The Bent Audio Model 102s Kit
Transformer-Based Passive Volume Control

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Part 2 - The Back Plate Pre-assembly   Installing the input and output connectors is straightforward. Make sure you correctly align the WBT RCAs with the connector notch in the up position. The back and front plates are precisely cut and drilled so this should not be a problem. The WBT RCAs come with four plastic insulation rings - these also act as spacers. I used the first and the third ring and left out the second and the fourth one.   The Bent Audio 102 kit allows you to control input grounding. You can choose to lift it (middle setting), hard ground it (down setting) or something in between: soft ground it (up setting). There's one input grounding switch for each channel. Depending on how the rest of your system is grounded, you will use these switches during initial setup to find the best setting. Make sure you understand how this switch works; it helps in tracing the circuit and proofreading the schematics too.   The first soldering in this project will be on the back plate. Make sure you leave enough slack in the hookup wires and solder only the points that are complete. The kit comes with an ample supply of high purity, solid silver wire. However the wire is bare (i.e. non-insulated) and requires from you some labor to insulate it. As it turns out, the kit also has near-equal lengths of miniature diameter Teflon tubing. You are required to tread the silver wire through the tubing and construct your own lengths of insulated wire. I thought this was a bit extreme but it turns out to be quite easy to do. The first few were a bit of a pain, but once you get the hang of it it's rather simple to do. The reason behind this is to keep the wire costs down. It also allows you to leave certain wiring section (that permit this) un-insulated; no dielectric is, by some, the best dielectric. Part 3 - The Front Plate Toggle Switches   I skipped this; it does not apply to my version of the kit.   Part 4 - The Front Plate Seiden Switch Pre-wire   The heart of this project is wiring the Seiden SD45 volume control switch. You have about 50 solder points to complete so take your time. Follow the instructions and make sure you make clean solder joints with only as much solder as necessary to keep the wires firmly connected. Do not drown the lugs with blobs of solder. If your kit version requires you to bridge one or more switch lugs, do so before attaching the front plate to the bottom one. You will have better access to the switch and the lugs you have to bridge. Once the front plate is attached to the bottom one, with the right and left transformers in close proximity, it becomes harder to access the switch lugs and do a good job soldering them. Keep the transformer leads long, i.e. allow plenty of slack. This will allow you to pivot the transformers about the screws closest to the switch and away from it, providing you with valuable access space. next page: