Paul's Posts

There’s something comforting about a system you know, and it’s easy to say, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” And that’s not bad advice—there’s real value in living with... Read more...

Working together

We’ve all been tempted by numbers. Lower noise, higher damping factor, vanishingly low distortion. It’s easy to assume that if each piece of gear performs well on its own, the... Read more...

Headroom

You swap in a new DAC or preamp and it immediately sounds better. Clearer, more dynamic. Then you realize: it’s louder. And louder almost always sounds better. That’s where gain... Read more...

Direct connect

You’ve probably heard the term “direct-coupled” in descriptions of preamps or amps—especially ours at PS Audio, which are almost all directly coupled, input to output. So what does “direct-coupled” actually... Read more...

The floor

Most of us spend a lot of time thinking about the back wall, the front wall, the ceiling. But one of the most underrated parts of the listening space is... Read more...

Reflections

We all know how direct sound works—speaker fires, you hear it. But the real challenge in any room comes from reflected sound. Especially the first bounce off the side wall.... Read more...

Mona Lisa

Want a better stereo image? Put something visual in the middle of the front wall between the speakers. It can be a painting. A piece of art. A diffuser. Even... Read more...

Height

Sometimes you’re listening to a track you know like the back of your hand. The vocal is supposed to lock dead center, right between the speakers. But instead, it’s kind... Read more...

Sweet spot

You’re in the sweet spot. The vocalist is dead center. Then you lean to the left, and suddenly the singer jumps into the left speaker. Or you sit down with... Read more...

Corners

Corners look harmless. A little molding, a houseplant, maybe a lamp. But sonically? They’re landmines. Corners reinforce bass. Every room mode—the low-frequency pressure waves that build up between walls, floor,... Read more...

The perfect triangle

We all want that perfect triangle—speakers spread out just right, listening chair set back, toe-in dialed to a hair’s width. But what happens when your room doesn’t play nice? Maybe... Read more...

Damper

We all want tight bass. That quick, punch-you-in-the-chest kind of bass that starts and stops on a dime. And somewhere along the way, a lot of folks started chasing big... Read more...

Smearing

Negative feedback is one of those engineering tools that’s both brilliant and dangerous. It lowers distortion, flattens gain, extends bandwidth. It can also make things sound worse—if you use too... Read more...

On or off axis

We all love that moment when the speakers disappear. A stage opens up between—and beyond—the boxes, and musicians snap into place like holograms. Pinpoint imaging and an expansive stage. But... Read more...

Imaging vs. Soundstage

They’re not the same. Imaging is precision. That violin is right there, not two inches left or right. The voice stays put, locked in space. Soundstage is size. Width. Depth.... Read more...

The power of quiet

We talk a lot about volume—power, headroom, slam. But for me, the real magic often starts with quiet. Not silence. Music needs silence like a photo needs contrast. It’s the... Read more...

Our kind of trouble

Yesterday I was reminded of my father's lie detector and how, as kids, we got into plenty of trouble. Orange fights. Dummy pranks. Jail time, even. But the kind of... Read more...

The lie detector

When I was a kid, my dad built a lie detector out of a Heathkit. He tested it on me and my sisters, certain one of us was pilfering quarters... Read more...

When wrong is right

Sometimes, being “wrong” sounds better. That was a tough pill to swallow when I fist started out on this audio journey. I’d spend hours chasing distortion figures only to sometimes... Read more...

Chasing the illusion

What's the goal of high-end audio? Strip away all the technical talk and what are we really after? The answer is simple: we want to create an illusion so convincing... Read more...

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