Yes, but what happens when his diagnostic tools come up blank? They might tell him that some area of the engine behaviour is not correct, in numbers, but his ears and behind the wheel "testing" has already told him that. Every car magazine has endless stories of vehicles that have gone from mechanic to mechanic, who were all clueless in spite of their fancily setup shop, until it finally reached the man who had had a previous experience in the right area, or just had a flash of inspiration at that moment. When the response is "Well, you just have to chuck that engine, and put a new one in!" then you're entering the mad world of Microsoft, etc, solutions ...
then he (or she) has missed part of the diagnostic process. This is pretty common. It doesn't mean there is some wild and unseen demon lose in the engine.
Unfortunately, auto mechanics generally come from long queues of tinkerers with an interest in combustion. I know - I taught 100s of them. They were clueless not despite the equipment, but period. The magazine articles and letters only confirm what is well known in the industry - the intellectual level and diagnostic technique of he average mechanic is abyssmal.
The prior knowledge approach is merely a shortcut of the diagnosis. It should still be followed by a confirming measurement.
The inspirational flash is just dumb good luck set to a positive spin.
This doesn't minimise my initial point - when diagnosis is properly carried out, it is a matter of identifying the system the fault lies in, then following a logical process informed by objective measurement.
Unfortunately, auto mechanics generally come from long queues of tinkerers with an interest in combustion. I know - I taught 100s of them. They were clueless not despite the equipment, but period. The magazine articles and letters only confirm what is well known in the industry - the intellectual level and diagnostic technique of he average mechanic is abyssmal.
The prior knowledge approach is merely a shortcut of the diagnosis. It should still be followed by a confirming measurement.
The inspirational flash is just dumb good luck set to a positive spin.
This doesn't minimise my initial point - when diagnosis is properly carried out, it is a matter of identifying the system the fault lies in, then following a logical process informed by objective measurement.
But the translation to audio does not follow through - we're back to measurement, and the wrong things are being measured! Actually, the whole story is that far too little is measured, the chances of a correct diagnosis are poor because the standard of measurement methodology is about that of the techniques used for cars in the 60's - this mantra is repeated over and over again, but nothing happens, not one sign of any improvements in "thinking".
At times it all feels like being caught up in a Monty Python script - there is no answer, except to jump to the next skit ...
At times it all feels like being caught up in a Monty Python script - there is no answer, except to jump to the next skit ...
Or, everything is actually ok, and some people are the cranky old retired guy who has bought a second-hand but recent model of car and is certain it isn't performing correctly, so he haunts the service desk of his dealership telling them that no matter what they do, it isn't performing like his 1968 Morris 1300 GT which could pull like a schoolboy from 15kph in top gear....
Largely, these guys are bored. They are retired, the wife just died, and all they really want is acknowledgement and company.
And that's where we definitely part ways - everything is not OK. Mediocre performance will always remain mediocre, until the individual is exposed to something better, and realises what he's been missing - you can never pretend that you didn't experience it, or if you choose to do so because some measurement tool didn't jump up and down about it then you're a bit of a dill, IMO.
A better analogy is, at slow speed, flooring the accelerator a few times in an AMG V8 MB, and saying that's what an engine should do ...
meh. Thirsty, heavy, noisy, temperamental. And a very different animal to a 1300 GT which (while thirsty, heavy, noisy and temperamental), no matter how many flags you put on the aerial and nodding dogs in the back window, even polish ports and increase compression, will still not perform like the Mercedes.
Unless you are dropping both from a helicopter at 1500m above ground.
No refinement would make Porsche from Trabant 601, Frank. Same applies to amplifiers.
Refinement won't deliver raw power if the gear is incapable - and I don't worry about that, nor do I worry about whether frequencies below 100Hz are produced. My concern is whether the available power is fully usable, in subjective terms, in all areas above low bass ... and my experience, over and over again, is that achieving this is sufficient for satisfying playback - I have heard too many monster amps produce crap sound to have the slightest interest in such; for me, only the recently heard 1000W Bryston was capable of delivering Porsche standard performance ...
Thanks for the good words, Dejan. Yes, removing the "weaknesses" - it sounds straightforward, but the reality is that it can be very frustrating, irksome to the max; it's like the car that has a misbehaving engine, and the mechanic is going nuts trying to find where the problem is: the solution may be trivial, it's finding the cause that's the battle. But that mechanic has a very powerful tool in his workshop - he knows how the engine should behave, because he's experienced great numbers of perfectly OK engines; he has absolutely zero problems with starting to believe that all engines "misbehave" - he don't need no stinkin' DBTs ...
So, it's an Italian car?
The thing about Italian cars is they can drive you nuts with small failings and irritations, like opdd sounds appearing out of nowehere, but they still manage to have a charm no German car I ever set in manages. I don't know what it is, jow they do it, what do they do, but it seems they build in personality, so to speak.
You listen to a four pot say BMW engine at its hihgest nominal revs, say 5.500 rpm in te new turbo series, and it sounds as it should, but still somehow detached and cold. Then you rev up my humble 1.6 litre Fiat engine at its maximum revs, which is 8.200 rpm, and man, it's a symphony. It sounds right, it oozes character, it almost has a personality.
And you instantly forgive all of its shortcomings.
That's what I was thinking. Agreed, you now need more input signal for the same output level, and if you don't make any changes to the input stage you may end up with more distortion as before.
But that only reinforces the realization that it's an optimization of the total chain you must work on.
Jan
Latest update on TD145. It is working so well. Thorens fit a 9/32 spindle. Linn slightly less. Last night one disc would not fit. I so much wanted to play that record that I perched it on the spindle top. It must have had 3 mm wobble. Both the TP16 arm and Denon tracked it without protest and sounded not too bad. To see the roller-coaster ride it speaks very well for the gimble bearings. Tracking of the DL 110 is superb. It seems to rival a V15 in tracking whilst extracting detail that the Shure would smooth over. The bigger shock is the Quad is almost a good PU preamp. I have never thought that before. To be honest 4/10 would be how good I usually think it to be. I am certain lowering the resonance to 10 Hz is working a treat. It just sounds right.
As the DL 110 has 1.6 mV I suspect a bespoke preamp with gain of 500 would suit well. My Lyra is 700 uV and suits a gain of 1000 well. 500 seems not as well suited as one would expect. Like a fool, I gave away all the preamps I made. Seems I am using a Morris 1300 as mentioned before. The Japaneses loved the Countryman version.
What this proves is get the maths right and a good sound is possible from very modest components. My expectations were C+ and I am getting A-. Buddy Holly and Beatles Rubber Soul got me and Colleen to bed at 2AM.
The initial sound before adjustments and soldering on the new DIN plug would be E- or worse. That was mostly a defective DIN adapter ( sounded muted and no detail ). I used a Frank Schroeder alignment gauge. It took me about 30 minutes to set that. 2 g tracking force using a Shure gauge. I have an electronic one. I don't trust it. I am certain the cartridge has come alive due to use. It had been unused for a year. I used the Linn 3M green paper to clean the stylus.
As the DL 110 has 1.6 mV I suspect a bespoke preamp with gain of 500 would suit well. My Lyra is 700 uV and suits a gain of 1000 well. 500 seems not as well suited as one would expect. Like a fool, I gave away all the preamps I made. Seems I am using a Morris 1300 as mentioned before. The Japaneses loved the Countryman version.
What this proves is get the maths right and a good sound is possible from very modest components. My expectations were C+ and I am getting A-. Buddy Holly and Beatles Rubber Soul got me and Colleen to bed at 2AM.
The initial sound before adjustments and soldering on the new DIN plug would be E- or worse. That was mostly a defective DIN adapter ( sounded muted and no detail ). I used a Frank Schroeder alignment gauge. It took me about 30 minutes to set that. 2 g tracking force using a Shure gauge. I have an electronic one. I don't trust it. I am certain the cartridge has come alive due to use. It had been unused for a year. I used the Linn 3M green paper to clean the stylus.
But in audio, it's all different.
You have a chain of seemingly unrelated devices, theoretically all moving towards a common goal. Say, a tuner, CD player and TT as sources, a preamp, a power amp and the speakers. It's relatively easy to notice any differences in sound between the tuner and the CD player, but the TT complicates matters. The motor/spindle/platter may not be up to it, or it could be the stylus, or the tonearm. Finding an optimum combination is far from easy, or even possible - if I conclude that my Dual has a below par tonearm, I can't do a thing about it, it's not interchangeable, I have to buy a new one.
But even testing it requires a lot of experience and at least some knowledge of the underlying technology - which many people simply do not have. Hence, they are easy prey for a greedy dealer, who will almost invariably suggest an upgrade. And with today's prices, that's going to hurt.
You have a chain of seemingly unrelated devices, theoretically all moving towards a common goal. Say, a tuner, CD player and TT as sources, a preamp, a power amp and the speakers. It's relatively easy to notice any differences in sound between the tuner and the CD player, but the TT complicates matters. The motor/spindle/platter may not be up to it, or it could be the stylus, or the tonearm. Finding an optimum combination is far from easy, or even possible - if I conclude that my Dual has a below par tonearm, I can't do a thing about it, it's not interchangeable, I have to buy a new one.
But even testing it requires a lot of experience and at least some knowledge of the underlying technology - which many people simply do not have. Hence, they are easy prey for a greedy dealer, who will almost invariably suggest an upgrade. And with today's prices, that's going to hurt.
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Yes, "good sound is possible from very modest components." If the dynamics are reproduced, all the fine detail is clearly wrought, then your ears will thank you for the experience. What bigger, meaner gear will bring to the party is the ability to go more and more intense with the same clarity, ie. merely lifting the SPL numbers.
Talkin' about good sounds, engine sounds, then going by this video, Amazing Engine Sounds Compilation Video - YouTube, I'm an Aston Martin man - I like a solid rasp, with lots of bite ...You listen to a four pot say BMW engine at its hihgest nominal revs, say 5.500 rpm in te new turbo series, and it sounds as it should, but still somehow detached and cold. Then you rev up my humble 1.6 litre Fiat engine at its maximum revs, which is 8.200 rpm, and man, it's a symphony. It sounds right, it oozes character, it almost has a personality.
And you instantly forgive all of its shortcomings.
.
Talkin' about good sounds, engine sounds, then going by this video, Amazing Engine Sounds Compilation Video - YouTube, I'm an Aston Martin man - I like a solid rasp, with lots of bite ...
IMO nothing beats the sound of those small displacement engines with lots of cylinders like formula-1. Talk about a symphony, I bet that's one of those things that have to be experienced to be appreciated, coming out of a corner hard on the accelerator and tapping the next gear with that engine inches behind your head, screaming at 18,000 rpm.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqaJKTRs-Kg
I love the big, throaty snarling engines too, but there's just something about those ultra-precision, high winding engines that call to the engineer in me, and I find myself saying..now that's how it's done.
Probably why the Porsche Carerra GT is still pretty much my favorite passenger car...if you can even call it that.
Hi,
That old dragon of a uni-pivot? No, Nigel you do not want one of those.
If you want a good, well behaved uni-pivot go for one of Tom Fletcher's Omega Points.
(I think Tom's retired now but his products (read his engineering children) should still be around. He's also a man with big friendly audio heart, one that deserves a statue in British audio).
Best,
Tom Fletcher died around 3 years ago but his designs live on through turntables and arms manufactured by Peter Mezek of Pear Audio Europe. I believe that the brand is "Blue"
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We work for some companies that do the ECO's and sensors for numerous cars, including racing cars to a very high level, I think they do know what to measure and how to apply the results. Todays cars are not just mechanical systems with basic electronics, but more refined mechanical systems with complicated electronic systems. Listening to how some cars are tuned across the full range of the engines abilities involves more than just tweaking some points these days and measurement plays a big part.
But sometimes brutal is good too ... Ford GT40 Driven by Derek Bell at Sebring International Raceway (Onboard) - YouTube,
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