Paul McGowan: If our definition of high-end is lifted from The Absolute Sound Magazine’s tenet: “the sound of unamplified instruments and/or voices as heard in a natural, acoustic performance space” then does it make sense that modern electronic or multitracked music can ever be considered high-end? I believe it can, but not before broadening our definition. […]
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Note: As with all trade writers, we are happy to publish but …. doing so does not mean we necessarily agree with their observations and conclusions. ====== We know that every element in the signal chain imparts a sonic fingerprint: bipolars, tubes, JEFETS, MOSFETS. And let’s not to forget film, foil, beeswax, ceramic, and electrolytic […]
Paul McGowan writes: Our upcoming new product called the NuWave Phone Converter, or NPC, is really two products in one box: an analog phono preamp and an ADC (Analog to Digital Converter). Recently on the PS Community Forums there’s been a lot of talk about which ADC is the best to go with – and […]
Note: As with all trade writers, we are happy to publish but …. doing so does not mean we necessarily agree with their observations and conclusions. ====== Paul McGowan writes: The secret to selecting the perfect amplifier chassis, location, topology, and wattage rating can be found inside the loudspeaker—not in the form of a hidden […]
ONE-MusicFinally! After nearly a year of work the ONE Music project is ready. And it turned out great. In fact, it’s is the single best demo disc I have in my library – bar none. If you haven’t heard of it, let me tell you. As many know there’s a very sad situation in music […]
Paul McGowan writes: We all love live music recordings and work hard to get our high-performance audio systems to sound like the real deal. But how can modern music recorded on multitrack machines and studios ever be considered high end or even close to live? Watch Now
The essence of the post is that perfection is only a point of view and only valid at the instant it happens and only if we accept the warts of the moment as part and parcel of that perfection. In other words, a perfect musical performance doesn’t mean the performer made no errors. It simply […]
Originally published October 2015 Paul McGowan writes: There’s perhaps nothing more important to the success of a hi fi system than the synergy of its parts. We’ve been discussing how the addition of some preamps help the sound of some DACs; a perfect example of the synergistic quality of parts within a system. The speakers […]
Paul McGowan High resolution audio is supposed to sound significantly better than standard 44.1 CDs, but does it? And if so, how much and why? Paul tackles this gnarly subject with a few insights and a way to perhaps understand it better. Watch Now
Paul McGowan writes: Most of us are familiar with the concept of mechanically isolating our equipment from vibrations; but do you know why it’s important? Microphonics. Certainly not the only reason, but clearly the most important. Microphonics is the tendency of something to act like a microphone; picking up and reproducing sounds it “hears”. The […]
Paul McGowan writes: Recently we covered the basics of ports in speaker boxes that would otherwise be called sealed boxes were it not for the hole and associated tube punched into the speaker box to extend the bass. Port calculations used to be a black art but today the science is well known and there […]
Paul McGowan writes: My revelation of the simple truth that we can never believe we are actually in the same room as live musicians, no matter how good the recording and the reproduction chains are, really shook up my world. I had assumed all along that we could get very close to building a believable […]
Paul McGowan: Perhaps one of the most difficult challenges faced by any design team is how to keep something simple yet meet or exceed people’s expectations. Apple’s products are famous more for what they did not include then what they did – but at the same time exceeding expectations. That’s a really hard thing to […]
This customer wants to know “when the f*ck” are you dinosaurs going to get off your collective duffs and design affordable products for real people? A great question for Paul to tackle and, tackle he does. Watch Now Paul McGowan
Paul McGowan writes: I am in the beginning of a new series that will give my readers an overview of starting fresh with a new sound room: the steps I am taking to build the room, the decisions being made and why. I mentioned that the Maggies I am leaving and the Infinity IRS I […]
Paul McGowan writes: I mentioned recently that we recognize what type of instrument is playing a note not so much by its harmonic content – which most of us believe is what distinguishes the sound of one instrument from another – but rather by its transient nature. I think this is a fascinating subject and […]
To some, winning is everything. It was that way with my mentor, and former business partner, Arnie Nudell. Arnie hated losing. Which is likely why he had so many wins, like building the biggest loudspeaker company in the world, Infinity. One of my fondest memories centers around a ping-pong table. Arnie and I both loved […]
It’s rumored that some speakers are designed to work better on tube amps while others are specific to solid-state amplifiers. What’s the truth behind this thought and why? Watch Now Paul McGowan
Directionality is a controversial topic. For those unfamiliar with it, the basic idea is that cables and fuses sound different depending on the direction they are used. Reverse an RCA cable’s direction or a speaker cable’s direction and the system will sound different. This is controversial because in most cases the cables or fuses are […]
Paul McGowan writes: I got a note from Harry Pearson and I am reprinting it in today’s post (with his kind permission). “Perhaps I should tell you how this very speaker system prompted the creation of The Absolute Sound. hint: it started with the two page up front review (not in the review section) of […]
Which is the better interconnect for home audio systems? Balanced XLR or unbalanced RCA? Paul voices his opinion and explains the differences between the two and their reason for existence. Have a question you’d like Paul to answer for you? Go to https://www.psaudio.com/ask-paul/ and post it. Watch Now Paul McGowan
Paul McGowan writes: I have been reading a couple of really interesting books, as of late, about music and how it works; perfect reading for a nerd engineering type. One of the more interesting aspects of the read is the mechanism our ear/brains use to recognize what instrument is playing the notes in music. We […]
Paul McGowan writes: I’ll continue with the story of the invention of an electronically scalable room but today wanted to tell you about something I’ve been listening to that has me running around the PS offices grabbing whomever I can to come and listen. One of my readers wrote: “For a real sense of a […]
I try and run each morning before work because it helps my energy levels stay up during the busy day. Sometimes it’s a real struggle to get moving and stick with it, but music helps keep my mind somewhere other than with the effort of the run. I tried using my phone and a pair […]