John Curl's Blowtorch preamplifier part III

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As I said, you will never produce a waveform at the ears which is an exact version of the signal on the source so now you are left with qualifying what you accept as accurate enough
More than this, the requisite is not the same for everybody. It depends of the kind of music you prefer (pop/modern Jazz or classical/acoustic Jazz, the kind of enclosure you have (horns high power+efficiency/low efficiency), the king of dynamic and tonal character they have. All is matter of balance.
 
Is there a place for those that just care about the music, culture, and people behind it and simply can not be bothered to worry about the details? You say sound/music I would leave the latter off of that list.

Sure there is - there should be room for everybody in a hobby to experience/engage in that hobby in the way that interests them.

My question is why would those who know they're not interested in the details care about attacking those who are interested in this aspect - is that there hobby, not music?
 
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Is there a place for those that just care about the music, culture, and people behind it and simply can not be bothered to worry about the details? You say sound/music I would leave the latter off of that list.
I'm not sure, with my poor English to have understood well what you mean.
This forum is mamed "Do it yourself audio". Right ?
So it is about the way to *reproduce music*, and the tips and tricks on how to design, build and improve a home system, right ?
Music is something very cultural, subjective and artistic.
Way to listen is the same, matter of taste.

So, all the sharings of listening impressions seems perfectly in topic to me. All the topics about the way to improve measurements and performance as well, it is a part of the DIY.

The wars against "fashion", "snake oil" etc, are totally out of topic and useful OMHO. We are not so rich (for the huge majority of us) to afford high end products (they are not DIY), and not so unwashed to worry about snake oil.

As it is obvious that what "sound good" for the one is not the same than for an other, all opinions on this subject are subjective, and, by definition, to be listened with a pinch of salt. No need to ask for "proof": there is never any proof in the absence of known and scientifically established thresholds.

Again, we are all different. And even most of us, at an old age, do not have the same technical requisites that the ones we had at the age of 20, when we were able to listen up to 23 000Hz. Right ? And there is some mysteries in our ways to experience things, our listenings impressions, that is interesting to talk about, compare, trying to explain and understand-it.
 
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even the music you otherwise might not like becomes engaging,

You may not like rock music, IF you use tube amp. Its system dependent. With some systems, even spoken words are engaging. Music is designed to be musical. The better your system is, the more music sounds musical through it.

The first criteria for the music to be musical, is that it should be performed by great musicians. So if with your system your preference do not correlate with the quality of the musicians, something is not right with your system.

Here is a youtube video of Suzanne Vega. This recording is special for me compared to others because when the system is not right i don't enjoy it but when the system is right Suzanne's musicality will be obvious. In this video there is also electronic instrument. When the system is right the electric guitar will sound gorgeous but if not, it will be fatiguing. Feel the 'emotions' :)

YouTube
 
Is there a place for those that just care about the music, culture, and people behind it and simply can not be bothered to worry about the details? You say sound/music I would leave the latter off of that list.

Sure is, but I would think as a devout music lover that anyone who listens to music would prefer it to sound as it should and reveal all it has to offer?

The more involved I get with accurate sound reproduction the more things I hear in the music....instruments that were otherwise hidden as noise, background singers appear from nowhere, there’s even one song I’ve listened to for yrs that I figured out was really a duo after my last gear upgrade!

I get the music culture thing and have thoroughly enjoyed the club scene (to extremes in my younger days!) from both sides of the stage but not sure what you mean about not being bothered by the details?
Unless your a singer/songwriter playing acoustic guitar unplugged to a intimate crowd I would think sound needs to be addressed in every aspect of music?
 
Here is a youtube video of Suzanne Vega. This recording is special for me compared to others because when the system is not right i don't enjoy it but when the system is right Suzanne's musicality will be obvious. In this video there is also electronic instrument. When the system is right the electric guitar will sound gorgeous but if not, it will be fatiguing. Feel the 'emotions' :)

YouTube
Ok, when you say ‘when the system is not right’ are you referencing your own system being askew or another entirely different system that doesn’t flatter this recording?

Thanks, Markw4 for your latest input. It is just the sort of info that I need.

Some sort of odd pattern here?
 
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should probably try harder to ignore the bait myself, but the intolerance for perceptive listeners can be hard to let stand.
My how this thread has warped you over the last 12 months Mark...

Is there a place for those that just care about the music, culture, and people behind it and simply can not be bothered to worry about the details? You say sound/music I would leave the latter off of that list.
There are. Every so often a well behaved music thread appears here and people discuss what is important! Turns out ToS and I share an interest in weird French synth compositions :D

@Howie: To my eternal shame I have the sheffield track record. I get exactly where you are coming from. I do spin it now and again to remind me how far I have come from a young audiophool who believed what the reviewers wrote :)
 
Anyway, I'm am feeling better today now recovering from what was likely a little food poisoning. Even better, I have been told I should have an AK4499 board here in about a week :) We will see if it happens on time or not.

I'm glad you're feeling better. Not too many things are more miserable than food poisoning.

Did you get an AKM eval board? I didn't realize anyone even had samples yet.

Put on your flame-proof cape - I sense incoming
I believe the excerpt of Chris post I quoted sums up the 95% "I don't care"

I simply said that I don't care which set of claims about the modulator (JohnW's or Martin Mallinson's) were correct. Somehow you have managed to take that way out of context and make a useless generalization, congratulations.
 
My how this thread has warped you over the last 12 months Mark...

Something seems to have changed. Don't how much is attributable to this thread. Very often, there is more to a story than may be immediately apparent.

Some of it is that I see the same old issues never die, they just go into periodic remission. Its a like a microcosm of the banned subjects. The same aspects of human nature that cause problems with those subjects actually affect all controversial subjects, just somewhat less intensely in the case of allowed topics.

I'm glad you're feeling better.

Chris, thank you for the the kind thought. I wish we could find a way to argue less, even if we don't always see things the same.

Did you get an AKM eval board? I didn't realize anyone even had samples yet.

It hasn't been a week since I heard one was supposed to be coming. Most of you probably don't know Jam (his American-ized name), but he has been a high end audio designer for a long time having worked at Wadia, Cary Sound, and Pass Labs. After having been cut loose from Pass Labs he is setting out on his own. One of his partnerships is with a well known audio transformer outfit, and they are developing a line of high end audio products that may start coming out some months from now. It's a lot work to get production going from scratch, apparently.

We met a few months ago and go out for coffee sometimes to chat, that kind of thing. He seems to know enough about high end audio design to make a successful line of analog products, and he says high end is almost exclusively vinyl based. Therefore, he has little experience and knowledge of dacs, which is where our present interests seem to coincide. I would like to get my hands on an AK4499, and he would like a dac for his own use that sounds really good. He has the clout with distributors to get their attention, and the AKM distributor is apparently willing to go to bat with Japan to get him a board. If it works out, I will get custody of the board to get it working and to play around with, see what it can do. Jam is interested to do any design of discrete analog subsystems that fit in with what he is good at. Whether or not whatever we do might end up a as a product someday depends on how the experiment turns out, and of course, if he wants to find someone to productize it. I am retired and as always has been the case, I have no interest in laying out circuit boards and or selling something. My personal interest is to have fun and explore what we can come up with. If its good, we will make a second one so we can both have one.

Regarding when AK4499 eval boards will appear at Digi-Key, I have no idea. It could be the end of next week, the same time we are promised one, or even a few days sooner. Again, no idea on that. And no idea if the distributor will actually deliver on the promise to get us a board by end of next week.
 
Ok, when you say ‘when the system is not right’ are you referencing your own system being askew or another entirely different system that doesn’t flatter this recording?

I think both. There's aspect that can 'easily come and go' with any system being tweaked, so here it applies to me. But I think it applies to general system too because many systems for example cannot produce musical electric guitar and think that guitar distortion should be fatiguing. Many speakers also cannot cope with high level midrange frequencies. When there are so many things wrong how can one expect to hear the 'truth'?

Elite Audio & Video says you are wrong.

If by 'audio company' you meant one that distribute audio equipment along with designing and installation of home AV room I think every country have it. No, I'm not a rich man. The only thing that made me looking at the possibility to sell my own speakers or amps were because i think i know how to make great ones. But i know now that it, the skill and knowledge, is not that important.

ExtremA has very good power stage and very poor front-end. The front-end with output stage in fb loop has very bad stability and extremely horrible non-symmetrical and slow step response with very low slew rate. Tons of correspondence with Sander Sassen and some with Bruno. Tons of measurements. But the output stage is close to perfect when in class A, due to local feedback. Give it a good front-end and you have it.

Thanks for the info, especially regarding the output stage local feedback. I have also checked your PM-A4 implementation. It reminds me of Dr. Bora's Calor Gold. CG is the last amp i heard where the circuit uses opamp front end and i think that i could hear the 'opamp sound'. No intention to open the can of worms here, just subjective personal experience. I have built at least 5 different amp designs with opamp input and not impressed. I'm not assuming that your amp might be the same. I myself will always try, as i have dozens of blank PCBs with opamp input.

But may be I have found the class-B, I will see in a few weeks.

I think I have found the amp. Listened for hours yesterday and nothing in the sound that disappointed me. It is hot like class A, but bias is only 300mA. I think this solves my electrical bill issue with pure class A amps.
 
The only thing that made me looking at the possibility to sell my own speakers or amps were because i think i know how to make great ones. But i know now that it, the skill and knowledge, is not that important.

Not sure how much you “know how to make great ones”, haven’t seen any of your results, but certainly you have the important part beyond “skill and knowledge”.
 
No, we disagree here. Your most important part is the ability to create stories that, if good enough, can sell a high end audio product. Also the ability to adapt these stories to what the prospective customer wants to hear.

What I find truly amazing is how you appear on a DIY forum with an “I don’t want to reveal” part about your original amps, and at the same time state that you are not following any commercial interest. So I have to add to the list of your traits the nerve and cheekiness absolutely required in a successful high end audio business. Good luck.
 
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