Wavebourn,
I think I just tweaked a brain muscle. 😀 I have Cordell's book too. I'll be a busy fellow.
I think I just tweaked a brain muscle. 😀 I have Cordell's book too. I'll be a busy fellow.
Good luck!
Students who went through this path saved lot of time that otherwise would be spent on meaningless arguments and reading of confusing articles (some even on writing them). 😀
Earlier this year I did a masterclass on feedback and related issues for non-engineering audiophiles. I used the round-and-round analogy to help them grasp the concept, but after they got it hastened to explain that the solution is of course continuous time and, as Scott mentioned, the nth harmonic doesn't appear after the nth roundtrip.
jan
Good luck!
Students who went through this path saved lot of time that otherwise would be spent on meaningless arguments and reading of confusing articles (some even on writing them). 😀
Yes, a couple of years ago I made a statement on another forum "I have read blah blah blah and one should read it because it is a popular posting!". The piling on was horrendous and after I escaped from the pile, I realized that I need to understand the fundamentals first instead of parroting what I read on the 'net.
@jan
I would have enjoyed taking that class.
Well gee Scott, that is a nice typical plot of an amplifier. Based on the 180 degree phase point, it could be modeled as having a 150 nano second "Transit" time. That would be .3% of a 20 khz signal. (If I did my math right that would be an increase in distortion due to phase error of .0054%)
Now maybe we can talk about the difference between small signal frequency response and full power response?
After that we can discuss issues in feedback systems with individual stage limits, such as clipping and saturation. (AKA Bad Design although they do show up in the real world of high end audio.)
As to amplifiers with lots of distortion sounding wonderful, in some cases they do add delightful color. Again to me that is Picasso vs. Rembrandt.
Better to start gradually, analyzing what happens when we increase and decrease signal levels. What happens when we increase and decrease that levels faster and faster.
Plugging a book again which has a wealth of material on electronics in general, I just found a brief bio for its author and learned that he left us last year at the age of 71. 🙁
Peter Carroll Dunn's Gateways Into Electronics is still in print it seems, and awfully expensive, but remains the single best introduction to electronic instrumentation of which I know. It's meant to help physicists learn the subject and requires some mathematical sophistication. But I haven't found one mistake, and was continually amazed at how much material was packed between the covers. Winfield Hill (of Horowitz and Hill, The Art of Electronics) is also enthusiastic.
Although not a text about audio electronics per se, it will equip one well for dealing with virtually any of the topics in here.
There was a guy in Ohio IIRC that found an endangered bird nesting in his grass and much to his delight Federal law superceeded HOA rules and regs.
This business of audio design is not the highest engineering challenge. As far as engineering itself, goes, it is pretty middle of the road. Now what is more and what is less challenging, yet still requiring 'engineering'?
Well UL, when I was there, would be an example of 'less challenging', yet it required someone to have an engineering degree to supervise each project. One engineer, after teaching me just about everything about lighting safety, suggested to management that I become a special 'test engineer' for that area, but NO, it was impossible, and I had to teach a new engineer the procedure. This is why I moved to 'physics'. I thought, if this is engineering, I don't want to participate.
More difficult engineering might be super theoretical calculations and intimate understanding of a specific complex system, like video or fm transmission, etc.
Audio is sort of in-between. You don't have to have a Ph.D. to successfully design unique and successful audio designs. You don't have to intimately know 'atomic physics' either. You just have to have some good ideas that can be applied to a design, a basic understanding of how devices work, and the experience to not make the same mistakes, without learning from them.
In my long experience, some of the best 'engineers' did NOT have a college degree, but apparently learned in the military or on the job, for the most part.
I realize that many here come from a prep school or Catholic school background and went off to MIT or some-such university. IF they get you early, then apparently you can speak the same language, almost interchangeably, due to the common courses that you take. This is a positive, but on the other hand, an intolerance to 'odd ball' ideas is also a trait, that is encouraged.
It has been my experience that striving to do the BEST possible in audio, as a matter of personal pride for example, and not give up to easy compromise is the best way to make elegant and subjectively effective audio electronics.
I realize that many here will not believe me and think that audio design 'success' is a matter of marketing, name recognition, dumb luck, etc. However, in my experience, it is learning as much as you can, dismissing little or nothing, learning from the experience of others when they do something 'interesting', and having a natural ability to put circuits together in an elegant way. This is how I do it, and it works!
Well UL, when I was there, would be an example of 'less challenging', yet it required someone to have an engineering degree to supervise each project. One engineer, after teaching me just about everything about lighting safety, suggested to management that I become a special 'test engineer' for that area, but NO, it was impossible, and I had to teach a new engineer the procedure. This is why I moved to 'physics'. I thought, if this is engineering, I don't want to participate.
More difficult engineering might be super theoretical calculations and intimate understanding of a specific complex system, like video or fm transmission, etc.
Audio is sort of in-between. You don't have to have a Ph.D. to successfully design unique and successful audio designs. You don't have to intimately know 'atomic physics' either. You just have to have some good ideas that can be applied to a design, a basic understanding of how devices work, and the experience to not make the same mistakes, without learning from them.
In my long experience, some of the best 'engineers' did NOT have a college degree, but apparently learned in the military or on the job, for the most part.
I realize that many here come from a prep school or Catholic school background and went off to MIT or some-such university. IF they get you early, then apparently you can speak the same language, almost interchangeably, due to the common courses that you take. This is a positive, but on the other hand, an intolerance to 'odd ball' ideas is also a trait, that is encouraged.
It has been my experience that striving to do the BEST possible in audio, as a matter of personal pride for example, and not give up to easy compromise is the best way to make elegant and subjectively effective audio electronics.
I realize that many here will not believe me and think that audio design 'success' is a matter of marketing, name recognition, dumb luck, etc. However, in my experience, it is learning as much as you can, dismissing little or nothing, learning from the experience of others when they do something 'interesting', and having a natural ability to put circuits together in an elegant way. This is how I do it, and it works!
In your case, I have the impression that you have an outstanding memory. That helps a lot in many situations in a professional life. It might be underestimated, but is a big advantage in being effective in your job.
Unfortunately, Z, I probably have FORGOTTEN more than many people have ever learned about this subject. '-)
It was in Dutch but I'm going to do a German and English version coming September, so there will be DVDs for all major languages (I'm working on Chinese ;-)
jan
Yes, I want to put up an antenna outside. I have the FCC behind me. You could almost hear the groan in the email response I got last week when I notified the HOA with the understanding that I have the blessing of the FCC.
A friend on the forum said I should get at least a 30 ft. mast. 😀
HOAs are so well protected in TX that it's crazy.
However we have many Chinese comrades here in California, but I hope you will read your lecture in English on the BAF.
Yes, I've been impressed as well with the memories of the heavy contributors here as well as those who I have met in person.
I am a hobbyist but when I joined the forum, I couldn't tell which input to use on an op amp, inverting or non-inverting. One over the other? Both? LOL
Have yet to meet these folks. MIT has a higher percentage of odd-balls than most places.
> so there will be DVDs for all major languages (I'm working on Chinese ;-)
Just let the XEN team in HK know if you need help. 🙂
Like it or not, Chinese will become the world language 20 years from now.
Just look at how many university students in continental Europe are learning Chinese.
And really fluent speakers.
Patrick
Just let the XEN team in HK know if you need help. 🙂
Like it or not, Chinese will become the world language 20 years from now.
Just look at how many university students in continental Europe are learning Chinese.
And really fluent speakers.
Patrick
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