Thanks for elucidating.
I need a thicker bottom end, so what material do you suggest I balance on top of my amplifier's transformer?
P.S. It's a valve amp, if that's relevant.
I need a thicker bottom end, so what material do you suggest I balance on top of my amplifier's transformer?
P.S. It's a valve amp, if that's relevant.
Useless reply, because it refers to something which has ALREADY been proved wrong, or irrelevant, or silly, countless times.
IF it were right or relevant, there would be countless studies or at least a few peer reviewed papers about "Influence of nearby trasformers on distortion/linearity/frequency response/noise/interference/you-name-it"
Or even simpler: there would exist amplifiers with a second transformer sitting on top or the original PT ... to improve sound.
Hey, they would BRAG about it.
As in:
"XYZ amplifier sounds BETTER than others, BECAUSE it has an unconnected second PT on top of the working one" 🤣
How´s that for advertising?
Do you notice how SILLY that sounds?
Mmmmhhh, maybe you don´t.
By your "reasoning" I can claim:
- "I sprinkled pepper on top of my vinyl records and now they sound better"
- "Oh, nonsense"
- "Have-you-TRIED-it? 🤣
A piece of ebony tonewood works wonders to give a sense of more energy in the bottom end and thicker midrange.
Adding weight using a soft metal or alloy, such as copper. As a first test, you can try a spool of 60/40 solder. Lead kind of gives a sense of thicker midbass and a sense of smearing.
Dampening agressive sounding materials in your system, like aluminum heatsinks and PCBs using sticky substances, such as waxes will decrease acoustical ringing further and give a perception of thicker bottom end.
Adding weight using a soft metal or alloy, such as copper. As a first test, you can try a spool of 60/40 solder. Lead kind of gives a sense of thicker midbass and a sense of smearing.
Dampening agressive sounding materials in your system, like aluminum heatsinks and PCBs using sticky substances, such as waxes will decrease acoustical ringing further and give a perception of thicker bottom end.
Wow, 50AE, you're really into this!
I presume your findings can only be termed as subjective?
Sure, I kept them subjective. Although I see no reason they cannot be measured, even by making different recordings using a microphone.
But there's a problem. Everyone in the high-end audio domain has his/her own understanding of true sound, where I think it is more appropriate to call it "favorite" sound. So even if there are measurements, they will be higly relative to taste, preferences and system.
I reached a point where the material analogy of thinking for an audio system gives me at least 90% predictability of how a device will sound and makes complete sense of explanation of everything under the etiquette of "snake oil". like cables, fuses, plugs and tuning discs.
But there's a problem. Everyone in the high-end audio domain has his/her own understanding of true sound, where I think it is more appropriate to call it "favorite" sound. So even if there are measurements, they will be higly relative to taste, preferences and system.
I reached a point where the material analogy of thinking for an audio system gives me at least 90% predictability of how a device will sound and makes complete sense of explanation of everything under the etiquette of "snake oil". like cables, fuses, plugs and tuning discs.
By your way of thinking, a solid wood amplifier chassis would transfer desirable tonal qualities to the sound.
Plus it looks good! 😎
Even better if you start applying these principles to solid state amplifiers.
If you dig into this deeper, you may find out a class D amp can sound as a class A SET with the correct weight and distribution of materials.
One reason people love class A tube sound is the inevitable weight of copper and iron the construction has. Now compare this weight to a generic class D board powered with a SMPS.
Different sound in tubes comes from their mechanical construction too. Try connecting unpowered tubes to chassis and ground using crocodile clips.
That's why I'm keeping a stash of burnt tubes. But their vacuum is important to be intact. A broken tube loses its charm.
If you dig into this deeper, you may find out a class D amp can sound as a class A SET with the correct weight and distribution of materials.
One reason people love class A tube sound is the inevitable weight of copper and iron the construction has. Now compare this weight to a generic class D board powered with a SMPS.
Different sound in tubes comes from their mechanical construction too. Try connecting unpowered tubes to chassis and ground using crocodile clips.
That's why I'm keeping a stash of burnt tubes. But their vacuum is important to be intact. A broken tube loses its charm.
I can see that adding extra mass can dampen sympathetic mechanical vibrations in sensitive electronic components, e.g., thermionic valves.
I'm not quite sure how you are connecting up those unpowered tubes though! 🤔
I'm not quite sure how you are connecting up those unpowered tubes though! 🤔
I've found sound files which can be listened to in order to judge whether adding mass to a saxophone changes or improves its sound!
https://tamingthesaxophone.com/saxophone/technical/adding-mass
A similar experiment should be possible in relation to Rick's transformer scenario.
https://tamingthesaxophone.com/saxophone/technical/adding-mass
A similar experiment should be possible in relation to Rick's transformer scenario.
Attachments
You can use an unpowered tube connected via a wire to use for acoustic influence. I do this with a crocodile clip wire. You can use this trick to listen to your tube's tone, instead of having to build an amplifier with it. Clipping it to one of your driver's terminals and/or crossover also works if you need some tube tone to your speakers.
Which electrode sounds better? Triodes, pentodes? Diodes or pehaps an exode? And a magnetron? And a CRT?
My personal preference goes to tubes with a mesh construction inside and there are some radio, non audio tubes quite good for that. I also liked some old mesh VR tubes.
I´ll listen to my next record while using solid wood underwear, I BET it will sound much better.
Uncomfortable?
Maybe, a little .... but SOUND justifies it.
I wear bamboo socks (but no underwear) while listening to my bamboo saxophone music. 😎
Bamboo is actually a member of the grass family, but like wood it has a high strength-to-weight ratio.
You can't prove a negative, so if that's what you're expecting me to do you'll be disappointed.
I can't think of a single theory that would support the claim that adding an unconnected transformer atop a connected one would result in any changes to the system, except possibly microphonics as noted earlier. Nobody has put forth any such theory either. All we have is "so-and-so on the internet said there was a difference". Sorry. I won't accept that as evidence. I will accept it as the opinion of that one person. But you know what they say about opinions... Everybody's got one. Some have more than one.
I think the missing piece is found within the field of psychology, in particular within cognitive psychology and social psychology.
Actually, we get those when exceptional marketing folks work with half-decent engineers.
Tom
Yes. I tried it. Couldn't tell any difference.
- Must be because you have bad hearing because I clearly heard a difference. It was night and day. The peppered record sounded so much darker and spicier. Had vastly more PRaT, SLAM, KaPLuNK (or whatever other meaningless term).
Tom