John Curl's Blowtorch preamplifier part II

[Steve Eddy]

Originally Posted by hitsware

> the order of the nonlinearity

Please elaborate.

Ask someone who's a bit better with the mathematics than I am.

se

[Johnloudb]

Originally Posted by jkenny

Guys, you really should post this on the LP Vs CD thread How better is a Turntable compared to a CD?
It would also be good to add your Psychoacoustic insights into this thread sound processing by the human auditory system and it's relevance to audio

I just follow this thread for the most part. I just see this as JC's thread and it kind of encompasses all things audio ... it ebbs and flows and goes wherever JC and the moderators let it go, or something like that. I just go with flow and join in when I can.

[john curl]

Today, just for a few hours, I listened to my phono playback. Nothing new, just the same old Vendetta, CTC Blowtorch, and Parasound power amp driving some very old WATT 1's with a sub-woofer. It was glorious! I fell again in love with Julie London, rocked with the Grateful Dead from more than 40 years ago, and bounced with Dire Straits. There is nothing like a good vinyl record. It leaves EVEN my SACD's in the dust.
It is so much better than anything I have heard in the last 6 months, that it amazes me that others don't hear it as well. Well back to enjoying analog based music, the next best thing to live!

[Pano]

Originally Posted by scott wurcer

How were the Beatles remasters, I don't listen to them myself?

I have most of them and they pretty much live up to what was written about them by the team that did them. They do sound a bit louder, a bit more "modern" than the 1980s versions I have. And that's exactly what the remastering team claims. I don't find the difference to be huge, but overall there are improvements. On some songs - a large improvement. I prefer them over the 1980s CD versions, for sure.

I can't compare them to the vinyl versions, because mine are long gone. And the different pressings were known to vary, anyway.

BTW, the early albums are best in mono.

[Joachim Gerhard]

What sounds really good is the original White Album. By the way i do not think that you can improve the sound of an historic album. That is the authentic sound of that time. My wive for example prefers a back and white TV to a modern colour TV not to mention Plasma or LED.
Concerning noise Torsten is right that in praxis many people are superbly imune to noise.
Recently an Italien Tube Phonostage got rave reviews in two independent magazines from revievers i usually trust. One magaize measured it and it drove home a meager
-65dB / 1mV S/N. The MC stage made with 2 ECC83 in parallel without kathode resistors.
I do not like to know how much distortion that gives as a bonus. The stage costs 2500,-€ and the reviewer in the magazine that does not measure admitted that it was a bit noisy but it did not detract him from enyoying the sound. Later he "solved" the problem he got with his really low output voltage carts by inserting a 10.000,-€ silver transfomer from Japan. The Vendetta in it´s day must have being quite a shock and was and still is outstanding. We fight here for the last Ohm and other just build what they think is good enough.

[masag1]

I aggree with Joachim. I think we both were listening to the same Tube Phonoamp mentioned in the post before, at the Linestage shootout, .

It was a real salvation, when we switched to your phonostage, Joachim .

Comparing the review in one of the magazines with my personal listening impression strengthen my opinion about reviews

Dear Sirs, please go on fighting for the last ohm, don't stop when you think " it is good enough"

Best regards

Sam

[1audio]

Originally Posted by janneman

Rockport? This is one of 4 remaining in the world, and the ONLY one with 45 and 78 speed. Two others are at Sony.
The rack in the bottom has the (inaudible) vacuum system.
Saw this at an audiophile friend in Bandung, Indonesia many years back.

jan

Not quite. That is one of the 4 big ones Andy built before the latest generation. The original requirement was for multiple continuously variable speeds and 1/2 speed operation for transfers of original material from the Columbia archive. It also had to run backwards for playing mothers. It can handle 16" or maybe its 18" disks with a vacuum hold down. There is a digital readout of the platter speed but especially for the older 78's you just have to listen and adjust to get the pitch right. It was a fun project. Last I heard the two at Sony were still running full shifts transferring the archives. The ultimate vinyl to digital transfer source.

[jan.didden]

Originally Posted by FrankWW

Take a look here. Interesting.

PowerPoint Presentations from recent (or not so recent) meetings.

I can recommend this one as pertinent to discussions here:

http://www.aes.org/sections/pnw/ppt/....ppt#279,1,Why do we hear what we hear?

I had the considerable pleasure to attend this particular workshop at the AES where thisa was presented, and the ensuing discussion was at least as interesting as the talk itself!

jan didden

[Edmond Stuart]

Originally Posted by john curl

SY, seventh harmonic is avoided in many musical instruments, if possible. You should know this. Seventh harmonic is always out of tune. It is the worst example. Doesn't anyone here actually use Google to find out these things?
In musical reproduction, seventh harmonic appears to be the very worst harmonic to add to a hi fi system reproducing music. I think that this is what Joshua is trying to convey, Of course, seventh harmonic occurs in nature.
Of course, if you want to add a 'metallic sound' to your hi fi, this is the easiest way.

Originally Posted by FrankWW

Steve, the problem with the 7th harmonic is that it sounds flat and shitey. Sure, it exists in the overtone structure of instruments but that's for flavour, timbre. You don't want to add more of it in your reproduction system. It sticks out.

See here:

Avoiding the 7th harmonic

It's been a problem for for Western and Eastern musical theorists for over two thousand years.

Hi John & Frank,

While looking for suitable steel-wire for my bicycle brakes , I stumbled by accident on the same article.
Indeed, it nicely explains why the 7th harmonic in particular sounds highly objectionable. To me it was a real eye-opener.
Here's another article that covers the same issue (regrettably in Dutch): Snaren en hun berekening - Prof.Dr.Godfried-Willem RAES
('Snaren en hun berekening' = 'the math of strings'. Real strings of course, not Feynman Diagrams )

Cheers,
E.

[stinius]

Originally Posted by Edmond Stuart

Hi John & Frank,

While looking for suitable steel-wire for my bicycle brakes , I stumbled by accident on the same article.
Indeed, it nicely explains why the 7th harmonic in particular sounds highly objectionable. To me it was a real eye-opener.
Here's another article that covers the same issue (regrettably in Dutch): Snaren en hun berekening - Prof.Dr.Godfried-Willem RAES
('Snaren en hun berekening' = 'the math of strings'. Real strings of course, not Feynman Diagrams )

Cheers,
E.

Hi Edmond
Not finished the bicycle yet, it's months since you told me that you were working on the bike. Have you replaced the front fork and got new (racing) brakes, what about the upgrading of the lighting system with LiFePO4 batteries?

BTW: you are right about the 7th.

Cheers
Stein