whereas unbalanced types are asymmetrical circuits. The RF-based design of the attenuator is of six types.
In Fixed type attenuators the resistor network is locked at a predetermined attenuation value. These are laid down in the signal path to attenuate the power of the transmitted signal. These can be unidirectional or bidirectional based on their application requirement. These can be available as either surface mount, waveguide or coaxial types. In a chip-based design, the different types of materials deposited on the thermally conductive substrate develop the resistance.
This resistance value depends on the dimensions of the chip and the materials used for chip production. These attenuators are similar to fixed attenuators. But in this type, a push-button is provided to adjust the attenuation values.
These provide attenuation values only from the pre-calibrated steps. Depending upon the application, the attenuator can be used in either chip, waveguide or Coaxial formats. In Continuously variable type, attenuation value can be changed manually to any attenuation value from the given specified range. Compared to the passive resistor network, by changing the voltage in the FET devices attenuation can be varied with greater resolution.
Here it is possible to vary the attenuation using either manually or with the help of electronic signals. This component is controlled by a computer-driven external control signal. These are controlled by the TTL logic circuits with a step size range such as 2,4,6,……, If the applied voltage across this attenuator is found to be lesser than 1V, logic level 0 is attained.
What is an attenuator? What does an attenuator do? Do you need an attenuator? About the Author. He is the author of over 8, articles and longform tutorials including many posted here.
Reach him by clicking on "Contact the Editor" at the bottom of this page.
0コメント