|
Audio Asylum Thread Printer Get a view of an entire thread on one page |
For Sale Ads |
71.120.140.103
In Reply to: RE: Volume vs Gain posted by Tre' on August 11, 2015 at 13:03:49
Tre', thanks for the explanation of gain which is what I asked for. Having said that, maybe I'll rephrase it to ask, if I'm actually smart enough to form the right question, how is the gain set in relation to the volume, or am I incorrect in my assumption that they are related in listening. Do I set the gain at one point & leave it? Does the setting of the gain change with different listening sessions, or with different sources, such as cd's or vinyl, and if so, how do you know where to set it? I hope I've asked the right things, but even more, I hope I understand the answers! Dave
Everyone thinks I'm strange except my friends deep inside the earth
Follow Ups:
Gain is usually a term applied to amplifiers. Gain limits the current such that the amp doesn't have its full potential available. Many stand-alone amps don't have gain controls, which means the full power is always available based on the feed it gets. With a gain control you can dial back the amount of output on the amp. Why would you even want to limit it? I'll come to that.
Volume controls how much of the potential output from your sources you want to let pass through through to your amp.
Think about the amount of available water pressure you have in your home. If you have alot that is akin to a powerful amp. If you use a very small diameter hose to wash the car you have cut the "gain" of your water flow.
Whatever the maximum flow might be given your water pressure and hose diameter, turning the spigot is akin to adjusting the "volume". Volume controls are limiters. When turned fully up, no limit and you'll get the maximum available.
It is often useful to have both volume and gain controls. This is more the case when you have a powerful amp or very sensitive speakers. Let's use the case of sensitive speakers. Turning the volume just even a little bit might yeild a big difference in volume such that using a volume control with a remote might be difficult to make tiny volume adjustments. By reducing the gain you can "swing" the volume control more and achieve the same volume adjustments.
Many preamps are said to give their best sound when the preamp is allowed to use a fair amount of it's own gain. This requires the volume control on the preamp to be in its mid range or higher. That might provide too much overall gain to the amp and be too loud. If the amp has a gain control you can dial back the amp's gain so that the preamp can operate in it's sweet spot and you will have the ability to use a fair amount of swing with the volume control. It takes some experimentation to discover the best combination of these settings.
Long time ago I had a Audio Refinement amp that had a gain control - one of the most useful features I have ever had. Could easily dial in the volume "sweet spot" using a combination of the gain control and the overall volume setting.
"Volume controls are limiters."
That is true only in the context you're using it.
In the professional world a "limiter" in not just a volume pot.
A limiter allows the engineer to limit the loudest part of a music signal leaving the rest unchanged.
A similar tool is a compressor. With a compressor an engineer can limit the loudest part, just like a limiter, while increasing the level of the softest part of a music signal.
A volume control decreases all parts of the music signal equally.
"Many preamps are said to give their best sound when the preamp is allowed to use a fair amount of it's own gain. This requires the volume control on the preamp to be in its mid range or higher. That might provide too much overall gain to the amp and be too loud. If the amp has a gain control you can dial back the amp's gain so that the preamp can operate in it's sweet spot and you will have the ability to use a fair amount of swing with the volume control. It takes some experimentation to discover the best combination of these settings."
Been there, done that.
Wouldn't it be better to design the total system (preamp, amp, speakers) that doesn't require a large amount of attenuation?
Tre'
Have Fun and Enjoy the Music
"Still Working the Problem"
You don't set gain. Gain is the maximum amplification of a device. You use the volume control to adjust how much of that amplification you want to send to the next device. Gain is fixed. Volume goes from zero gain to maximum gain or anywhere in-between
Alan
I think where my confusion started was when I saw that the remote for my integrated amp had a button for increasing/decreasing gain as well as the typical volume up/down. This started me wondering where I should set the gain and do I change it at any particular time. I had never had an amp that gave me that option & wasn't sure what to do with it.
Everyone thinks I'm strange except my friends deep inside the earth
"I think where my confusion started was when I saw that the remote for my integrated amp had a button for increasing/decreasing gain as well as the typical volume up/down. "
To answer your question I would have to know more about your integrated amp.
I found this,
"Pressing the Gain button toggles between 0dB and -8dB settings. If you have source components with widely differing output levels, the -8dB setting will allow the louder source to be brought closer in volume to the quieter. I used only one source, so I listened at the 0dB setting."
Tre'
Have Fun and Enjoy the Music
"Still Working the Problem"
Yes the variable gain adjustments are if you have several devices connected to your pre or integrated you usually can adjust the gain for each input so at the same volume they will all play at the same loudness
Alan
Some of the old tube integrated amps had "trim pots" close to the inputs, designed for that same purpose.
Tre'
Have Fun and Enjoy the Music
"Still Working the Problem"
The gain of a given circuit is whatever is is.A volume control is just a voltage divider. Some of the signal voltage is lost across a resistor and turned into heat.
When you lower the volume control you are lowering the total system gain. That lowers the SPL (volume) in the room.
A phono cartridge has a very low voltage output so the phono preamp is meant to increase that voltage to match line level signal sources (CD player, etc.).
I hope this helps.
Tre'
Have Fun and Enjoy the Music
"Still Working the Problem"
Edits: 08/11/15
nt
try it! you know you want to!
Thanks, but I was trying not to confuse the issue that the original poster is asking about.
I use an AVC.
Tre'
Have Fun and Enjoy the Music
"Still Working the Problem"
I consider *gain* to be additive (such as a gain stage), while *volume control* is something that is subtractive (such as a resistive potentiometer, or variable digital audio output level control function).
Post a Followup:
FAQ |
Post a Message! |
Forgot Password? |
|
||||||||||||||
|
This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors: