Paul's Posts

HiFi Family member Mark Lloyd, from Toronto, wrote to me with this wonderful note: “The use of superlatives to describe innovative new products in high-end audio makes it hard to... Read more...

The power nap

In today's fast-paced world, people are often under pressure to be productive and meet their daily goals. I know in my case, I have tons on my plate and cram... Read more...

Blanket statements

As soon as I read this note, I had to smile. "I spend a lot of time in the studio under extremely treated conditions and listen through some of the... Read more...

Do our systems age?

As humans, we all know what it feels like to get older and experience wear and tear over time. We may find ourselves slowing down, experiencing aches and pains, and... Read more...

Battle of the boxes

In my post about Dr. Suess and HiFi, I mentioned the work on loudspeaker enclosures by British engineer Leslie Bucknell while at the company my father worked for, Stromberg Carlson.... Read more...

Dr. Seuss and HiFi

When I was growing up, my father made his living selling telephone equipment for the company, Stromberg Carlson. While I had no interest in the company's telephones and intercoms, their... Read more...

The joy of wrong

For most of us, being wrong is something to be avoided at all costs. It can be embarrassing, uncomfortable, and sometimes damaging to our self-esteem. I'd like to suggest a... Read more...

Short and sweet

Well, no sooner did I publish my short and sweet post, How many Wows, than I received another in my email box. Bob Woodburger sent me the following message and... Read more...

Defining what matters

We often take standards for granted. Yet, inevitably, there's a long history behind their creation. Take the idea of measuring distortion. Today, it seems rather obvious that before we listen... Read more...

Capacitors

Inside a film capacitor there's not a lot going on: plastic and tin foil mainly. Other types of capacitors known as electrolytics, used mostly in power supplies, also have nasty... Read more...

How many wows?

While thumbing through forum posts, I ran across this comment in the FR20s are here thread: "I’m also driving my FR20s by M1200s. I don’t remember how many times I... Read more...

Adding or subtracting

I was recently asked how it is possible that the Digital Lens improves sonic qualities. To this person, it made no sense. The Digital Lens, technology found in all of... Read more...

The Vanishing Trick

Loudspeakers are quite the enigma. On the one hand, one of our key purchasing decisions is based on their size and looks. On the other hand, we want them to... Read more...

Live At Nocturne

I hope at some point you have the time and opportunity to have a listen on a good system to our first live album ever. Gabriel Mervine’s Live at Nocturne was an... Read more...

Sequencing

Whenever I give advice about the order of importance for building from scratch a magical audio system I start like this: Speakers Amplifier AC power Source This order is based... Read more...

The Preamplifier

A traditional preamp (the pre – amplifier, the interface before the main power amp) had four main functions: input selection, phono stage, gain stage, volume/balance control. Preamplifiers were the center of the HiFi system—the... Read more...

We've known it all our lives

In my recent post, Timbre, I brought up a number of examples of instruments that have unique timbre. But, one of the problems we have in evaluating how well our... Read more...

Timbre

Musical timbre is the term we use to describe the sonic qualities that distinguish one instrument or voice from another. It's a complex and subjective quality that includes the harmonic... Read more...

Racing shorts and foundations

I don't know about where you live but here in Boulder, Colorado, most every bike rider looks like they're getting ready for the Tour de France. Is all that expensive... Read more...

Ultrasonics Matter

On a good day, the limits of human hearing are said to be 20kHz. As we age, that goes down in frequency. So why, you might ask, do we expect... Read more...

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