PS Audio founder and CEO, Paul McGowan, writes a daily blog: short, informative, fun, often controversial, but always interesting. Subjects range from personal stories, how to setup your system, news of the day, streaming, vinyl, tubes, transistors, loudspeakers, holographic imaging and more. Kind of like the Car Talk of audio. Not much is sacred, and there’s rarely a mention of our own products.
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Paul's Posts
Damper
We all want tight bass. That quick, punch-you-in-the-chest kind of bass that starts and stops on a dime. And somewhere along the way, a lot of folks started chasing big...
Smearing
Negative feedback is one of those engineering tools that’s both brilliant and dangerous. It lowers distortion, flattens gain, extends bandwidth. It can also make things sound worse—if you use too...
On or off axis
We all love that moment when the speakers disappear. A stage opens up between—and beyond—the boxes, and musicians snap into place like holograms. Pinpoint imaging and an expansive stage. But...
Imaging vs. Soundstage
They’re not the same. Imaging is precision. That violin is right there, not two inches left or right. The voice stays put, locked in space. Soundstage is size. Width. Depth....
The power of quiet
We talk a lot about volume—power, headroom, slam. But for me, the real magic often starts with quiet. Not silence. Music needs silence like a photo needs contrast. It’s the...
Our kind of trouble
Yesterday I was reminded of my father's lie detector and how, as kids, we got into plenty of trouble. Orange fights. Dummy pranks. Jail time, even. But the kind of...