I couldn’t find any clear guides for wiring an ‘old school’ 6 terminal audio potentiometer, this may help someone.
The resistors are there because there’s a small noise issue with the Raspberry Pi. This noise is constant, no matter what the volume is set to and is always there. It also gets significantly worse if there’s a ground loop.
To counter this, use amixer to turn the Pi volume up to full on the Pi, and put a 100r resistor in line with the speakers. This out shouts the background noise and is attenuated later when it gets to the speakers.
To use a clumsy metaphor, It’s like having a whistling nostril and screaming into a cushion.
I hope this helps! 🙂
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