> what effect will the slightly off numbers do to the gain? will it be stepped slightly instead of a smooth ramp?
If the plan calls for 16.0, and you use 16.2, no sound will come out at all, and the amplifier will burst from all the notes jammed up inside.
It's a switch. It is already stepped.
A single 10% error gives about a 1dB error. So you think you get 40, 45, 50, 55dB, you really get 40, 44, 50, 55dB. Or since we usually series resistors and use fairly large steps, maybe 40, 44, 49.5, 54.8dB.
One 10% error is not going to matter for recording.
Two "matched" stereo channels, one 10% off from the other, will show an image-shift. But lots of things cause 1dB errors, and you usually need a fine-balance trim somewhere between the act and the final master.
16.0 to 16.2 is a 1.25% or 0.11dB error. You can't hear that. Random 1% or even 5% errors in your whole resistor string average out to small 0.5dB errors.
The way to get in trouble is to be 10% out in the same direction on every step. Then instead of 5dB steps 20 25 30... 60 you might go 20 24 28... 52, and wind up 8 dB short of what you expected.
Use a 17 ohm resistor, if that's what you got.
