Elk Speaker Volume reduction?

[ChuckSchick]

Greets all,

I'm interested in a way to reduce the volume to certain Elk speakers during certain times of the day. Currently I am using an output expansion relay to have the Master Bedroom speaker either binary ON or OFF -- (OFF during the times when the baby is likely to perceive any sound as a cue to start the day. A baby awake at 6 in the morning is not popular with the wife)

I'm not concerned with missing any critical fire/burglar alarms as there is no sleeping thru the piezo wall of sound, but rather than an OFF speaker, how about a 1/2 volume speaker. It's messages like "Motion in Driveway" that are of interest -- not critical but interesting to me in the night. (more than likely a deer, but you never know)

So... could I just put a simple resistor in line with my speaker (shunted in and out with relay) or should I use a full blown single gang speaker volume control? If so, how would one calculate the resistance needed and would heat dissipation be an issue?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

-Chuck

 

[Spanky]

Chuck,
The simpliest way to control volume is what you are doing. Shunt a resistor in and out of circuit with a relay. The output amplifier does not care and will not hurt anything.

 

[ChuckSchick]

Thanks Spanky. I guess the question is, what power resistor should I use. I'm guessing I'll need something rated at 5Watts, but what Ohm? I suppose I could just buy a handful and play around, but honestly, I can't even guess within three orders of magnitude what it would take. Are we talking kiloOhm?

 

[ano]

Try a 1 watt, 30 ohm resistor, to start, then I would go from there.

One watt should work fine. For every half in power, sound drops 3 db, which to your ears is slightly. You'll have to experiment, but a 20 - 80 ohm is probably what you are looking for.

 

[Traditore]

Chuck,
The simpliest way to control volume is what you are doing. Shunt a resistor in and out of circuit with a relay. The output amplifier does not care and will not hurt anything.

A quick diagram would help the circuit-challenged people... Could you post one? Oh please...