UPFRONT ADMISSION : COMPLETE NEWBIE ABOUT THOSE INSTRUMENTS.
Please omit conjectures which say "there will be no audible difference", and that this is a silly total waste of time and money.
??? WHAT DIFFERENCES HAPPEN IN WIRE ??? ---
A. With a run of wire from amp to crossovers WITHOUT BINDING POSTS . In other words, WIRE ONLY -- no binding posts between.
B. With a run of wire from amp to crossovers WITH BINDING POSTS -- adding junctions to a path for the music signal.
Tests that seem revelatory for what I want to discover :
1.) Simultaneous 15K and 13K sinewaves -- intermod levels and odd-order artifacts.
2.) Simultaneous 5K and 3K sinewaves -- intermod levels and odd-order artifacts.
3.) Squarewaves at 15K / 10K / 5K.
4.) Step and impulse response at 15K / 10K / 5K.
So, what company has a scope to determine these factors ?
Please omit conjectures which say "there will be no audible difference", and that this is a silly total waste of time and money.
??? WHAT DIFFERENCES HAPPEN IN WIRE ??? ---
A. With a run of wire from amp to crossovers WITHOUT BINDING POSTS . In other words, WIRE ONLY -- no binding posts between.
B. With a run of wire from amp to crossovers WITH BINDING POSTS -- adding junctions to a path for the music signal.
Tests that seem revelatory for what I want to discover :
1.) Simultaneous 15K and 13K sinewaves -- intermod levels and odd-order artifacts.
2.) Simultaneous 5K and 3K sinewaves -- intermod levels and odd-order artifacts.
3.) Squarewaves at 15K / 10K / 5K.
4.) Step and impulse response at 15K / 10K / 5K.
So, what company has a scope to determine these factors ?
The analysis of the results of what any Test and Measurment equitment can do, comes from the training of the user it self.
I would strongly suggest that you get a comfortable familiarity with metrology and instrumentation first. The pursuit of chimeras is an expensive and time-consuming activity, and without a great deal of experience and knowledge, one can easily believe that the chimera has been found without realizing that it was actually a stuffed Pooh Bear.
A meter can give you a number. A scope or spectrum analyser can gve you a trace. These are raw data. To turn them into information you need to understand what is happening, and allow for confusing issues. The smaller the effect you are looking for the (relatively) larger are the confusing issues. Those who have never tried it may be surprised how easy it is to 'measure' some artifact of the test equipment and then proclaim it as a new discovery. It always helps, of course, if this artifact (at least in a dim light) looks vaguely like the effect you hoped to see.
Herewith is lobbed a sincere "thank you" to all 4 respondents above. Yes, wise counsel to become familiar with metrology, and so forth. I will sign off this thread, but of course read and consider any more responses . . .
Have a merry You-Know-What, and here's hoping you've balanced naughtiness with niceness so as to get at least a few presents. Geez -- 2015 in scantly more than another week ? Father Time must have put his rickshaw in 5th gear . . .
Have a merry You-Know-What, and here's hoping you've balanced naughtiness with niceness so as to get at least a few presents. Geez -- 2015 in scantly more than another week ? Father Time must have put his rickshaw in 5th gear . . .
Actually you asked about the differences in binding posts and related to that differences in connections and/or contacts.
For the latter there is some work that has been done on switches or relay contacts. This probably does not apply to binding posts, since those (with a wire inserted or a spade lug) are not point contacts, and are under considerable pressure.
It's truthfully really tough to test or measure any of this, especially in light of the reasonably lousy conductivity of solder... and tin plated steel leads in various components... etc.
Even so, I've been in situations where if asked to tell the truth and nothing but the truth I would say that it certainly appeared that one particular brand of binding post (and not an expensive boutique brand either) appeared to be imparting a nasty and unsual spatial quality to the sound. Replacing them appeared to resolve the problem. I had been prepared to rip the amp apart looking for a parts placement error, and thus a non-linearity. This by no means is dispositive, merely anecdotal.
For the latter there is some work that has been done on switches or relay contacts. This probably does not apply to binding posts, since those (with a wire inserted or a spade lug) are not point contacts, and are under considerable pressure.
It's truthfully really tough to test or measure any of this, especially in light of the reasonably lousy conductivity of solder... and tin plated steel leads in various components... etc.
Even so, I've been in situations where if asked to tell the truth and nothing but the truth I would say that it certainly appeared that one particular brand of binding post (and not an expensive boutique brand either) appeared to be imparting a nasty and unsual spatial quality to the sound. Replacing them appeared to resolve the problem. I had been prepared to rip the amp apart looking for a parts placement error, and thus a non-linearity. This by no means is dispositive, merely anecdotal.
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I promised to sign off on this thread, but just letting the Scope Jockeys here know that the yummy APx555 (recommended as performing the stunts I have in mind) chimes in at a cool $28,300 list.
Buying one would mean that I don't eat for the next five years at least, so a thriftier alternative is mandatory .
Maybe this ham operator has something more reasonable gathering dust in his basement : EB5AGV's Test Equipment Collection
Notice that his motto is "A hobby all by itself". . .
Buying one would mean that I don't eat for the next five years at least, so a thriftier alternative is mandatory .
Maybe this ham operator has something more reasonable gathering dust in his basement : EB5AGV's Test Equipment Collection
Notice that his motto is "A hobby all by itself". . .
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