Alas, it is not sufficient to look for audio frequency modulations. How long would it take to download the entire triple ring machine at a bandwidth of 1khz??
Sheesh.. Jodie would die of old age...
Cheers, John
Nope that's a type of bolometer (used that way), not the same thing at all. Not very sensitive and directly responds to the heat from incident RF power not rectification at all. A light bulb filament does the same thing.
Another boring story. Long ago after attending my older brother's law school graduation, we went back to the apartment he shared with a few other students. I noticed the coffee table had been repaired by driving a long screw right through the top into a leg. But as the screw was too thin a nut and several assorted washers were used to spread the load. I nudged my father about the humorous repair. One of the roommates saw that and mentioned to all that they were quite pleased that my brother was so handy to be able to fix things!
That was Bud Foster, Jodie's brother!
Keep up the 'ancient' techniques, Hhoyt. We need more EXPERIENCE and less SOPHOMORIC discounting to actually make better audio equipment. I try to keep within the 'scientific' if possible, and that is why I have personally invested in so much test equipment over the decades. Unfortunately, it is not enough, at least in my experience. This was shown to me, by the failure of the HCA 3500 in the audio marketplace. It measured great, including relatively low higher order harmonic distortion at listening levels (worst case) which I bought advanced test equipment to help me measure to levels below-110db or to almost .0001% I figured I could do it all, about 15 years ago, WITHOUT listening tests, and I failed in my prediction.
I have found that only inserting the 'laughable' stuff, like better connectors, aluminum cases, better wire, caps, diodes, etc, etc. made it possible for me to get an A rating in the audio world. It, unfortunately, increased the cost of doing business as well. So be it.
I have found that only inserting the 'laughable' stuff, like better connectors, aluminum cases, better wire, caps, diodes, etc, etc. made it possible for me to get an A rating in the audio world. It, unfortunately, increased the cost of doing business as well. So be it.
Reminds of the tv show about George Foremans griller. The initial tv advert started with a clip from one of his fights and then cut to the griller. Sales zero. Some smart advertising/marketing guy recognized that as soon as housewives saw the clip of George pounding some other guy they switched off. They changed the advert and replaced the boxing clip with a shot of George in the kitchen with his family. They sold over 100m grillers within a year or two.
I doubt your amp did not sell because it had good specs. I think it was just positioned wrong. Tell the customers what they want to hear and no doubt it will sell. You are selling a luxury product, so the approach has to be different.
I doubt your amp did not sell because it had good specs. I think it was just positioned wrong. Tell the customers what they want to hear and no doubt it will sell. You are selling a luxury product, so the approach has to be different.
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Well, Bonsai, thanks for the advice. However, my much lower cost designs do pretty well, and always have.
Parasound was never a 'hi end' product, until about 2001 or so. It was always positioned as a 'B' catagory, 'great sound for the dollar' etc. We expected nothing more. However, it was a BIG surprise to me when my friends and associates sonically rejected the 3500 for their supplemental use, as a 'back up' or for a shop system.
My CTC associate, Bob Crump, then used 'Bear's 'luxury' power amp, and even lugged it to CES each year, to use with the CTC Blowtorch prototype. It took about 1 year of modifications before we could send the CTC modification to the 3500 to CES. This was a few years before the JC-1. We just 'fixed' the 3500, and it sounded OK. Of course, some people may not have heard the difference, but we certainly did. Unfortunately, the 'modifications' that we did to the 3500 would be very hard measure as to what made such a sonic difference. Of course, we had lots of fresh, and unmodified 3500's that we could listen to in order to remember WHY we were spending time and effort to 'fix' it. So much for getting used to the sound. And so it goes. '-)
Parasound was never a 'hi end' product, until about 2001 or so. It was always positioned as a 'B' catagory, 'great sound for the dollar' etc. We expected nothing more. However, it was a BIG surprise to me when my friends and associates sonically rejected the 3500 for their supplemental use, as a 'back up' or for a shop system.
My CTC associate, Bob Crump, then used 'Bear's 'luxury' power amp, and even lugged it to CES each year, to use with the CTC Blowtorch prototype. It took about 1 year of modifications before we could send the CTC modification to the 3500 to CES. This was a few years before the JC-1. We just 'fixed' the 3500, and it sounded OK. Of course, some people may not have heard the difference, but we certainly did. Unfortunately, the 'modifications' that we did to the 3500 would be very hard measure as to what made such a sonic difference. Of course, we had lots of fresh, and unmodified 3500's that we could listen to in order to remember WHY we were spending time and effort to 'fix' it. So much for getting used to the sound. And so it goes. '-)
Wasn't Bear's luxury power amp an overbuilt Borbely DC102 with he-man transfomer, aircraft carrier sized heatsink, an entire month of Japan's production of lateral output devices, and biased just right for heating our man caves.
I have an overbuilt Borbely Millenium hiding in a Krell chassis that got me hypnotized. Maybe it's the 90,000 uf of Blackgates after the 1mh chokes and 600,000 uf Panasonic FC. It has more bottom end than Nicki Minaj.
He deserves more recognition than he seems to get.
I have an overbuilt Borbely Millenium hiding in a Krell chassis that got me hypnotized. Maybe it's the 90,000 uf of Blackgates after the 1mh chokes and 600,000 uf Panasonic FC. It has more bottom end than Nicki Minaj.
He deserves more recognition than he seems to get.
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Today, with the help of Ed Simon, I found an AFFORDABLE copy of one of Ragnar Holm's textbooks on Electric Contacts. Holm is the 'source' for electrical contacts and I lost my copy of a similar book almost 20 years ago in the firestorm. At the same time, I was able to purchase a copy of 'The Radiotron Designer's Handbook, 1953 edition, another lost textbook to the firestorm. Anyone who knows these books knows more than most people who try to design audio equipment. They are that good.
Ed,
I had a laugh yesterday, I turned on the British Open and noticed something wrong. There was no blue so I tapped my monitor and it came back, sorry my experience is it's make or break on cheap cables. Yes I use cheap cables, can't tell enough of a difference.
The point being video signals are typically ~ 1V p-p (2V when you break the termination).
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Yes and you know the problem will happen again. So you can use a cleaner, get better cables (really connectors) or whack it with a hammer every so often.
The issue is when you notice a shift in color that changes when you wipe the connectors. That is due to a partial loss of signal or so I think.
It should be clarified that when I am speaking of 'wires', I refer to finished cables, usually made by commercial manufacturers. I usually measure cables terminated with RCA connectors, however I get similar results with commercial cables terminated by BNC connectors. Of course, most of the 'problems' measured are in the terminations. The measurements, however, are real, give usually higher order distortion, and repeatable, especially in the same test conditions and time period. It does appear that if the cables are 'exercised' either physically or electrically, many of these mysterious 'distortions' do change and sometimes go away. Yet, the cables as measured, would distort equally in a typical audio system, even though the outside connector surfaces are 'clean' either with isopropyl alcohol or DeOxit.
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