Paul McGowan writes: It was an active bass correction device that made sense – because instead of correcting the output of the speakers for bass problems in the room – it fixed the room itself and left the main speakers alone. Not sure whatever happend to it but it mirrors an idea I’ve had for […]
Paul McGowan
Found 541 results
Paul McGowan wrote a while back ….. I am heading out this morning to visit a reviewer who agreed to listen to the BHK monoblock amplifiers. It’s exciting and I like to be there when reviewers have a chance to listen; there are always questions best asked and answered in real time. And no, I […]
Paul McGowan writes: I thought today I’d touch on the term Palpability for a couple of reasons: I use it to describe certain aspects of what we hear in our stereo systems and more pertinent – I have just been exposed to a greater degree of it than ever before. I was going to title […]
Paul McGowan writes: Have you ever been leery of turning up the volume control too high because you don’t want to push the system too hard? I don’t mean in terms of volume level but stressing out the preamp by getting too close to its limits? If that’s happened to you, you’re not alone. It’s […]
Paul McGowan writes: The past few days we’ve been focusing on not setting boundaries but I think it is really more about where much of the innovation we see comes from. The fact is, most innovation comes from small scrappy little companies – not from big corporate giants. Take Apple for example – one of […]
Paul McGowan writes: I wrote that I had an out-of-the-box idea to share with you. This is just for fun and stimulation – and no, it is not a precursor to a new product. The idea revolves around the notion that it is wrong-headed to use digital room correction of the loudspeakers themselves (above 150Hz […]
Paul McGowan writes: Perhaps the single biggest reason to use a switch mode power supply (SMPS) on a power amplifier is that the output of a properly designed one is more like perfect DC than that of a conventional supply; and not just by a little bit. Conventional supplies switch back and fourth between plus […]
Paul McGowan …… AGB’s latest column has been uploaded and for those of you interested to see what the Audio Hitman has to say about EQ’ing your system and frequency response in general, go here to read the article. For the faint of heart, I recommend abstaining. As I worked through the setup of the […]
Paul McGowan writes: So, whatever happened to tone controls? You know, the bass and treble boost/cut controls that used to adorn just about every 1950 and 1960′s era preamplifier? They fell out of fashion in the 1970′s because purists didn’t want them. The analog audio path must be absolutely pure. They fell back into fashion […]
Paul McGowan writes: We’ve been spending a lot of time posting about the state of high-end retailers. I want to let this subject rest for a while and percolate through everyone’s minds. I will leave you with this thought and model. I hope I am not speaking out of school when I tell you that […]
Paul McGowan writes: I mentioned that the first step in setting any system up is to get to know your music well. This can serve you in many ways: including bringing your collection of music to an audio show to hear what it sounds like. This only really works if you’re intimately familiar with a […]
Paul McGowan writes: Of the two types of power supplies found on class D amps, linear or switch mode, the latter is taking over and the former is moving down in popularity. It’s a natural progression as combining a giant power transformer and capacitor bank supply with a small and lightweight power amplifier doesn’t make […]
Paul McGowan writes: Music is an emotional experience. Our emotions are centered in an ancient part of our brains called the Amygdala. My friend Seth refers to this as the “Lizard Brain”. Some music and some high-end systems give us an emotional experience so strong we remember it to this day; others never get past […]
Paul McGowan writes: Do you have a subwoofer or two in your system? You should. Unless your loudspeakers have a built in powered subwoofer, or you have added a sub, you aren’t getting the full musical experience the artists intended. I am not familiar with any standalone loudspeaker that is full range in your room […]
Paul McGowan writes: I think we all understand the importance of power supplies in audio equipment – as everything we listen to in our systems starts out as DC voltage in the first place. Power amps are particularly sensitive to power quality for reasons I’ve detailed in past posts – and of all power […]
Paul McGowan writes: David Pogue, one of my readers, suggested to me “the cheapest tweak” that he’s ever tried and I thought it might be interesting, this fine Sunday morning, to give this tweak a try if you’re looking for something to do. The tweak concerns extreme toe in of the loudspeakers – toe in […]
Paul McGowan writes: In my previous post Jittered, we used a water flow analogy to further our understanding of jitter and how to make it go away. You’ll remember that jitter is all about timing and making sure that the digital audio bits arrive on schedule without any slow downs or speed ups to their […]
Paul McGowan writes as follows: Perhaps the best audio experience you could have would be to drag your stereo system to the original concert hall where a particular recording was made, setup on the same stage and play the recording back. You would be sitting in your favorite seat in the concert hall and the […]
Paul McGowan writes: In our comments section of PS Tracks magazine I mentioned how we in the high-end got what we bargained for when we chose the lowest price over service and advice. I thought it would make a good post on its own. Dealers have always discounted. Even back in the days of famous […]
Paul McGowan writes: People don’t change, but circumstances do. It’s always interesting to me when I hear someone wring their hands and point out that people aren’t the way they used to be. They’ve changed. I think typical of what you might hear is something like this: They no longer appreciate good music. They’re perfectly […]
Forgive me for using the term “soul” because I don’t mean it in a disrespectful or religious manner – but for lack of a better term – I mean a life of its own. I think we all agree machines have personalities and they invoke feelings and emotions in us and for many they can […]
Paul McGowan …… Does the mere fact there are $100K plus turntables and $250K plus power amplifiers available as serious products, featured and reviewed by the magazines, hurt or help the high-end? Of course an argument can be made for both sides – mine would be it hurts the high-end. Why? Because it turns many […]
Paul McGowan writes: Just because you can’t measure something doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. Just because you observe something doesn’t mean you understand how to measure and repeat it. We get confused a lot between the observations we make, the measurements we use to try and quantify those observations and the conclusions we draw from […]
Paul McGowan writes: I am often asked what headphones I recommend and the answer for me is simple: I don’t. While I certainly recognize the popularity of headphones and appreciate what they can do, I am personally not a fan for several reasons: I miss the visceral feel of the music as well as […]