Paul's Posts

I've seen people spend ten thousand dollars on a pair of speakers and then plop them against the wall next to the TV. It makes me cringe. Placement interacts with... Read more...

That vinyl sound

People love to argue about whether vinyl sounds "better" than digital. I think that misses the point entirely. Vinyl doesn't sound better or worse. It sounds different. Understanding why it... Read more...

The Magic of First Watt

There's a saying among amplifier designers that the first watt is the most important one. That's mostly true. Think about it this way. Most of your listening — the quiet... Read more...

Worth it?

Are million-dollar loudspeakers and four-hundred-thousand-dollar amplifiers worth the price? Depends. First, let's acknowledge reality: the law of diminishing returns applies ferociously in audio. The difference between a five-hundred-dollar system and... Read more...

Soundstage

We all treasure a wonderful soundstage with amazing depth and width. But where does it come from? Soundstage width is an illusion created by subtle differences between the left and... Read more...

Floored

Imagine moving into a beautiful new home with granite tile floors and radiant heating. The house is gorgeous. The sound might be harsh. Sound waves bounce off hard floors like... Read more...

Simple

"Simple, but no simpler"—a phrase often attributed to Einstein has been one of our guiding principals. In fact, it sits at the heart of everything we design. Simplicity in an audio... Read more...

Theaters

Buy a good stereo amp now, or start with a home theater system to cover all bases? This question comes up constantly, and I understand the appeal of future-proofing. Home... Read more...

Age and ears

As we get older and our hearing inevitably changes, how do we know our subjective judgments about sound are still valid? It's an honest and important question. And the answer... Read more...

What if...

... all recorded music were done poorly? Would high-end audio mean anything at all? It's a provocative thought, and my honest answer might surprise you. Yes, it would still matter.... Read more...

Don't blame the delivery driver

One of our HiFi Family members told me he'd been buying SACD versions of his favorite albums hoping for a revelation—and kept being let down. Some sounded barely different from... Read more...

Wireless

Bluetooth. Wi-Fi. AirPlay. The world has gone wireless, and we audiophiles are understandably curious—and skeptical. Most wireless speakers we've all encountered—portable Bluetooth boxes, smart home devices, Sonos—sound nothing like high-fidelity... Read more...

Heavy Lifting

Speakers are heavy, Sometimes really heavy. Why? Most of the weight in a well-built speaker comes from the cabinet itself—thick panels of MDF (Medium Density Fiberboard), HDF (High density same... Read more...

Too revealing?

A doctor from Padua, Italy, reached out to ask whether our Aspen loudspeakers might be too revealing for his collection of vintage opera recordings from the 1950s and 60s. He... Read more...

Too small?

One of the most common concerns I hear is, "My room is too small for real hi-fi." I understand the worry. We've all seen photos of dedicated listening rooms like... Read more...

Dressing it up

There's a wonderful paradox at the heart of audio. Distortion is supposed to be the enemy—the thing we spend decades engineering out of our circuits—and yet some of the most... Read more...

End goals

High-end audio has always been a long pursuit of a single idea: recreate the experience of live music in the home. Even from the earliest days where RCA's mascot canine,... Read more...

The magnifying glass

People sometimes assume better equipment will automatically make every recording sound spectacular. I wish that were true, but it’s not how audio works. A playback system is ultimately a translator—it... Read more...

A trip to the clinic

As long as we're reminiscing about the past.... How many of you remember the McIntosh Laboratories amplifier clinics? Owners were invited to bring their equipment—McIntosh or otherwise—and have it tested... Read more...

Blown away

Yesterday I wrote about the old live-versus-recorded demonstrations where audiences struggled to tell which was which. Those shows captured the spirit of what the audio industry has always been chasing—the... Read more...

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