[romandoc]

I'm curious why the ALPS motorized volume control in the LS 36.5 preamp.? Obviously the best of the best topology and components are being used in this preamp to make it as good as possible, EXCEPT... the volume control itself which is mediocre as far as volume controls go. Why this choice?
The best continuously variable volume control would be the ALPS RK50 that costs around $900 http://www.headphone.com/products/headphone-amps/options-and-upgrades/volume-options/alps-pot/ which is probably much better than the volume control used in the LS36.5 and perhaps similar sounding to the 3 times less expensive DACT and TKD. All of these are bettered by a stepped volume control using tantalum resistors, such as Audio Note, Goldpoint or Wyetech Opal or a TVC or Autoformer such as ASL FLORA EX DT.
So again, why settle for less in volume control quality when all the other components are top notch? Convenience? Insights appreciated.

[rpf]

Obviously Dan will have to answer this himself but I suspect that it is at least partly a cost consideration. Dan's products represent huge value for the money and at $5k the LS 36.5 is a fraction of the price of other state of the art linestages.

That said, I have often hoped that he would incorporate remote controlled dual stepped attenuators for sound quality, precision adjustment and balance control at some point. I'm not sure I want to know what it would cost however.

[modwright]

Hi and thanks for bringing this up.  Ultimately it IS a matter of cost.  I won't go into all of it, but obviously we have a dealer network and so every part cost has a non-trivial impact on the retail price.

At the $5K price of the LS 36.5, we used the very best caps, Teflon tube sockets, tube-rectified supply with more MWI caps, custom remote and high-end chassis/machining, custom-wound output transformers and an innovative tube circuit.

I did experiment with the DACT attenuator in the 9.0SE vs. the Alps and heard SOME improvement in ultimate detail/resolution, but I found the improvement to be relatively small and didn't want to give up the R/C capability.  Admittedly, we could add a stepper motor and DACT attenuator, but this does drive the price up exponentially, believe it or not.

I honestly feel that areas such as power supply design and other direct signal path components have a greater impact on the overall sonics, especially with respect to overall cost/value.

I do try to always produce products that represent extremely high value, no matter the price-point.  How many other mfrs. offer a $5K product with custom capacitors and Teflon tube sockets with the build quality of the 36.5?

We will undoubtedly offer higher-end products over time and there are things that can be done, if cost is no object, but I will always keep performance/value ratio as the top priority for each of our design considerations.  I.e. every design decision that we make that significantly impacts cost, is weighed against what I feel its overall positive impact on the unit to be.

I feel that the Alps Blue is a very respectable choice for a volume control and it is one of the few good solutions that allows for R/C capabilities also.

Thank you very much for your input and feedback.

Take care,

Dan W.