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Rothwell Attenuators

If I remember the ones I had, they were RCA plugs with the female part soldered on. This was a long while back so maybe not like this anymore but would be surprised if there was such an adapter as WTF would it be useful for?
 
Need links to pages then, came up blank except for 90degree adapters when I just did a search....
 
I guess the attenuator people get their female to male rca adapter blanks made ad hoc. No hassle. I, for one , had never contemplated adjusting capacitance to suit an mm cartridge before reading a bit and understanding even less about it this year. It’s only since returning to the mm fold that the doubt has germinated in my tiny mind. I can solder the caps inside my phono if and when.....
 
@Chris,

Here's a recipe for an inexpensive inline capacitive loading pair that offers the advantage of improved strain relief.

Ingredients:
  • 2 x Deltron male RCA plugs; 1 x 413-0500 (red) and 1 x 413-0100 (black), <10 @ £2.04 ea. from Farnell
  • 2 x Deltron inline female RCA sockets; 1 x 433-0500 (red) and 1 x 433-0100 (black), <10 @ £2.04 ea. from Farnell
  • 2 x short lengths of shielded interconnect (off cuts from a doner interconnect)
  • 2 x capacitors of suitable value (discount short lead capacitance, plus that of the tonearm wiring plus phono input from the 400pF goal)
Directions:
  • Solder 1 x capacitor and one end of each short interconnect into each male RCA
  • Slide 2 x same colour insulators onto each lead (threaded ends out!)
  • Solder 1 x inline female sockets onto the other end of each short lead
  • Allow to cool before fitting plastic insulators and serving
https://www.dem-uk.com/deltron-comp...loads/deltron-413-0500-standard-plug-data.pdf

https://www.dem-uk.com/deltron-comp...nloads/deltron-433-0100-phono-socket-data.pdf
 
Last edited:
Darth Vader said:
If you have a multimeter you can measure the value of the two resistors and hence calculate the attenuation.

I believe (as I've never had a set in my hands) that its a potential divider something like this:-

input--- R1---output---R2---common (gnd)

Measure the values of the two resistors (input to output/output to common) and the attenuation will be 20Log(R2/(R1+R2))dB

Cheers,

DV
Click to expand...

In isolation, yes, but you need to add the load resistance (and to a lesser extent source resistance) to get the final attenuation. That's why it's not printed on the side.
 
I have a valve pre with a SS power and suffered quite a lot of hiss through the speakers. Also loud was 7pm and very very loud 8pm.

I was put off trying the attenuators as the experts said they were an abomination, destroyed the sound and ruined your life etc etc.

I managed to borrow a set of Rothwells and Golden Jacks. Both were virtually identical sound wise with a marginal preference for the Golden jacks.

The owner of the Golden Jacks wanted to keep his and they have stopped manufacture so I bought the Rothwells.

They have been in for 2 years now and the best investment I have made. I think they are 10db and at the power amp end.
 
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