Can I attach the ground terminal of my POT volume control to the speaker's metal case?

Question

I need to connect the ground terminal of the potentiometer volume controls I installed on two speakers. One speaker has a metal case, can I use that for ground? The other speaker has a wooden case and is hanging on a concrete wall. What could I use for a ground there? Could I nail a nail or screw a screw into the wooden case to use as ground?

These are intercom speakers that only work for a few seconds at a time (usually under a minute). I already have a pot installed which allows me to basically turn the speaker on or off, but of course I didn't just want to use the pot as a switch, I wanted to be able to control amperage to the speakers to decrease the volume. I'm thinking the problem is that my ground is not connected. That is why I'm asking about the ground. Thanks for your help.

Answer 1

If you're replacing a failed potentiometer in an active speaker, connect the potentiometer terminals just like the one you're replacing.

If you're trying to add a potentiometer in series with a passive speaker, don't do it. Speakers are designed to have specific impedances, and putting a resistor in series with the input impedance of the speaker will make it difficult if not impossible for your amp to drive.

It sounds like you're trying to improvise some sort of volume control, and if you don't know what you're doing, you're going to be unhappy with the result. For example, putting a nail or screw into a wooden speaker case doesn't make that nail or screw a ground. I'd like to help you, but there are too many unknowns here, and it would take too long to tell you what you need to do even if I understood the situation.

Sorry...

Answer 2

Under no circumstances should you ground any terminal of the volume control. If you're using the right kind of pot the outer terminals would go to the speaker output from the stereo, One of the outer terminals would also go to one speaker terminal and the middle pot terminal would go to the other speaker terminal.