Any benefit of motorized volume control?

[recordaddict]

The title pretty much says it all. Is/was there any benefit to using/have the motorized volume control instead of the manual potentiometer unit, or was it just more of a gimmick? In order to use one you also needed an external power supply which already really seems like a lot of extra equipment just to do the same thing the manual knob does.

I guess you could say it's like any feature on a car, cool to have but just something else that could break. Though I have to admit the litte device is pretty awesome and over-engineered in a good way (took it apart to see how it works) that it still works flawlessly 50+ years later.

In the end was there any advantage it had over the regular volume knob, or just a fancy upgrade accessory?

[jukenorman]

It depends on how lazy you are!! In commercial premises like a bar or cafe, you can see that there could be a good reason for it!

Norman.

[recordaddict]

Dec 23, 2023 10:23:43 GMT jukenorman said:

It depends on how lazy you are!! In commercial premises like a bar or cafe, you can see that there could be a good reason for it!

Norman.

Thanks for the reply, but I'm not 100% sure I was clear with my post. I definitely get the reason for it at a bar or cafe, like you mentioned. I'm referring to the differences of the two external volume control units as seen about halfway on the page in the purple drawing comparing the two.

www.jukebox-world.de/Forum/Archiv/Rock-Ola/R.O.Fernregler.htm

The motorized unit requires that controller box as seen on the page to be utilized to power the unit as well as an external power for the jukebox.

[jukeboxmarty]

I'm not sure of the differences specific to Rock-Ola machines, but the potentiometer style units require the audio signal travel the entire distance of the volume control's cable. This can introduce both noise and signal loss especially for longer distances. The motorized controls eliminate this issue.