Just heard something on the radio about DIY (not audio, just in general).
"some of the present DIY movement is about control". Meaning if you do it yourself, you have more control over the end product. That may or may not be practical, but it sure is satisfying!
On the subject of High End Audio, having met many of the manufacturers, I find most of them friendly and honest, they really believe in what they are selling. As much or more so than most manufactures of other stuff I have met. They also seem to believe in their high prices, which is a shame, IMO. But consumers DO drive the market.
"some of the present DIY movement is about control". Meaning if you do it yourself, you have more control over the end product. That may or may not be practical, but it sure is satisfying!
On the subject of High End Audio, having met many of the manufacturers, I find most of them friendly and honest, they really believe in what they are selling. As much or more so than most manufactures of other stuff I have met. They also seem to believe in their high prices, which is a shame, IMO. But consumers DO drive the market.
Just hear something on the radio about DIY (not audio, just in general).
"some of the present DIY movement is about control". Meaning if you do it yourself, you have more control over the end product. That may or may not be practical, but it sure is satisfying!
+1
Hi dfidler - glad to see another Brit bringing a bit of civility to our little tribe here in the "Colonies".
I spent many years working for the US Government and I know really expensive BS when I see it!!
I'm pretty sure that one of our purchasing agents would have been very interested in that little plug extender so they could mount it next to the $600 toilet seats.
I spent many years working for the US Government and I know really expensive BS when I see it!!
I'm pretty sure that one of our purchasing agents would have been very interested in that little plug extender so they could mount it next to the $600 toilet seats.
If that was really true, then the human race would have succumbed to the lions, tigers & bears some time ago.
It is really quite amazing what the human ear can detect.
dave
AVE...
THD below 1% is not audible for human ear. You can detect subtle sounds among other subtle sounds. But you won't detect subtle sounds if you crank up the volume. This is the problem of the whole Hi-Fi and High-End market: what you can hear and what you imagine you can hear...
THD (as a single number) is a totally meaningless specification. One has to look at the harmonics to get any meaningful information. A high order harmonic is audible at much lower levels than a 2nd order component,
dave
Just hear something on the radio about the DIY (not audio, just in general).
"some of the present DIY movement is about control". Meaning if you do it yourself, you have more control over the end product. That may or may not be practical, but it sure is satisfying!
Or , to actually SAVE money. Most "big box" stuff won't last 2 years. If after 10 years you have to REpurchase it (or something equivalent) 5 times from walmart , you could of spent 2X to begin with and DIY'ed a 20 year MTBF unit.
Quality ... look here - (example) $350 - a1Components - Cerwin-Vega XLS-12 12in 3 way Floor speaker, Includes 50ft of Speaker Wire Free!
Pulled one apart recently... JUNK, woofer had 37mm voice coil / stamped frame and 20 oz. magnet , X-over was cheap 1st order , mid and tweeter same ... junk.
Same $350 spent at parts-express / Lowes (wood). 12" dayton w/ 5lb magnet , 10 -16 oz mid/high's. Box wise , REAL hardwood plywood. Built for 20+ years of HD use. Same goes for the $1000 and up crowd - JBL - ES90 - Black Ash - Four-way, dual 8" floorstanding loudspeaker
JUNK ... pressboard veneered w/ medium quality drivers. Of course you pay for the name and the engineering (they DO sound nice).
OS
Why are you having a problem understanding my motivation? It is so simple and I've said it many times: because I want to. There doesn't have to be any other good reasons.
If you want to be on the 'ultimate sound' crusade, that fine too. If you believe that endlessly swapping topologies of different amps will bring you bliss, that's great. Have at it.
They sure are pretty though
Thanks for your counsel but I think I'll take it with a pinch of salt, after some of the other ideas you've brought forth, I'm not convinced of your expertise.
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AVE...
1. Is my logic and definition of THD correct?
2. Can you hear that?
EDIT:
I found the description on polish Wikipedia. Below is the translation:
Sorry, my mistake. However I read somewhere, I can't remember where exactly, that THD below 1% is said to be too low for human ear to detect. The same claim is on English Wikipedia. As I understand it, THD means the amount of the original signal that is lost and generates the harmonics. However THD of 1% means that sum of all harmonics equals to -40dB of that signal, which is 0.0001 of that signal. Two questions I have:
1. Is my logic and definition of THD correct?
2. Can you hear that?
EDIT:
I found the description on polish Wikipedia. Below is the translation:
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Well, "hearing" effectively means audible, as opposed to subjectively perceived.
So far no one's established audibility.
No. What you and others deny is the well established fact that our subjective perceptions aren't the unerring reflection of objective reality that your religion preaches.
If you're going to claim something is audible, the burden of proof is on you to substantiate it.
No one denies the subjective perceptions of others. However subjective perceptions alone don't establish audibility.
se
Thanks for the citation, Urgon. The trouble with that is that it is TOTAL harmonic distortion. It does not relate directly to what we perceive. THD is a measurement that has run is course is has limited usefulness these days because access to better ways of looking at distortion have become cheap and easy. Some rather high amounts of THD can be indistinguishable to the ear from a pure sine wave. (I'll have to look up how much).
Certainly tho, below some percent it's not going to matter what the harmonic make up of the distortion is, you just won't hear it. I don't think that number is 1%
...
Certainly tho, below some percent it's not going to matter what the harmonic make up of the distortion is, you just won't hear it. I don't think that number is 1%
...
The whole audiophile circle circles around what is known as the placebo effect.
Due to the price of the gear, audiophiles get tricked into thinking it sounds better because they spent alot of money,
and therefore the price of a consumer product tricks them into thinking is sounds bad just because its cheap, while it in reality both sounds and measures better than the 100x more expensive cable or amp or cd player or speaker.
The audiphiles claim that high end means the least amount of coloration or the most transparent while it in fact is the opposite.
The higher the price tag, the more you get into these flea power exotic no feedback SET tube amps that measure atleast 10% THD.
What audiophiles think the high end gear do, is actually true for PA gear which is made to reproduce the instruments of an orchestra or the music at a live concert as accurately and true as possible to the original.
While high end is about coloring the signal in various ways to satisfy the mistuned ears of audiophiles.
Due to the price of the gear, audiophiles get tricked into thinking it sounds better because they spent alot of money,
and therefore the price of a consumer product tricks them into thinking is sounds bad just because its cheap, while it in reality both sounds and measures better than the 100x more expensive cable or amp or cd player or speaker.
The audiphiles claim that high end means the least amount of coloration or the most transparent while it in fact is the opposite.
The higher the price tag, the more you get into these flea power exotic no feedback SET tube amps that measure atleast 10% THD.
What audiophiles think the high end gear do, is actually true for PA gear which is made to reproduce the instruments of an orchestra or the music at a live concert as accurately and true as possible to the original.
While high end is about coloring the signal in various ways to satisfy the mistuned ears of audiophiles.
Then all here is at waste of time and money.... equipment doesn't matter....all is in vain...tube solid state....speakers.. they all sound the same....power supply in amplifiers is just non important...all manufactures are con artists looking to make at buck by cheating and fooling the poor buyers that don't know the difference....Come on..Hope you know better than that...there's cars.. and then there's cars....some you can buy...some you cant...cause you don't have the money....but a Ferrari is not a fiat....while owned by same company an sharing a lot of technology....there surely is much more to audio than distortion.....if you judge an amplifier by that you missed the point....
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