How would one approach retrofitting a remote control to a ready-made preamp?
Am I right in thinking that I could put some kind of receiver into the amp
and use an existing remote? I don't envisage a need to do anything other
than volume up/down and mute.

What's the cheapest way to get a receiver? Maplin seem to do a few kits /
modules - lots of them are 'two channel' - do I need three channels, hence
two receivers? What about making one on Veroboard? Are there standard
circuits which would make it little more than a soldering job, or is design
effort needed? The Maplin receivers that I have my eye on are 13 quid each
(H96AU) and have the learning thingy for channel codes, and they do a nice
little remote for a tenner (PW32K).

What about controlling the amplifier? The first thing I thought of was a
motor drive on the existing volume control, and a relay for the mute. I
don't know yet if I can control the volume pot from inside, but, if I can,
then the mechanical bits can be done, but at a cost in effort. I'm not sure
about the implications of driving a motor from the amp's PSU - I don't know
if it has enough power in reserve, or whether there might be noise problems.
I feel that, if I have to start building circuit boards to account for the
addition of a motor, then maybe it would be feasible to do it all
electronically. If it is, can it be done without degrading the sound
quality? What ways are there to approach it? My lack of knowledge of the
subject says to somehow alter the gain of an existing amplifier stage, on
the assumption that that would be outside the signal path - but I have no
idea if I'm right.


--
Wally
www.forthsailing.com
www.wally.myby.co.uk