Universities create specialists, at least this was the case in the 20th century.
But now we also need generalists, people who know a little about a lot, just to see the big picture.
It's my understanding that there are now more and more university level studies that create these generalists. But they must rely on the specialists for detailed information.
My best qualification in 1982 was city and guilds in electronics.
I have only worked with two degree level engineers in my time.
The first one sat down with me to design a circuit and gave up after 10 minutes and told me to design it as he couldn't get his head around it !
The second simply copied circuits from books and magazines.
We designed a teletext adaptor. Most of the circuit came from Wireless World magazine. When we came to write the software he just abandoned ship and told me to get on with it ! So basically he did next to nothing.
I found myself having to do stuff I hadn't done before and rather than say "I cant do it" just got stuck in and had a go.
On the hand later on I came across some very good engineers especially when we had problems with a manufacturers IC's.
Let me give an example we can see on this site way to often:
An electrical engineer can make an amplifier/dac/etc that doesn't blow up when switching on.
Amazing bravo, but that doesn't make you an expert in perceptual testing. Stop believing that you are. It's an entirely different field of knowledge.
Go with what the real experts in that field are saying.
Nice to know Bill. Life will be way more meaningful when many can work together and we need a lot of people to act as a catalyst in doing so. Too many of us attach too much importance on win and lose.
At the end of the day these audio companies are out to make money.
No point competing with Chinese companies and scraping around in the dirt for a few pennies.
So come up with a device that is hyped to death and sell it for big bucks.
Its projects like the moon landing and the atom bomb that worked because they brought together lots of experts in different fields.
That led to satellites and atomic plants, which led to space junk and junk on Earth. This will lead to big junk-removers 🙄
I too did a City and Guilds full Tech + Endorsement in Telecoms, (049), and it was looked down on by National Cert students, but Imperial College recognised its true status.
G&G are public exams, the same anywhere in the country, and there is no guidance on what may turn up in the exams, so you have to know it all. With an HNC, an internal to the college exam, often the lecturers would give nudges, ("If I were you I would know this area of the syllabus gents"), which makes it much easier to do the exams.
A fellow apprentice who did an HNC told me that they were sent afterwards to do my course because the maths was more advanced.
In my 30s I tried to re-do my poor schooling, and did 'O' and then 'A' levels in science.
I've worked with the whole range of qualified people, and they all had various abilities, but being academically well qualified does not alone and in itself guarantee ability or expertise.
My last job was the least demanding academically, working as a 'linesman' for a Big Telecoms company. We used a headset with which to detect pulsed tone for line identification, and in some locations, for eg., under London Bridge railway bridges, I measured an ambient noise of 105dB, and we had to hear the tone above this level.
The apparatus's headset at max produced up to 131.5dB, and the company knew this, but still allowed it to be used. I now have severe hearing loss in my right ear, and won a legal case a couple of years ago giving me compensation, with which I bought my ADAM Tensor Betas. Its a shame I am so deaf.
G&G are public exams, the same anywhere in the country, and there is no guidance on what may turn up in the exams, so you have to know it all. With an HNC, an internal to the college exam, often the lecturers would give nudges, ("If I were you I would know this area of the syllabus gents"), which makes it much easier to do the exams.
A fellow apprentice who did an HNC told me that they were sent afterwards to do my course because the maths was more advanced.
In my 30s I tried to re-do my poor schooling, and did 'O' and then 'A' levels in science.
I've worked with the whole range of qualified people, and they all had various abilities, but being academically well qualified does not alone and in itself guarantee ability or expertise.
My last job was the least demanding academically, working as a 'linesman' for a Big Telecoms company. We used a headset with which to detect pulsed tone for line identification, and in some locations, for eg., under London Bridge railway bridges, I measured an ambient noise of 105dB, and we had to hear the tone above this level.
The apparatus's headset at max produced up to 131.5dB, and the company knew this, but still allowed it to be used. I now have severe hearing loss in my right ear, and won a legal case a couple of years ago giving me compensation, with which I bought my ADAM Tensor Betas. Its a shame I am so deaf.
The amazing fallacy of High End stuff...
Yep I was once upon a time a sucker too. The highest that I ever got sucked inn was Wadia 2000, Jadis Defy & ML Odyssey. Yes due to no small part from magazine influence. Saving grace though are the nice exterior packaging. lol Got rid of everything but still kept my Odyssey. Now after learning diy, I no longer am caught up with such marketing hype, as a mechanical person by discipline from time to time I do admire some well design equipment.
Cheers
Yep I was once upon a time a sucker too. The highest that I ever got sucked inn was Wadia 2000, Jadis Defy & ML Odyssey. Yes due to no small part from magazine influence. Saving grace though are the nice exterior packaging. lol Got rid of everything but still kept my Odyssey. Now after learning diy, I no longer am caught up with such marketing hype, as a mechanical person by discipline from time to time I do admire some well design equipment.
Cheers
I found the pictures that I was looking for last week. These were taken at the Dayton hamfest swap meet in 2010. The true value of something is what someone will pay for it at such an event...…
The scopes and most old test equipment went for $1 per pound, or less near closing time. Many of the old tube type Tektronix scopes are in the hands of collectors, or were parted out for their tubes and transformers. They are not common at hamfests any more, but went for cheap when they were available.
The Dynaco amps went for $300 each before the show even opened to the public. I was checking out a microscope at the same vendors table when they sold. Much of the other vintage stuff was sold for the asking price within an hour or two after the show opened.
The space man.....a genuine NASA astronaut donned his suit and went for a space walk.....
Attachments
Some of the high end stuff really does sound great -- but one of the guys in our NJ audio group told me that the "aesthetic" industrial design work and marketing costs to appeal to high end purchasers cost more than the components.
There are some reviewers whose flowery and effusive language is a warning sign.
There are some reviewers whose flowery and effusive language is a warning sign.
Certainly true is the general public impression that C & G are lesser qualifications, in some ways and some areas they are simple, others not simple at all.
HNC on the other hand arent internal to the college, but moderated by the college, and examined by the exam board.
But each qualification teaches different things, practical tasks, verses book learning and lab tutorial tasks, and coursework.
Speaking from experience of taking a C & G in later life, I can say that the C & G was almost as important as the degree, but took 5 days rather than 4 years.
This is following taking GCSEs at the usual time, failing A Levels; leaving home unexpectedly, then being a bum for a few years, before taking HNC, then Degree, then C & G.
Indeed!
All that bullcrap about "airiness"-"breathtaking soundstage"-"coherency"......
And many more of those fancy descriptions, gives me gas.
Get real already!
You can make a quite respectable RIAA phono preamp with just TWO or THREE transistors (per channel), along with some resistors and capacitors.
Put them in a shielded box, power them from a well thought out DC supply, and enjoy the records for decades.
It's been done for decades, satisfying millions of music lovers.
But no.... some bubblehead came along and had to insist on "the finest", disrupting and brainwashing the masses, luring people into "high end territory".
And along came the "esoteric" stuff... and the party never ends.
You fall down that rabbit hole, and you never leave..
LOL, on the radio as I type this, 106.1 FM 's playing "Hotel California"!
How appropriate!...... "You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave"
Well, sometimes it's like that. I proposed in another thread that ears are trainable - you can learn to hear something like "coherency" and once you know how it sounds; "got it" - you can never go back to in-coherent sound.
In effect all verbal description on sound is nonsense, fancy or not. Just as nobody can describe the color green to a person blind since birth, no word can really describe how something sounds. Same thing with the terms "quite respectable" you use, a nonsense, means nothing.
Remember how HEAVY those old tube type Tektronix scopes were. They invented scope carts for a reason. When they were common at hamfests they could often be found for $20 to $50, far less than $1 per pound.
I will admit to digging through this entire collection every year for several years and finding a few things that I did spend $1 per pound for. Most were relatively light solid state stuff like RF power amps, filters and combiners.
