The elephant in the room is that many don't know all the places where attention is needed. Overbuilding has a tendency to overcome some of the unknowns.
True - to err is human, to really mess things up - use LTspice.
As a first timer DIYer, it's not surprising mine is over engineered, however it's also engineered to support larger changes than something specifically developed only to support one specific purpose.
This is whole debate is the same with fast cars too, at some point you'll sit back and start enjoying and worrying less about the equipment. I got just as much fun (but slower) in 1.6 and 2.0 litre engines around the Norschliefe than others have with much more horsepower. You've less horse power so you need to be even cleaner, and more precise to make it as fast as you can.
I think the real point here is - do you listen to the music or the equipment. I've made time in the past to physically sit without interruptions and listen as if the band was playing in front, however to me there are two points of value - can I listen but hum along as doing things or can I listen just by myself (headphones) to a wide range of stuff that the mrs may or may not like. The former is where the wife doesn't like big speakers etc, the latter is where I can DIY my own - thus my DIY tends to be more 'intimate'.
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this is actually a very broad question and again has to be focused on a specific Target and by that I mean whether it's a product or whether it's a situation or person in this case since it being an audio for him I'm pretty sure this is regarding a product and of course it's marketing or time spent.
let's take a look at your common inkjet printer that most people have in their homes.
when one of these devices gets old or has a problem it's much easier to just replace it and in fact The Replacements are usually cheaper than printer cartridges most often for most people.
I'm sure there's some kind of mathematical formula for dictating a actual rule but I will be the last person to ask about that despite me and my background historically having a pretty good relationship with mathematics sadly I did not get that gift.
what I can tell you is on average if applying to other people it should be a 1 to 10 ratio.
out of the nine times you focus or somehow interact with Whatever item you wish to apply the rule to you are supposed to have 9 good times out of 10 at the very least and that's the basic rule that you should be able to use.
for example one of the least engineered products out there is an outdoor faucet for home use or residential. very little is put into its engineering as far as it being suitable for the homeowner or in fact even something that stands out from the home itself.
in fact many people never even think about it and some even don't worry about protecting it during the winter and it can lead to a cause of pipes freezing.
no one ever thought of making something that does not introduce cold temperatures into the pipes or anything else like that but then again like I said there's a lot of diminishing returns for doing this because as soon as you start paying attention to it then other people will have to design things and adapt them to Legacy Homes and new construction.
spending any time or even money or finances making this area of your home more delightful to use is pretty much a moot point since most people who decide to use something as a host fidget will often upgrade to something Superior as a home watering system for example and that's its upgrade path which then in turn provides more economic output.
now this does not apply to people because again if it did or I could say some things but of course I'll keep my mouth shut.
again how this nine out of 10 rule works is that out of the nine times you use the faucet only one of those times do you realize oh it's hard to turn or the faucet leaks or it's actually really low to the ground or that it should be easier to use.
so like it or not most of the time it's a basic same technology and actual design in some cases that's been used for probably over a hundred years in homes where they've had outdoor faucets for plumbing.
a perfect example of this that I think everyone has at one time done at one time in their life is opening up the hood of their car. the Bonnet of a car where the engine usually resides is now rarely opened by end-users and is usually service by technicians and of course other people and is rarely used.
in this case most people just provide a basic stick to hold the Bonnet or hood open. While on the other hand for the trunk the usually provide a very easy way to lift it with some kind of strut mechanism or some kind of automatic liftgate.
while the stick has been a staple for over a hundred twenty plus years, the automatic opening trunk has only just recently been introduced.
to do the same for a hood or Bonnet has been done before but then again it usually only for either really expensive cars. luxury cars. or cars with over heavy hoods.
even some of the most expensive race cars out there with all full carbon fiber bodies usually end up using a simple steel Rod to be inserted in one place or the other to keep the hood open.
one of the best examples of something like this where there is a scope of diminishing returns is where the car import crowd from the early 90s and 2000 started racing out their vehicles. The outsides had massive amounts of improvements even such things as carbon fiber hood props for Honda Civics while at the same time they installed probably six hundred pounds of car audio equipment at the same time while trying to save weight on a hood prop made out of aluminum or carbon fiber.
it absolutely makes no sense to do so but again this person did not follow the law of diminishing returns when the only time the hood is going to be open is when they're on the side of the road and there's no one to impress anyways..
again the nine out of 10 rule makes complete sense here as if you're only going to be opening it up and enjoying it probably less than once out of those nine times...
you're not really supposed to put any effort into it.
this post that I'm making right here exemplifies this as I really could care about my grammar the and how I write this post in my punctuation but I really don't.
chances are I'll probably never come back to it and that's why I'm just putting the idea is out here with the text or type because I'm too lazy to type it. or bother correcting the heirs. (ERRORS)
popular phrases in modern-day are:
the juice is not worth the squeeze
and a few others that are too inappropriate to mention.
let's take a look at your common inkjet printer that most people have in their homes.
when one of these devices gets old or has a problem it's much easier to just replace it and in fact The Replacements are usually cheaper than printer cartridges most often for most people.
I'm sure there's some kind of mathematical formula for dictating a actual rule but I will be the last person to ask about that despite me and my background historically having a pretty good relationship with mathematics sadly I did not get that gift.
what I can tell you is on average if applying to other people it should be a 1 to 10 ratio.
out of the nine times you focus or somehow interact with Whatever item you wish to apply the rule to you are supposed to have 9 good times out of 10 at the very least and that's the basic rule that you should be able to use.
for example one of the least engineered products out there is an outdoor faucet for home use or residential. very little is put into its engineering as far as it being suitable for the homeowner or in fact even something that stands out from the home itself.
in fact many people never even think about it and some even don't worry about protecting it during the winter and it can lead to a cause of pipes freezing.
no one ever thought of making something that does not introduce cold temperatures into the pipes or anything else like that but then again like I said there's a lot of diminishing returns for doing this because as soon as you start paying attention to it then other people will have to design things and adapt them to Legacy Homes and new construction.
spending any time or even money or finances making this area of your home more delightful to use is pretty much a moot point since most people who decide to use something as a host fidget will often upgrade to something Superior as a home watering system for example and that's its upgrade path which then in turn provides more economic output.
now this does not apply to people because again if it did or I could say some things but of course I'll keep my mouth shut.
again how this nine out of 10 rule works is that out of the nine times you use the faucet only one of those times do you realize oh it's hard to turn or the faucet leaks or it's actually really low to the ground or that it should be easier to use.
so like it or not most of the time it's a basic same technology and actual design in some cases that's been used for probably over a hundred years in homes where they've had outdoor faucets for plumbing.
a perfect example of this that I think everyone has at one time done at one time in their life is opening up the hood of their car. the Bonnet of a car where the engine usually resides is now rarely opened by end-users and is usually service by technicians and of course other people and is rarely used.
in this case most people just provide a basic stick to hold the Bonnet or hood open. While on the other hand for the trunk the usually provide a very easy way to lift it with some kind of strut mechanism or some kind of automatic liftgate.
while the stick has been a staple for over a hundred twenty plus years, the automatic opening trunk has only just recently been introduced.
to do the same for a hood or Bonnet has been done before but then again it usually only for either really expensive cars. luxury cars. or cars with over heavy hoods.
even some of the most expensive race cars out there with all full carbon fiber bodies usually end up using a simple steel Rod to be inserted in one place or the other to keep the hood open.
one of the best examples of something like this where there is a scope of diminishing returns is where the car import crowd from the early 90s and 2000 started racing out their vehicles. The outsides had massive amounts of improvements even such things as carbon fiber hood props for Honda Civics while at the same time they installed probably six hundred pounds of car audio equipment at the same time while trying to save weight on a hood prop made out of aluminum or carbon fiber.
it absolutely makes no sense to do so but again this person did not follow the law of diminishing returns when the only time the hood is going to be open is when they're on the side of the road and there's no one to impress anyways..
again the nine out of 10 rule makes complete sense here as if you're only going to be opening it up and enjoying it probably less than once out of those nine times...
you're not really supposed to put any effort into it.
this post that I'm making right here exemplifies this as I really could care about my grammar the and how I write this post in my punctuation but I really don't.
chances are I'll probably never come back to it and that's why I'm just putting the idea is out here with the text or type because I'm too lazy to type it. or bother correcting the heirs. (ERRORS)
popular phrases in modern-day are:
the juice is not worth the squeeze
and a few others that are too inappropriate to mention.
>"it absolutely makes no sense to do so" - from a particular viewpoint. It fits, for the case where the car's engine is nicely tricked out and the hood is open to show that off to other enthusiasts passing by, perhaps in the context of a "show" or "meet".
Whatever diminishing returns must be evaluated in the context of who you're marketing to. In audio, there's a vast range that goes across people who simply want a box they can put on a countertop, pay for a service and have music come out - to those who will hear nothing but vinyl, through high efficient OB speakers, driven by single-ended amplification using tubes the OEMs intended to wrap up manufacturing of 100 years ago.
Somewhere in that space is your target customer - and the diminishing returns must be carefully chosen correspondingly. Wallowing around in "emitter resistor" space seems like you've got your target customer chosen. Seems to be the subtle equivalent of combustion chamber shape in car engines, yeah it makes a difference but to whom? The guy trying to shave off 0.1 of his 1/4 mile time, or the kid who has a bunch of money and wants to build an attractive looking and performing car?
A target customer consideration could be a simple as "speakers". I'll assume 99.9% of people who even have a "component" stereo system have speakers within an enclosure of some kind. Some high percentage of those are going to be un-sealed and therefore will have a port resonance. That resonance will be effected by the driving amplifier and as most customers probably never even heard of damping factor, nor would know what to do with a control of that parameter, they'll simply choose the amp that "sounds better" with the particular speakers they have - if they'd even go that far as to audition one product after another at home.
The dilemma is immensely vast and I wish there was a straight up answer for you. You could design an amp with a very pleasant distortion, get a customer's perception approval on audition - and lose the sale after s/he looked at the spec sheet, where you dared to publish a value > 0.001%. How can you predict a customer will trust their rational mind (less is better!) over their own hearing, while simultaneously not realizing their own speakers distort far more than either contending amplifier value?
Whatever diminishing returns must be evaluated in the context of who you're marketing to. In audio, there's a vast range that goes across people who simply want a box they can put on a countertop, pay for a service and have music come out - to those who will hear nothing but vinyl, through high efficient OB speakers, driven by single-ended amplification using tubes the OEMs intended to wrap up manufacturing of 100 years ago.
Somewhere in that space is your target customer - and the diminishing returns must be carefully chosen correspondingly. Wallowing around in "emitter resistor" space seems like you've got your target customer chosen. Seems to be the subtle equivalent of combustion chamber shape in car engines, yeah it makes a difference but to whom? The guy trying to shave off 0.1 of his 1/4 mile time, or the kid who has a bunch of money and wants to build an attractive looking and performing car?
A target customer consideration could be a simple as "speakers". I'll assume 99.9% of people who even have a "component" stereo system have speakers within an enclosure of some kind. Some high percentage of those are going to be un-sealed and therefore will have a port resonance. That resonance will be effected by the driving amplifier and as most customers probably never even heard of damping factor, nor would know what to do with a control of that parameter, they'll simply choose the amp that "sounds better" with the particular speakers they have - if they'd even go that far as to audition one product after another at home.
The dilemma is immensely vast and I wish there was a straight up answer for you. You could design an amp with a very pleasant distortion, get a customer's perception approval on audition - and lose the sale after s/he looked at the spec sheet, where you dared to publish a value > 0.001%. How can you predict a customer will trust their rational mind (less is better!) over their own hearing, while simultaneously not realizing their own speakers distort far more than either contending amplifier value?
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