Transformer based volume controls have been around for years, however, they are usually put into plain boxes with no visual appeal. When I started experimenting with S&B TX102 I knew it was something special and I wanted to put it into chassis like nothing else before. One Sunday morning I was playing with some materials and the first version of this preamp materialized, looking  like that:

I also tried black top version:

In that form, product was good for personal use, but not so as a commercial offering and when we started marketing it under AudioZone brand we needed something more refined. And that’s when the final version was created:

The chassis was machined from a slab of aluminum with transformers press fitted into it.

The preamp uses toggle switches for source selection and offers gain of 6dB.

For my personal use I also created a balanced version with top mounted rotary source selector and two toggle switches for phase selection.