i have 2 pioneer and a kenwood recievers and a 30 year old technics. the old one can actually fine tune bass and treble but not the newer ones. the kenwood has "bass boost" which jumps in increments of 2, same with treble. why did they stop the old style? also the old reciver goes from 0-10 on volume and is never played beyond 4. the newer ones start at 100 and go to zero, why?
just trying
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H/K's still use analog treble/bass controls on the front panel. I don't know the answer to the volume control thing but my guess would be to give more flexability in volume adjustment.
Bill: Most new receivers, both stereo and surround sound have a digital volume control. The numerical system is completely different. For example My HK AVR the volume range is from -79dBl,which is nearly muted to +10 which is clipping. Since I have low impedence,very high sensitivity speakers normal listening levels are about -50 to -30(very loud) in stereo and about -45 to -25(very loud) for surround.
The electronic "pots" have almost eleiminated the reliability and oxidation problems of the old style analog controls. If your receivers are 30 years old, it is likely they have had scratchy controls at some point. The new controls require far less maintenance. However, on low priced components, the electronic controls can add noise to the system.
Most volume controls currently work on a "log" taper as opposed to the "linear" taper of old style pots. In most, but not all, cases the control steps at a consistent volume change (usually 1.5 to 2 dB per step) compared to old style controls where the majority of the "comtrol" was into the circuit by 11 O'Clock on the volume setting. A log style taper is more consistent throughout its usable range.