Paul's Posts

I’ve noticed something over the years—both in my own habits and in conversations with others. We spend a lot of time chasing upgrades, swapping cables, moving speakers half an inch... Read more...

Good books

One of the best tweaks you can make to a room doesn’t come from an audio catalog. It might be sitting in your hallway or living room right now. I’m... Read more...

Seriously

We’re visual creatures. I’ve often said we listen with our eyes just as much as our ears—though most of us wouldn’t admit it. Show someone a flimsy box with plastic... Read more...

Beyond the edges

Image width is one of those things that sneaks up on you. You don’t always know it’s missing—until one day, there it is. A guitar you swear is playing from... Read more...

Width

We’ve been on a bit of a roll lately—talking about setup, imaging, and now depth. And I think that’s a good thing. These are the fundamentals. They’re what turn a... Read more...

Deep

In the last few days, we’ve been focusing on setup—on imaging, speaker placement, and what it takes to make a system disappear. And one of the things that’s come up... Read more...

Phantoms

You sit between the speakers, press play, and suddenly there’s a voice floating in space—not coming from the left speaker, not from the right, but dead center, hovering in front... Read more...

In the wrong place

Don't you love it when the speakers vanish? Not literally, of course—but sonically. You close your eyes, and there’s no box, no cabinet, no driver—just a voice hanging in the... Read more...

Format wars

For years, we were locked into format wars. CD vs. SACD. DVD-Audio vs. Blu-ray. MP3 vs. FLAC. Physical vs. digital. I’ve lived through all of it, and yes—those formats do... Read more...

The myth

Yesterday's post got me remembering there’s a myth out there that somehow bits from a CD or SACD are purer than bits from a stream. That if it came from... Read more...

From vinyl to polycarbonate

I still remember the first time I held a CD in my hands. It was 1983, and the promise was huge—no more surface noise, no stylus to wear out grooves,... Read more...

Doh!

As long as I am reminiscing about Quad electrostatics, I still remember my first experience with a subwoofer and another electrostat I owned. The sub was an M&K, one of... Read more...

Best of both worlds

The first time I heard a pair of Quad electrostatics, everything I thought I knew about loudspeakers went out the window. They didn’t sound like speakers at all. No boxiness,... Read more...

Toe in and out

Ask a room full of audiophiles how much toe-in to use, and you’ll get a dozen different answers. Some people like their speakers pointed right at them. Others prefer them... Read more...

It's not what you think

Ask most people why they need a subwoofer and you’ll hear the same answer: to get deeper bass. But that’s not really why subwoofers matter—at least not in a properly... Read more...

Disappearing act

It’s the moment we all chase. You cue up the music, settle into your chair, and suddenly… the speakers are gone. Not turned off, not quiet—just gone. What’s left is... Read more...

The magical key

In the golden age of the 1970s, the stereo receiver was the gateway. Walk into any department store and you’d see them lined up behind glass: Marantz, Pioneer, Sansui. Gleaming... Read more...

Getting into the weeds

In yesterday's post, we discussed the differences in transistor types: BJTs and FETs. Today I thought we'd dig a little deeper. On paper, a JFET is just another transistor, but... Read more...

Choosing the right sauce

To most people, a transistor is just a black plastic thing with three legs. To an engineer working on a high-end audio system's architecture, it can mean the difference between... Read more...

Phase

It’s amazing how good we are at locating sound. Without even thinking about it, we can close our eyes and tell where someone’s talking from across a room. We know... Read more...

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