Electronic – mute de-amplify sound volume

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I want to de-amplify the sound volume of my television.
My native language is not english, and I do not know the correct word, if any, for the opposite of amplify.
When my TV is turned from volume zero to volume one, the heard sound jumps to something that is too loud.

TV volumen scale              :  0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5,...,49,50,51,52,...100
Corresponding subjective scale:  0,11,12,13,14,15,...,59,60,60,60,...60

What I would really like is a sound volume on this subjective scale from e.g. 3 to 20. So I would like to decrease the volume by a factor of app. three. Can it be done by connecting a suitable resistor in series or in parallel with the internal speakers?

Best Answer

Absolutely. Your internal speakers will have some nominal impedance, perhaps 8 ohms (you would need to do some research to know for sure). If you were to hook an 8 ohm resistor in parallel (across) the speaker, then half of the "volume" (power actually) would come out the speaker and the other half would simply be wasted as heat in the resistor.

Assuming the same 8ohm speaker, if the resistor were greater than 10 ohms, then less power would go to the resistor and the volume you hear would be louder.

As a practical matter you could try a few different resistors to see what works best for you. One thing to be aware of is that you need to use a resistor with an adequate power rating, perhaps 5 watts.

While it would be possible to compute the value of an "ideal" resistor, the mathematics is not as simple as you may think due to the way the human ear perceives sound. The perceived volume is not a linear relationship but rather a logarithmic function measured on the decibel scale.