Rear fade--possible?

[maylar 10+ year member]

Originally posted by loud_drums Thanks for the reply, wonderbread. I am a newbie, but not that new--what you told me is obvious to me. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

I'm thinking about finding a couple 1 ohm resistors, and putting them in series with the rear speakers to attenuate their sound (of course, I would have to find some that are rated at the wattage I'm running the speakers at). I realize this will cut the effeciency of the amp a little, but that's a sacrifice that I'm okay with.

 

Is this idea gonna work? Is there a better idea?

 

thx--

That'll work fine. Assuming 4 ohm speakers, 1 ohm in sries will drop you about 1 dB, 2 ohms is about 1.7 dB, and 4 ohms is 3 dB. Remember that 1 dB is defined as the smallest change the human ear can detect. The metal case power resistors made by Dale are great for this 'cuz they can be screwed to a heatsink. If you opt for free-air dissipation (no heatsink) then go for a resistor that's 2X the power rating you need.
An L pad is a fancy potentiometer that maintains a constant impedance to the source. They use 'em in PA systems, but it's overkill for your needs. It would be simpler than trial & error with different resistors tho. The PartsExpress link shows them for reasonable prices.

 

[Corsica 5,000+ posts]

I am i the only opnce confused byt hsi "L_PAD" here? is it at all simillar to bass blockers?

J

 

[loud_drums 10+ year member]

L-pads don't appear to be anything like bass blockers. The most generic term for them would be volume control. Check out the link on the first page that describes L-pads in more detail.

Maylar, thanks for the incredibly informative post. I didn't realize, but some of the information you gave me was just what I needed. I'm going to cruise down to radio shack now and buy a small assortment of resistors and start experimenting.

One quick question--being coaxials, will 4 ohms of inline resistance NOTICABLY mess with the crossovers on the coaxial?

 

[loud_drums 10+ year member]

Ok, it's a done deal. I went to Radio Shack and bought four 1ohm resistors (10W) per speaker. In series, that's 4ohms in line resistance, giving me 3dB less sound, which was exactly what I needed--and half the price of the L-pads.

 

[maylar 10+ year member]

You're good to go. A resistive power drop will have zero impact on the crossovers.

drc