Ahhh! Of course, almost embarrased that I hadn't thought of this! This will solve both the iPhone and Mac, AE volume problem. 

Hi all, 

we have discussed that phenomena during our trip to Struer with Geoff Martin and he told us that he is actually using one of those regulators himself in his installation. 

Unfortunately I have not seen your question earlier otherwise I would have been able to send you a quick note on that before you figured it out on you own. 

Cheers, 

Lars

So I guess it will work then:) Problem solved!

Beonic wrote:

So I guess it will work then:) Problem solved!

That was exactly what I was thinking about :). Was at a seminar at the time I wrote so I had no time to google for anything but I am happy you found the koss volume controller :).

7 dollars to fix a problem like that, not bad at all ;)

I couldn't wait for amazon to ship me this adapter, I went over to the local electronics and nips store (clas ohlson) and what do you know, they had a tiny Y mini jack splitter with volume knobs. Cost me less than 5 USD!! And I was initially prepared to spend several hundreds:p I can confirm that this solution works perfectly, and I am enjoying wireless sound at a perfect volume level from my B&O's as we speak! 

Thanks for all the help!

Lars wrote:

we have discussed that phenomena during our trip to Struer with Geoff Martin and he told us that he is actually using one of those regulators himself in his installation. 

You took the words right out of my mouth. I do, however, have a bunch of  caveats:

This is a quick-n-dirty solution with advantages and disadvantages.

I'm using it between my AirPort Express and my BeoLab 3's in the bedroom - where they're used only at night after the kids are asleep (or at least nearly asleep). The passive volume control lets me preset the maximum voltage sent  to the BL3's so that, even at Max Volume on iTunes/iThings, it's REALLY quiet. Also, those BL3's are sitting on a bookshelf, pretty close together on the opposite side of the room. This is a background music system - not a critical listening system. 

Two advantages of a link like this in the chain are that:

- along with lowering the music level, it also lowers the noise floor of the AirPort Express on the way into the BL3's

- it lets me run the AirPort Express at full volume digitally, and therefore I'm using its DAC to its greatest potential, without going deaf in the process.

Of course, there are some disadvantages:

- you are limiting the maximum output potential of your system - so, this isn't the ideal solution if you alternate between quiet music and parties...

- it's possible that the shielding on such an adapter (depending, of course, on which brand/model you buy) might be less-than-optimal, which means that you'll potentially get RF noise bleeding into your system.

- depending on what brand/model you buy, you may experience some left / right balance problems. It's difficult to make a stereo potentiometer that is perfectly matched, so your L/R balance will likely shift randomly back and forth as you adjust the level of the passive pot.

So, as I said, this is a quick-and-dirty solution that works well for a passive listening system, but not so well for a critical / active listening situation. I certainly wouldn't use this solution in the living room, but it works fine for music-to-fall-asleep-to.

Cheers

-geoff

BTW: That same kind of volume regulator works great when you have sensitive headphones (or sensitive ears) and you want to plug them into your armrest on an airplane.