Imaginary numbers , imaginary cable parameters . I would say intuitively imaginary numbers seem even less likely to be useful than the esoteric beliefs of hi fi to be true . Happily those more gifted than me saw the usefulness of imaginary numbers .
This story might interest a few . I was asked to devise a cryogenic apparatus . It was surprisingly easy and the health and safety not too difficult . I doubt it would be as efficient in money terms as it could be , however not too expensive in the apparatus . I was especailly happy about dealing with the worse case safety problems . I was very surprised to find that generally liquid nitrogen is no more dangerous than boiling water . That probably says more about how we take risks with boiling water than nitrogen being ultra safe . My main concern was oxygen levels if we lost a complete flask . Again not too difficult . I was so wrapped up in the design as not to ever consider if it works or not for the ears .
I was then asked the question you might expect . Does it improve cables ? I side stepped the issue and said I had researched how to do it so as to satisfy non hi fi customers . We would meet stringent requirements about cycle times and temperatures with proper data logging . I was very proud of how I adapted a piece of standard domestic equipment to conserve low temperatures ( unproven ) . My answer was we could be totally professional and attract customers from outside audio . I expected to make myself a nice bit of royalties . It never happened and made me very sad . I doubt I would have ever asked myself could it work for a cable ( neither did it , or did it not ) . I was very surprised by the help I got with the project . No one said no , everyone said they could and would help .
My point would be this . Unlike making weapons I see no victims . If people want to spend money on cables so be it . If like me they are far too mean then I approve .
This story might interest a few . I was asked to devise a cryogenic apparatus . It was surprisingly easy and the health and safety not too difficult . I doubt it would be as efficient in money terms as it could be , however not too expensive in the apparatus . I was especailly happy about dealing with the worse case safety problems . I was very surprised to find that generally liquid nitrogen is no more dangerous than boiling water . That probably says more about how we take risks with boiling water than nitrogen being ultra safe . My main concern was oxygen levels if we lost a complete flask . Again not too difficult . I was so wrapped up in the design as not to ever consider if it works or not for the ears .
I was then asked the question you might expect . Does it improve cables ? I side stepped the issue and said I had researched how to do it so as to satisfy non hi fi customers . We would meet stringent requirements about cycle times and temperatures with proper data logging . I was very proud of how I adapted a piece of standard domestic equipment to conserve low temperatures ( unproven ) . My answer was we could be totally professional and attract customers from outside audio . I expected to make myself a nice bit of royalties . It never happened and made me very sad . I doubt I would have ever asked myself could it work for a cable ( neither did it , or did it not ) . I was very surprised by the help I got with the project . No one said no , everyone said they could and would help .
My point would be this . Unlike making weapons I see no victims . If people want to spend money on cables so be it . If like me they are far too mean then I approve .
A demonstration that intuition needs to be informed by facts, otherwise it can lead people astray. Imaginary numbers are astonishingly useful in science and engineering. They seem to be fundamental to quantum mechanics. Comfort in using them is one of the tests as to whether someone can actually understand modern physical science.nigel pearson said:
DF . That's the point . That which seems esoteric turns out to be highly useful . Roots of negative numbers was thought to be of no practical use . People were at least able to hold on to the concept . The analogy I would give is , with maths mostly you are climbing with ropes . With audio mostly you are not . The exhilaration of making it work better is great . I remember Sidney Smith the designer of Marantz ( co-designers D S and J D ) saying to me I must take capacitor choice seriously . It was as much as I could do to keep my mouth shut . He told me that my friend Ijaz had asked him to fit new capacitors to the amplifiers . My favourite bit was Sid saying approximately " Nigel you have to believe it " . He also said nothing he had done as a scientist could explain it . However as a musician he could not denounce it . Alas Sid died before I found the capacitor measurements I posted earlier . I have to admit I had less than no interest in valves before I met Sid . I heard the best most practical amplifier ever at his house . Marantz 9 in triode , Marantz pre amp . Thoren's TD160 ( ? ) . Quad ESL 63 with no covers . Sony portable CD player as Sid was not convinced about CD . As he said the batteries were a good thing . I would say for sanity and sound I doubt a better hi fi existed on the planet . I made friends with Sid by telling him inside every good triode there is a good pentode trying to get out . He was shocked and at first did not understand . After about 3 hours and many graphs he conceded the point ( mostly to shut me up ) . Then with a sparkle in his eye he said best triode he knew of was a pentode ( EL 34 ) .
Catalysis are mysterious . Doubtless fully understood by some . I bet getting to understand was not easy . The rewards vast when you do .
Expanding my point about cryogenic treated metals . I was very surprised when researching it to find it was respected outside of audio . To give a perspective . I always work on a royalties basis . If what I make does the job I get paid . I would get £5 for £300 product . Taxes and distributor/dearer margins the lions share . The producer profit is about £14 . I was convinced if we did it properly we might earn more outside audio .
Cables is a funny area of business . The customers seem not in the least bit interested in making cables . They hate anything scruffy . One lady told her husband that hi fi is male jewellery , to which I said and what about real jewellery ? Her answer was it's OK as long as people admit it . I suspect many a customer has bought cables to help out their dealer . He or she may have sold them the equipment that lasts a lifetime . To go buy some cables keeps the relationship going . Doubtless the new cables look fantastic . I am sorry to say many hi fi people only show they have a soul by having a hi fi . See You-tube for all the demonstrations of a pieces of kit . Often a pair of white gloves used . The new cables will spark off conversations about things when friends go to the house .
A special mathematician and weapons expert ( torpedoes ) .
Hedy Lamarr (MATH GENIUS!) – Woman of the Week | FemCentral
Catalysis are mysterious . Doubtless fully understood by some . I bet getting to understand was not easy . The rewards vast when you do .
Expanding my point about cryogenic treated metals . I was very surprised when researching it to find it was respected outside of audio . To give a perspective . I always work on a royalties basis . If what I make does the job I get paid . I would get £5 for £300 product . Taxes and distributor/dearer margins the lions share . The producer profit is about £14 . I was convinced if we did it properly we might earn more outside audio .
Cables is a funny area of business . The customers seem not in the least bit interested in making cables . They hate anything scruffy . One lady told her husband that hi fi is male jewellery , to which I said and what about real jewellery ? Her answer was it's OK as long as people admit it . I suspect many a customer has bought cables to help out their dealer . He or she may have sold them the equipment that lasts a lifetime . To go buy some cables keeps the relationship going . Doubtless the new cables look fantastic . I am sorry to say many hi fi people only show they have a soul by having a hi fi . See You-tube for all the demonstrations of a pieces of kit . Often a pair of white gloves used . The new cables will spark off conversations about things when friends go to the house .
A special mathematician and weapons expert ( torpedoes ) .
Hedy Lamarr (MATH GENIUS!) – Woman of the Week | FemCentral
Outside of audio it is found that cryogenic treatment can produce measurable results e.g. machine tools are harder and last longer. There is some metalllurgy behind this. Science and practice agree.nigel pearson said:
I am not aware of any measured results in audio, and metallurgy would suggest that there would not be. Science and practice agree.
DF, this is only true for a particular type of steel not used in audio or any other electronics that I'm aware of. There's no data showing efficacy for any other metal. In fact, the opposite- most metals are strengthened by annealing. I suppose annealing didn't become an audio craze because it's too easy for people to do it for themselves (oven) compared to the difficulty of handling cryogenic fluids.
Maybe we can start a new meme? Annealing wire while it's passing through a scientifically determined signal?
Maybe we can start a new meme? Annealing wire while it's passing through a scientifically determined signal?
Please don't blame me for this . I am a little surprised . Forget helium as it is too expensive and rare .
Liquid Helium Cryogenic Processing
Liquid Helium Cryogenic Processing
One wonders why the true agenda for proffering exotic cabling is so vehemently denied, and endless pseudo-science embraced to support the outrageous pricing structure...
Oh wait... Hungry Joe - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia this must be the reason
Oh wait... Hungry Joe - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia this must be the reason
Yes, I was not implying that this has an audio application (except possibly as a tool for fabricating components). My point was that temperature processing of certain metals has well-established mechanical consequences supported by science, but no established electrical consequences (also supported by science). Hence, cryogenic treatment of machine tools cannot be used as as example to support cable claims.SY said:
Actually, what the loony fringe should be pursuing is soaking their cables in various alcoholic beverages (as one Japanese HTS team did, with measurable results?).
Not a cable issue, but a good example of the "flexibility" of our perceptions...
IVY using OPA1632 - IVY I/V Stage - Twisted Pear Audio Support
IVY using OPA1632 - IVY I/V Stage - Twisted Pear Audio Support
In another thread I was shot down for saying NE5534 to be usable in high quality designs . All the recommended alternatives were JFET input . Sometimes these don't do what I want . At the end of the debate we settled on OPA 604 or 2604 as low priced and excellent .
I have had troubles using NR5534 which TLO71 LF 351 N and OPA604 didn't have . My ears prefer OPA 604 to TLO71 .
Where I am a little surprised is that no one sided with me to say that theoretically NE5534 is perfect by any science of perception that has been offered since perhaps 1947 . This in a nutshell says that any amplifier that has less than 0.1 % THD and preferably having exponential decreasing distortion harmonics should be prefect . Please forgive any simplification of the principles .
I am more than willing to beleive op amps do sound different . However to my mind it is as baffling as cables .
The point of Brian's link was that the same opamp sounded different when the listener thought it was a different opamp! This either means that there was a strong expectation bias, or that sample variation is sufficiently large that normal device 'shoot-outs' are fatally flawed as they don't use enough samples of each device. Given that it was opamps being tested, not SET outputs, my money is on the first explanation.nigel pearson said:
The advantage of SMD over PTH is size. I very rarley encouter PTH components unless they are connectors and even these's are becoming rarer. But then you cab get so much circuitry in a small space the loop area is minute, look at op-amps etc in 0.5mm pitch QFN's match with 0201 and 0402 chip components and for small signals you can squeeze an amazing amount of electonics in a small space. with better thermal conrol of the silicon.
Marce I have been using SMD for tweaky reasons for years . I have to stop now as illness prevents ( I still try ) . My first discover was BCV61/62 devices that never existed in standard components . Also very nice obsolete transistors like BF470 which now are found in SMD similar types . Sometimes I mount these with wires . If I had a business I would try perhaps in India to have them nicely encapsulated . One pre amp I made in the past had SMD direct to the pins ( no pcb ) . I felt it was better . It also forces elegant solutions . I made a gain clone style RIAA stage ( MC33079 DIL ) . It is very hard to say it sounded better as it also progressed as it went SMD ( tighter RIAA by +/- 0.1 dB ) . However just for it's watch like construction I preferred it . One can even get 10 nF GOG which fit fine and sounds good ( + 7K5 = 75 uS , polystyrene is the Audiophile choice ) . I use the small BC components round section resistors as they have low noise and look nice .
The tenuous link to this subject is no wires even better . If wondering how to fit SMD , easy use a resistor wire and blob solder SMD to one end . Then transfer to op amp and solder/remove resistor wire . I used one MRS 25 conventional resistor as it is 316K which I required as it keeps things simple . I also used 2 x 10 K 1/8W conventional as class A pull down ( ? ) resistors on stage 1 ( out to V - ) . This time to reduce crowding , used inside the chip area . Then a 10 nF mylar from +/- of standard type .
The tenuous link to this subject is no wires even better . If wondering how to fit SMD , easy use a resistor wire and blob solder SMD to one end . Then transfer to op amp and solder/remove resistor wire . I used one MRS 25 conventional resistor as it is 316K which I required as it keeps things simple . I also used 2 x 10 K 1/8W conventional as class A pull down ( ? ) resistors on stage 1 ( out to V - ) . This time to reduce crowding , used inside the chip area . Then a 10 nF mylar from +/- of standard type .
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