Tweakers' Asylum

Posted by Al Sekela (A) on February 01, 2010 at 15:16:38

In Reply to: RE: Thanks very much. Question.... posted by hukkfinn on January 31, 2010 at 18:27:32

depending on how they are used. Vishay is a major manufacturer of electronic parts (see their home page at http://www.vishay.com/) and resistors are only one of many products they make.

Large companies like this concentrate on quality from the manufacturing perspective: that the parts meet specs and perform reliably, not necessarily that they sound good in a particular audiophile application.

In fixed discrete resistors, Vishay has about 350 data sheets (see http://www.vishay.com/resistors-discrete/). There are some resistors with very low temperature coefficient. This could be a factor in how much distortion is produced by self-modulation of the signal, but it depends on how much current the circuit applies to the resistor. My guess is that other things, like the resistor film, insulation, and lead materials, will dominate the sonic character.

You will find some audio manufacturers who like Caddock resistors for stepped volume controls, even though they are more expensive than Vishay. My own experience is not with volume controls, but with damping RF noise. PRP, but only the half-watt size, are the best I've found.

One more thought is to check on how the modifier mounted the resistor. If it is standing by itself and supported only by its leads, it could be vibrating and causing acoustic problems from the vibration.