Paul's Posts

What's the old saying about risks vs. rewards? Here we are worried about when to plant tomatoes. Too early and we risk the frost killing them. Too late and we... Read more...

Pros vs. amateurs

It's perhaps humbling to remember that for most of the world we audiophiles are not only amateurs but thought to be teetering on the edge of lunacy. We work hard... Read more...

Studio vs. home

I remain flummoxed as to how the industry wound up separating studio monitors from home audio. Both have the same task of reproducing music as accurately as possible. Yet the... Read more...

Stereo or mono reflections

My friend, Keith Howard, wrote me a wonderfully insightful note that I will share with you. "I find it helpful to think of reflections as mono or stereo, in the... Read more...

Silly Putty

It's tempting to believe that "reality" is fixed. That what happens to us is just the way it is. I have a very different view. To me, reality is a... Read more...

Inside an FR30

PS Audio's reference loudspeaker, the FR30, has replaced the venerable IRSV. That was a bitter sweet pill for me. For as long as I have been in the field of... Read more...

Do you care?

....If the reverb on a recording is real or artificial if it sounds right? ....If the soundstage is not true to the room but it is to your ears? ....If... Read more...

Long chain short chain

Common sense would suggest that the longer the signal chain the worse it will sound. In other words, a short chain will always outperform a long one. But is that... Read more...

Directional

When it comes to directionality I find myself a bit lost. Let's take for example an AC power cable. Directionality is easy because each of the two connectors is different.... Read more...

Fancy

In a recent post I mentioned I am, for some (unknown to me) reason, getting a bit fancy in my old age. Which is kind of weird because traditionally I... Read more...

Vegan leather

I recently updated my travel kit to handle the great number of power supplies, cables, and accessories I find myself lugging about. This time I decided to also upgrade the... Read more...

Living with rectangles

Hopefully, your listening room is not square. A square room with all dimensions being equal is a recipe for the worst room modes possible. Fortunately, most of our rooms where... Read more...

Conclusive proof

If you can't find your car keys it might be tempting to imagine they've been stolen or somehow mysteriously vanished. Of course, there's likely the more down-to-earth answer that you... Read more...

We know everything

Near the end of the 19th century, it was generally agreed upon that our understanding of physics had reached its limits. We knew all there was to know about how... Read more...

FR30 crossover

Of course, we're all interested in what makes a product tick. Inside a loudspeaker is the crossover network that divides the frequencies between the various speaker drivers: tweeters only produce... Read more...

Procrastination

Sometimes the responses I receive to my posts are so much better than the post itself I just have to share. After reading yesterday's post about Hofstadter’s law, reader Bret... Read more...

Hofstadter's law

Sydney’s Opera House was originally forecast in 1957 to be completed in 1963. It didn't happen that way. 10 years later and at 15 times greater expense than predicted, the... Read more...

Fast and slow

After 50 years of working with audio gear, it's easy for me to forget not everyone knows the basics. I'll do my best to help remedy that. A few days... Read more...

The long and winding road

The road to sonic bliss has always been long and winding, but today it's getting straighter and shorter. Remember back in "the day" when information was scarce? Aside from a... Read more...

Maple syrup

Real maple syrup as made from the tree tastes different than the imitation version. That is if you're paying attention. And here's the thing. You don't need to be a... Read more...

Country/Region

Country/Region