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How to Build an Audio Attenuator

An audio attenuator lets you vary the loudness of a sound signal from zero to a normal output level. You can accomplish this with a potentiometer, some wiring and two electronic parts. An audio or logarithmic taper potentiometer works best for this application: it spreads the volume change evenly over its travel whereas a linear pot has a sudden increase at the end. The other components, a capacitor and resistor, prevent the attenuator from shorting out connected audio equipment.

Things You'll Need

4, 5-inch pieces of 22-gauge stranded, insulated wire
50K-ohm audio taper potentiometer
15 to 30-watt soldering iron
Electronics solder
Label tape
Pen
.1-microfarad, 50-volt capacitor
100-ohm 1/4-watt resistor

Instructions

- 1
  Solder one end of one piece of wire to one of the potentiometer̵7;s end solder lugs. Place a piece of label tape on the wire and label it ̶0;Hot Input.̶1; Connect one end of two pieces of wire to the opposite end solder lug. Solder this connection. Label one wire ̶0;Ground Input̶1; and the other ̶0;Ground Output.̶1;
- 2
  Solder one of the capacitor̵7;s leads to the potentiometer̵7;s center solder lug.
- 3
  Solder one of the resistor̵7;s leads to the free lead of the capacitor. Solder one end of the remaining wire to the resistor̵7;s free lead. Label this wire ̶0;Hot Output.̶1;
- 4
  Use the Hot and Ground Input wires as inputs from an audio circuit for which you want to control the volume. Use the Hot and Ground Output wires to connect to the input of an amplifier, recorder or other audio device.

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