Merlin, would you happen to be the author of the super fantastic must have preamp book I just bought!
My 2nd ed (bought new) has seen a lot of milage and shows no signs of falling apart. Glad I didn't pull the trigger on the 3rd ed if the 4th is coming soon. I also remember him saying the 4th ed was due by the end of the year.
As far as Google books...they usually either limit what sections you can see or they limit the number of pages you can see in total (of your choosing). The idea is to let you get an idea if the book is for you or to look up something small without having to buy the entire work (mostly the former, from the publisher's perspective). Other works are either fully licensed to them or are in the public domain already.
I don't remember how I got turned on to MJ's book...probably a post on RAT as that would have been about a decade ago. I picked up a few other books and the RCA reprint at the time as well, but those spend most of their time on the shelf.
As far as Google books...they usually either limit what sections you can see or they limit the number of pages you can see in total (of your choosing). The idea is to let you get an idea if the book is for you or to look up something small without having to buy the entire work (mostly the former, from the publisher's perspective). Other works are either fully licensed to them or are in the public domain already.
I don't remember how I got turned on to MJ's book...probably a post on RAT as that would have been about a decade ago. I picked up a few other books and the RCA reprint at the time as well, but those spend most of their time on the shelf.
That would be true of most engineers as well, at least those who were educated after the commercial demise of vacuum tubes. You might be surprised by the number of not so young engineers who have no clue how they work or how to use them. They weren't teaching anything tube related when I was going to school in the latter half of the 1970s..
Yes it's funny - I had a mono Armstrong chassis (AM/FM/EL84 amp) I played with when I was little but at school the thermionic valve was never mentioned. At that time too valves/tubes where everywhere - in TVs, radios etc but in the 1970s they were on the way out. You could go to the landfill and they were sitting in TVs etc everywhere - we used to smash the glass to study the insides - the little grid wires etc. Some were very interesting inside
I changed departments about 15 years ago and worked for a while in the division that made Nextel phones. The median age of the engineers was about 27. I fetched a photo copy of a schematic for the HP 200CD audio oscillator from the calibration lab since I had just acquired about 20 of them. I passed it around and asked if anyone recognized the active devices. I got a few blank stares, so I offered a big hint.....check the copyright date (1959). One person guessed something about those glass things in old TV's.
I am an old person by todays engineering standards, and yes I made them glow in technical high school.....1967 through 1970.
Actually, more or less the same place as those with engineering degrees - which for many years have had nothing on valves and almost nothing on audio. If you want a good laugh, and to understand why audio gear is often poorly designed, just read the chapter on audio in almost any general undergraduate electronics textbook. (Possible exception is Horovitz and Hill, which covers real engineering rather than the oversimplified stuff elsewhere)
My brother used "Electronic circuits and applications" by Senturia and Wedlock at level1 or 2 which does not seem trivial-this was at Cambridge,however.My father tells me that the electronic engineering students at QUB (he lectured in mechanical) seemed to mainly study solid state physics and as far as he could tell could were not really designing much. As far as a lot of commercial designs are concerned,well,when I see a flashy looking 845 amplifier with a flimsy driver...I think I would have known not to do this after reading "Foundations of Wireless" by Scroggie which I picked up in a dusty 2nd hand shop and was the first electronics that I read since I read the theory in my Philips electronic kit which I had as a very young boy.
Foundations of Wireless is a beginners' book, but because Scroggie knew what he was talking about it is useful to those who already know a fair amount.
Actually, Scroggie was not the original author of edition 1 but he took it over and did several revisions. The last revision (or two?) was done by S.W. Amos. Both of these gentlemen were well known in electronics circles in the UK in the 1960's and 70's.
Actually, Scroggie was not the original author of edition 1 but he took it over and did several revisions. The last revision (or two?) was done by S.W. Amos. Both of these gentlemen were well known in electronics circles in the UK in the 1960's and 70's.
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