John Curl's Blowtorch preamplifier part II

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Really? Seems very little to hold a massive earth in orbit.

Jan

Its best not to view it as 'holding the earth in orbit' or any other object. Objects in orbit around the sun are actually falling in towards it at the same rate as the suns surface curvature so they never hit the surface - just fall around it forever. (This is the Newtonian explanation - the relativistic one will arrive at the same conclusion but via a different explanation).

To put it perspective, the earth weighs 6.6x10^23 metric tons and its 'falling into' the sun at ~29km/s in a GFS of 600 uN
 
Jacco,
and why do you think that is so, is it just a cost performance equation or is there some other inherent reason that a great self powered speaker could not be created that would meet audiophile requirements. One oft mentioned comment I have seen and been told is that audio-centric types want to roll their own amplifiers and electronics. It has been one of the reasons I have had such difficulty with the choice between monolithic amplifiers such as the TPA3251d2 and a discrete design. Both have their merits and both have drawbacks, the monolithic its higher inherent distortion numbers and the discrete class ab with large power losses and heat generation. To place the electronics externally in a separate enclosure just takes us back to a component type system, there seems no easy answers. If we limit the output of the chipamp to a reasonable level at what point is the distortion going to be unacceptable to the acute listener?
 
I think you hit the nail on the head. Audiophools love lots of shiny boxes and to mix and match.

EDIT: I do have a load of serious questions regarding woofer choice when released from the constraints of passive, but suspect I really ought to fire up a serious thread for those!
 
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Integrated amps with speakers are usually a big compromise over the discrete power amps that we make today. Then there is the added vibration on the amps. However, in principle, integrated amps with speakers would make the best overall design, but at an even higher price than discrete parts.
 
Active means not just integrating amp and speaker in one enclosure, but also putting the crossover (and possibly eq) before the power amps, and connecting the drivers to the amplifier outputs without intervening components. I think that's where the real benefit lies, not just short speaker cables. In principal one can do that with separate enclosures for electronics and drivers. But then once people can substitute amplifiers they will, and they will make bad choices, like using amps with different overall gain, so then you need gain controls on the active xover and some way to calibrate them, and pretty soon you're almost back where you started but worse.
 
Integrated amps with speakers are usually a big compromise over the discrete power amps that we make today. Then there is the added vibration on the amps. However, in principle, integrated amps with speakers would make the best overall design, but at an even higher price than discrete parts.

Active speakers don't have to have the amplifiers in the speaker. Look at the bit ATC monitors for example. But if they are integrated you can spend all the money you save on a bling box on things that affect the sound. Call me a cynic, but if the vibration from the speaker is affecting the output of the amplifier then you have a serious problem with the cabinet design!
 
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