Stereo Autoformer Volume Control (AVC) Wall Plate – 250W Peak FireFold

Stereo Autoformer Volume Control Wall Plate

Divide and Conquer

Whole-house audio is a new growing trend in home entertainment. It’s never been easier for the average home user to install and configure a system. You can easily run all of your speakers off of a single receiver, but most receivers don’t have a way to control the power coming from an individual channel. You’re stuck with all or nothing. That’s fine if all of your speakers are located in the same room or if you’ve got your own groovy bachelor pad. But when you have to play nicely with others and you’re running your bedroom, living room, and kitchen off of the same receiver, it can be a problem. You’ll quickly find yourself banned from watching football past Little Susie’s bedtime. Volume control wall plates are the ideal solution. They allow you to adjust the volume on a speaker-by-speaker basis.

These Go to Eleven

FireFold’s AVC-ST-WHT stereo volume control can definitely do the job. Ten-step attenuation means you can hear all the volume you want without noise or distortion and these controls can handle up to 45 watts RMS per channel with a 250-watt peak. These fit easily into a pre-existing one gang electrical box and they come in a clean white color that easily matches your décor. The built-in auto former, basically a type of low-level transformer, helps condition imperfections from the power stream to ensure you hear the most crystal clear sound possible. Always make sure the maximum output per channel for your receiver doesn’t exceed the maximum for the volume control. If it does, you will have to be careful not to crank the volume knob all the way up.

Installing the AVC-ST-WHT is not much harder than installing any other wall plate. In addition to the wall plate, if you do not already have an electrical box to use, you will need a drywall saw, speaker wire, and a one-gang receptacle box. After cutting the drywall, secure the receptacle box to the stud and fish the speaker wire down into it. Loosen the screws on the input and output then make sure your receiver and amplifier are powered off. Connect the speaker wires to the wall plate then just attach the plate to the box. Once your receiver is back on, you can just turn the knob to increase or decrease the volume.