We wouldn’t need laws if everyone did the right thing. Unfortunately, people justify all kinds of behavior that’s socially unacceptable: greed, selfishness, every-man-for-himself, self-aggrandizing at the expense of others. We make laws and rules to even the playing field—then those same people spend their days figuring out how to work around them. An endless circular battle that benefits […]
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If you have a combination of old and new equipment is it possible to mix and match for best performance and synergy? Or, should you stick with one manufacturer’s vision of what’s best? Watch Now
If you have a combination of old and new equipment is it possible to mix and match for best performance and synergy? Or, should you stick with one manufacturer’s vision of what’s best? Watch Now
Turn the preamp level all the way up and use the DAC for volume control or the opposite? Turns out it all depends on what kind of preamp you have and how much attention was paid to its controls. Watch Now
There’s a common misconception that bigger more powerful amplifiers play louder. Find out the truth behind this audio myth and why bigger amps are preferred over smaller ones. And it isn’t because they play louder. Watch Now
In a recent post I relayed the story of being banned from playing the kind of music I liked on the family stereo. Not to be deterred, I set out to build my own stereo system so I could close the door to my room and play whatever I wanted. I figured all I would […]
Paul McGowan writes: It sure is easy getting lulled into a routine and forgetting to think about those things that I know so well; but I seem to do it on a regular basis. Case in point, the difference in cables. I’ve spent literally years designing audio and power cables and trying to gain an […]
Paul McGowan writes: Back in “the day” a manufacturer would launch a new product to waiting Audiophiles and the first reviews of it would generally start to emerge perhaps 6 months later. In the meantime, many units were sold without benefit of other people’s opinions save those of the dealer. Now that dynamic is […]
Paul McGowan: Most of us think of the hot seat, sometimes better known as the Sweet Spot, as the center chair in front of our loudspeaker pair. And that would be correct. But as we begin this new year it’s instructive to open our thoughts to some new ideas. Why do we think it’s so […]
Paul McGowan writes: It’s not something attainable in a product – I have no desire to work on achieving it – it is a fool’s errand. I bring this to your attention because of all the kind notes people have been sending me about the new power amplifier and my quest to “perfect it”. I […]
Paul McGowan: Radio station engineer Jim Mussel invited me to his home to hear what I couldn’t at the station, so poor the Quadraflex monitors were. Jim assured me that there were better speakers, better electronics and “something I’ve never heard before” awaited my arrival at his home. We both lived in Santa Maria California, […]
Paul McGowan writes: I have gotten a lot of mail, as of late, regarding our stance on the DAC feeding the power amplifier directly. There are clearly two camps on this issue: those that believe less is more and those that believe more is better. I have always found myself in the camp of less […]
Paul McGowan: Not to be on a nostalgia kick here but a recent post about Direct to Disc recordings got a few of you to ask me why a Direct to Disc was so much more dynamic than a standard recording and the answer is simple: one less layer and vinyl has more dynamic range […]
Paul McGowan writes: There are two primary types of reflections in a loudspeaker based stereo system: those that are created from the loudspeakers and those captured on the recording. To get proper imaging in your system you don’t need both, as any good set of headphones would demonstrate, but since most of us have loudspeakers […]
Paul McGowan: In the January 2012 edition of TAS Robert Harley wrote a great article entitled the Price of Progress wherein he details the steady decline of recording quality after the late 1970′s. This really brings to light one of the conundrums Audiophiles face: play it like it is – warts and all – or […]
Paul McGowan: We’ve been discussing how to identify a ground loop. Now it’s time to fix what we’ve identified as a problem. But let me warn you of a couple of things: reread what I have written about identifying them (make sure it actually IS a ground loop), secondly, the cure can be dangerous if […]
Paul McGowan writes: My son Scott bought a really cool watch online for his girlfriend’s birthday. He took it to a watch repair shop to have the band adjusted and got scolded for buying online. “Shame on you”. This admonishment despite the fact the watch repair shop didn’t carry the brand bought and had no […]
Paul McGowan: Netflix has started making their own content in the same fashion that HBO and the other premium paid channels are. What’s interesting to me is that the big networks who used to own the audiences have fewer and fewer good shows and decreasing audiences while the paid channels have more and more good […]
Paul McGowan writes: Most of us have an idea how our ear works. We have an eardrum, which is a diaphragm or membrane, and sound pressure moves this membrane back and forth stimulating nerves and generating electrical signals the brain can recognize as sound. Our brains act as recorders storing the sounds we hear for […]
Paul McGowan writes: A fellow manufacturer dropped me a note recently in response to one of my posts regarding the declining acceptance of high-end audio in the home. He writes: “Audio-as-a-destination-activity is the enemy of the rest of the household. It takes both money and the listener away from the family. Home Theater is a […]
When we set our sights far in the future the world looks nice and rosy. Imagine that new pair of speakers gracing your living room, the new amplifier, the rebuilt room. According to Mark Twain imagining the future takes a combination of things. “Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind […]
Paul McGowan: I know this story of my first sale of a stereo product is taking a number of twists and turns and please forgive me, today’s will be even a bigger turn. Perhaps it will be the size of a U turn today. But in the end it all pans out and makes sense. […]
We hear the term “resolution” referred to a lot in high-end audio but what exactly does it mean? How can it be achieved? And is it even desirable? Watch Now Paul McGowan
Paul McGowan: I am often asked why power supplies make a difference in audio electronics. For, after all, it’s the power supply and it is not in the signal path. Being outside the signal path suggests that a well designed power supply should be sonically invisible, as if it were not even there, yet the […]