ePot.V3 Mini Electronic Stepped Attenuator

ePot.V3 Mini Electronic Stepped Attenuator

Price: $150

This is a legacy product and is no longer produced or sold by Tortuga Audio.

The ePot.V3 Mini ("the Mini") is a high resolution, panel-mounted electronic stepped attenuator offering exceptional sonic performance with advantages no mechanical attenuator can match: high resolution 100-step volume control, local & remote control, channel balance adjustment, muting, and an optional menu-driven high-contrast OLED display.

The Mini is a direct physical replacement for any volume potentiometer or mechanical stepped attenuator — it through-hole mounts directly into a typical front panel, secured by a nut and washer, with a conventional volume control knob attached. It’s aimed at any DIYer, designer, or OEM looking for a high performance alternative to a conventional pot or mechanical stepped attenuator.

It shares its core electronics and LDR attenuation technology with the ePot.V3 Max — see that page for the shared LDR attenuation module design, the V3’s precision closed-loop current control and 16-bit calibration approach, and the full specifications table (the differences specific to the Mini are called out below).

Key features

  • LDR attenuation module: 100-step attenuator, -60 to 0 dB, programmable impedance (20k default, any value 1k-100k orderable), plug-in replaceable module

  • Smooth stepping with no sonic artifacts; no mechanical parts in the signal path

  • Remote controlled (Apple infrared remote); manual control via rotary encoder

  • Panel mounted via the encoder with nut and washer — just like any pot or stepped attenuator

  • Smooth muting/unmuting; left/right channel balance with reset (+/- 10 dB)

  • Optional status LED

  • Optional high-contrast menu-driven OLED display with encoder & IR receiver

  • Smaller than a credit card — 2.9" long x 1.35" wide x 1.2" deep; can also be chassis mounted with standoffs

  • Screw terminal interface for power and audio input/output

What’s included?

  • ePot.V3 Mini board with attached triple-voltage power supply module

  • 20k LDR attenuation module, fully calibrated & tested (any impedance from 1k to 100k orderable)

  • IR receiver module with 6" 3-wire square pin connector cable

  • Status LED with 6" 2-wire square pin connector cable

The Mini can also be purchased "bare" without an LDR attenuation module at a reduced cost — an attenuation module is required for the Mini to function.

What’s not included

  • Source of DC power (any 9-30 VDC, drawing no more than 0.3A with OLED display), connected via screw terminals

  • Apple remote (the silver metal model) — the Mini can be operated with just the encoder, but the remote is worth having

  • A knob for the rotary encoder

Optional items

  • Additional LDR attenuation module, nominal impedance 1k-100k

  • Alternative discrete resistor attenuation module — fixed 60k impedance

  • OLED display with integrated IR receiver and connecting ribbon cable

  • Apple remote

How the Mini differs from the Max

  • No built-in LDR calibration — due to its small size, the Mini can’t calibrate its own LDR attenuation module. A replacement or different-impedance module needs to come from Tortuga Audio, or be recalibrated using an owned ePot.V3 Max (or sent to Tortuga Audio for a $5 recalibration fee plus return shipping).

  • Single stereo input only — no input switching (the Max accommodates up to 6 switchable sources).

  • No output isolation — the Max isolates output during calibration via analog switches; the Mini has none.

  • No mono mode.