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Re: Stepped Attenuator Pre & Stray DC


I'm thinking of building a balanced pre using just a four-deck stepped attenuator. I'd like to ensure that DC from any potential source is blocked. Is it sufficient at the input of the stepped attenuator to wire a high-value resistor from signal phase to ground? If so, what value? Is it necessary to capacitor-couple the signal? If so, what value?

No, resistors from each phase to ground won't work no matter how high their value.

However, if the attenuator's being fed from a balanced source, and the offset voltages are more or less equal (which they're likely to be), and the output of the attenuator is driving a balanced, differential input, the offset voltages will effectively be canceled by the input.

Now, am I correct that you're just wanting to address normal DC output offsets, or are you looking to prevent high level DC from a failure in the source component?

se





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