amplifier 50 via resistors and capacitors to provide a fixed amount of attenuation of the signals provided on the left and right channels 70 a and 70 b the volume of the audio provided through the left and right channels 70 a and 70 b can be controlled by varying the volume of the external audio device rather than by modifying the volume of the apparatus 10 with the control device 26 the amount of attenuation of the external audio signal can be varied depending on the magnitude of the external audio signal the gain of the speaker driver amplifier 50 the characteristics of the speakers 20 a and 20 b as well as the desired maximum volume level when the gain of the speaker driver amplifier 50 is about unity and a maximum volume level is about 82 db it has been found that a suitable amount of attenuation of the audio signal provided by the external audio device is between about 99 and 90 i e 1 to 10 of the audio signal is passed to the speaker driver amplifier 50 as will be discussed in more detail below the microcontroller 48 samples the amplified signals output by the pre amplifier 44 to determine whether the amplified signals exceed a predetermined threshold value if the amplified signals exceed the predetermined threshold value the microcontroller 48 immediately outputs signals to the digital potentiometer 46 to reduce the volume levels.