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Microphones and speakers
I cannot think of a product more closely related to the challenges of choosing a loudspeaker than that of the microphone. Both microphones and loudspeakers are hardly flat transducers. In...
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Musical types
How many times have I heard someone explain to me that their system shines when playing jazz or classical but kind of sucks on rock music? Or the opposite? Too...
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When more is better
As a designer it's often difficult to know when to stop. Do I stop adding power supply capacitors to a design when there's enough to make it work the way...
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Validation
Isn't it wonderful when your spouse or friend walks into the listening room and asks what happened? "The system sounds so much more real, lifelike. What did you do?" And...
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Stuck?
Rarely do we consider downgrading our system. We've worked so hard to get our systems to sing that lowering their quality to better accommodate poor recordings is an obvious major step backwards....
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Getting inside
We had learned that despite the expert's opinions, and the measurements that supported those opinions, "identical" functional amplification blocks could sound dramatically different. The world had been flipped on its...
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Picking up the pieces
In yesterday's post I described how our world had just been turned upside down. Two identical measuring devices, IC Op Amps, were sounding remarkably different. The phono preamplifier we were...
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The regular kind
Further to yesterday's post about discretes vs. ICs, Stan and I had built the first phono stage prototype using the standard integrated circuit op amp of the day, the ubiquitous...
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Discrete vs. IC
When we first came out with our original phono stage for $59.95 (complete with a money back guarantee), we were building the phono using integrated circuit op amps. At that...
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Add ons and extras
I can still remember when Uncle Arthur pulled up to the curb at my family home once each summer. He was always driving a brand new car. Arthur had a thing about...
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The Dutch HiFi show
Today is opening day at the Dutch Audio Show in Veldhoven! Click here to see more information. Our distributor, and good friend, Guy Chanet of Aspera Audio is demonstrating in...
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The RIAA curve
I am guessing most of my readers know what the RIAA EQ curve is—a 20dB boost to the high frequencies and a 20dB cut to the low frequencies when mastering a...
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What's in a name?
While traveling the other day, Terri and I perused the breakfast menu. There it was, a fancy combination of heirloom tomato tartine with a labneh spread. Sounds pretty exotic until you break...
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Unsung heroes
In any multi-person organization it's the combined effort of the many members that make it a success. Problem is, how do you effectively single out one person for praise? The...
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Audiophile Day
Woo Hoo! It's here again. The day we celebrate who we are and relate to. Audiophiles. I don't know if it's just me or if the world really has changed, but...
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The smell of space
Who knew? Heading home from PS Audio last week and listening to the radio, the subject moved to some billionaire who had bought himself a ride on one of Space X...
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Lots of wires
And while we're marinating on yesterday's post about lots of boxes I am also wondering about lots of wire. I look at my reference system and see the maze of cables...
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Lots of boxes
In the earliest days of reproduced sound we relied upon the single box speaker to deliver our music. Monophonic sound. Yet, Alan Blumlein invented and patented the idea of stereophonic sound in...
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Where to draw the line
When it comes to figuring out what gets us to where we want to go with our HiFi systems, where's the best place to draw the line? Is it when...
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How to listen
Yesterday I made the point that we're all golden eared "experts" if we want to be. What's that mean? Well, anyone can hear the striking difference between a high-end music...
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