Cascaded compromises

[Bill Fitzpatrick]

Is is possible to make 12 compromises, each of which is inaudible by itself, and wind up with an audibly compromised system?

[Enzo]

Without any quantification, that is difficult to address. If the compromises are not related, how might they add up? If they all affected the same thing, then I suppose they could add up and the sum total might cross a threshold from inaudible to audible. For example if you couldn't hear .5% distortion but could hear 1% distortion, then making 12 compromises that net an added .1% distortion each would do as you ask.

But that example assumes many things.

[Bill Fitzpatrick]

I was thinking of unrelated factors. And that is the question, "how might/could they add up?"

[Circlotron]

If you have a single-ended amplifying stage that produces second harmonic distortion, and the previous or next stage also produces the right percentage of second harmonic distortion but on the opposite side of the waveform then it can reduce or even eliminate the overall distortion. Howzat!

[Geek]

Originally posted by Bill Fitzpatrick
Is is possible to make 12 compromises, each of which is inaudible by itself, and wind up with an audibly compromised system?

How many bolts can you take out of a bridge before it falls down?

Sorry, just the first thing that popped into my head when I read this

[mike.e]

This sounds like a chinese proverb!, its too late il have to think about it