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 […]
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Paul McGowan: “Great distortions annoy; lesser distortions fatigue.” Great quote from one of our readers and it’s quite appropriate as we start looking at Listener Fatigue. I didn’t want to just examine the nature of fatigue, however, I wanted to steer the discussion into something I actually know about: design. How does design influence listener […]
Paul McGowan 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 sound would be […]
The d’appalito designs are unique in speaker topology and often popular amongst designers. Why do they exist, what do they accomplish, and how do they work? Watch Now Paul McGowan EDITORIAL NOTE: The opinions expressed in the above post do not necessarily reflect those of our editorial team – just in case you wondered. Neil […]
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: Thanks to Herb Reichert from Stereophile for this great photo of the PS Audio room at the Rocky Mountain Audio Fest, better known simply as RMAF. The room was packed all three days and we had a blast saying hello to the community. Coolest of all were the 27-year-new loudspeakers we ‘introduced’ […]
Paul McGowan writes: I’ve been thinking recently about our discussions on tone controls a few weeks ago. Initially I objected when a commenter suggested we could use tone controls selectively to improve recordings. That seemed to violate the purity of the recording. After all, isn’t the goal to get as close to what the […]
Forty-something years ago we believed with all our hearts that simple was better. That a single potentiometer in the signal path was the cleanest, purest, best sounding preamplifier anyone could build. Today, we’ve come to understand it was close, yet no cigar. Rarely are things as simple as we would like them to be. We’re happiest […]
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: 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 amp […]
Paul McGowan writes: Perhaps the most expensive option a designer has to control the gain is called a stepped attenuator. These devices can range from the reasonably simple to the ultra exotic and expensive. Cello’s 59 step platinum attenuator as well as Ayre’s 66 stepped device are exotic, expensive hand built beauties that exemplify […]
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 […]
We judge our stereo system’s performance by a long list of criteria. There’s tonal balance, imaging, dynamics (both micro and macro), soundstaging, top end, bottom end, midrange bloom, noise levels, and of course pacing and rhythm. When I was first got involved in high-end audio no one spoke of pacing and rhythm as a measure of quality, […]
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 […]
I remember the first time I became aware of what we call Listener Fatigue. It was many years ago when there was only turntables, vinyl and most people listened to nothing but tube electronics; solid state was just coming onto the hi fi scene and we are part of that pioneering effort. I know I’ve […]
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: 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: There are just too many. I have lots of them especially when it comes to new products and new directions for our industry – and I am sure many of you reading this post have them as well. They are like an itch that cannot be scratched. Perhaps the most difficult lesson […]
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 […]
In 1972 Elton John and Bernie Taupin released the song Rocket Man on John’s 1972 album Honky Château. The track became a hit single, rising to No. 2 in the UK and No. 6 in the US. The world premiere for Rocket Man was played on Armed Forces Network on my radio program called Underground. I […]
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: You are walking down the street perfectly happy after a good lunch or so, when suddenly from nowhere you hear music. It could be a sound two blocks away, poor acoustics, noisy background etc. Maybe it’s a street musician, but the thing is that your brain can detect this as live music […]
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 […]
Our speakers are typically either 8Ω or 4Ω but can that be changed? The problem as described to Paul is connecting up different impedance speakers to the same amplifier. Watch Now Paul McGowan EDITORIAL NOTE: The opinions expressed in the above post do not necessarily reflect those of our editorial team – just in case […]