Hello Neil. Can you suggest a practical, intelligent and understandable explanation of the pros and cons of biwiring please? Thanks. AK Happy to help you Mr.K. I sniffed about a bit and below, written by Paul McGowan is the best I have found so far. Just when you thought I had abandoned everything high-end and […]
People / Paul McGowan > guru
Found 633 results
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. […]
How does PS Audio deal with equipment sonic signatures? Do we purposefully use tubes and transistors to tailor the sound to some criteria?
We perceive sound with our ears. We listen with our minds. What’s interesting about this observation is that no two people hear or listen in the same way yet we can each agree an oboe is an oboe, a guitar a guitar, Beethoven’s 5th rather than another symphony. Our senses may be similar in function but […]
Electrostats are great speakers but unforgiving at the same time. Any little misstep in recordings can sound awful on these razor sharp speakers. The good news is when they’re playing well-recorded music they are hard to beat. But badly recorded music, even a little bad… Watch Now Paul McGowan
Paul McGowan writes: I’ll get back to analog output stages soon enough but I got waylaid on our Community Forums area by an article posted by one of our Community Leaders, Gordon. The article is about how the ear works and, if you’re interested, you can read it here. I find all this interesting because […]
Paul McGowan writes: When the subject of polite conversation eventually turns to exposing the fact I am an audiophile I get a number of interesting changes in body language. Everything from an eyebrow raise, to a questioning look, to a head shake, as the notion that I am someone not only off the beaten path […]
We love our older gear, the ones with the big VU meters, the cool knobs and audio connectors we’ve held onto for so long. When’s the best time to consider moving it on, repairing it, restoring it, or just going with new kit? Watch Now Paul McGowan
Paul McGowan writes: Many years ago and Arnie Nudell and I were running Genesis Technologies, a high-end loudspeaker company based here in Colorado. We had arrived at HP’s and setup a new pair of loudspeakers we wanted him to review. All Genesis high-end loudspeakers had built in subwoofers, a trait started by Arnie while at […]
How does one measure the differences between amplifiers when they clearly sound different? The first and simplest measurements are frequency response and noise levels: frequency response shows us that everything we put in makes it through to the output and noise levels are an obvious thing to measure so we don’t have hiss. Fancier measurements […]
Ever wonder about the advantages and disadvantages of horn load speakers? Here’s your chance to learn all you need to know. Watch Now Paul McGowan
Paul McGowan writes: TAS reviewer Michael Fremer has an extraordinary music system—the best vinyl setup I’ve ever heard. And it makes sense that he does. Mike’s spent a lifetime learning about vinyl audio reproduction and hand selected the best equipment in the world. His digital setup played through that same setup doesn’t quite match my […]
What is the significance of the folding transmission line in a loudspeaker? My guess is that not many of you have heard of a folding transmission line in a loudspeaker, much less ever heard one working. The late Bud Fried, from Fried Audio (pronounced “freed” as opposed to what one might do with eggs), was […]
In a post covering the invention of the vacuum tube and its principals of operation we learned that small crystals were used as the basis for radio receivers and that inventor Lee De Forest came up with an alternative to the crystals, the triode tube which others later turned into the triode vacuum tube. This […]
Paul McGowan writes: When I sit in the sound room for critical listening of course I always grab the “hot seat” because certainly in my system, that’s the place where the best imaging and tonal balance take place – and not just by a little bit – it’s seriously better than any other seat in […]
Paul McGowan writes: We’re moving into a series on power amplifier headroom for a couple of reasons: first I think most people really don’t understand just how much power is enough and secondly, we’re introducing a new power amplifier this summer that’s of a power level high enough to raise some eyebrows. I want to […]
How different are the reproduction systems of musicians and studios versus those from high-end audio systems and audiophiles? Watch Now
Paul McGowan ….. “Dear Paul. After months of your blogs, I am finally confused. You say that the sound of a 44.1K 16 bit cd copy of a vinyl record is indistinguishable from the vinyl record. Yet, in my experience, the sound of a superbly recorded vinyl record has greater ambience, depth etc. than a […]
Paul McGowan writes: My favorite loudspeaker box for bass is a sealed one; not being a fan of ports, passive radiators and transmission lines as we covered over the last few days. A sealed box simply means that the loudspeaker driver is trapped in a box with no air vents or holes in it at […]
MQA has everyone talking but what exactly is it? What’s its goals and how does it sound? Some suggest it’s the devil incarnate while others believe it’s a gift from heaven. What’s the truth? Watch Now Paul McGowan
Paul McGowan: We’ve probably beat this topic of being an Audiophile to death. The discussion sparked a few ideas about how we might get together in service of ourselves. There’s advantage and power in a group, certainly a self serving one. More to follow someday. But today is Thanksgiving. That time of year when we […]
Paul McGowan ….. A recent’s post on subwoofer placement certainly got some disagreement from folks. So, let me start off by saying if something you’re doing works, then that’s great! Secondly, let me suggest that while my manner of speaking and writing is one of absolutes (sorry, others are driven crazy by this as well) […]
Paul McGowan ….. I tried explaining the organization of my music library to our chief engineer. He has a very logical structured mind. There is little obvious logic and structure to my library. This was going to be a difficult task. I’ll give you a little background as to why I manage the library perhaps […]
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