Month: June 2017

Paul McGowan writes: Our options have pretty much always involved creating safe havens for the equipment that will benefit from it. Safe havens are isolated areas of power that we build using either a filter or a regenerator like a Power Plant.  But what about the whole house?  Would it be possible to create a […]

Recently we started our series on Harvesters and how they came into existence: first as an idea and a challenge, second as a solution.  I’ve put together a short little video that explains the Harvesters and if you have a chance to view it, I’d love to know what you think.  Cecil B. Demille I […]

They say ….. The anti-vibration platform was designed chiefly for turntables. However, owing to its unusual properties, it is also readily used with CD/SACD players, amplifiers, digital to analogue converters, speakers and other audio devices. It allows one to isolate the audio device from vibrations coming from the base, which brings about significant changes to […]

MORE EDITORIAL NOTE: The opinions expressed in the above post do not necessarily reflect those of our editorial team – just in case you wondered. Neil McCauley  

                HiFi Critic write ….. Listening tests reveal significant sound quality differences between various digital music storage technologies. Article By Andrew Harrison and Stephen N. Harris. Press ‘play’ on the remote control, and the chosen music selection sounds out into the room, sweet and clear. However, instead of […]

They say ….. Automatic Room Correction is Finally Reality! Audio professionals and home theatre enthusiasts have know it for a good while: poor room acoustics can spoil otherwise perfect sound reproduction. Perhaps the most significant challenge is how to deal with standing waves (also known as room ‘modes’) which appear at low frequencies in every […]

From tmraudio.com EDITORIAL NOTE: The opinions expressed in the above post do not necessarily reflect those of our editorial team – just in case you wondered. Neil McCauley  

Ok, my system isn’t approaching the level of most on here, but it’s a fairly respectable setup with some decent components. My old speakers were well out of their depth and masked a great deal of my systems potential. Now my new speakers (albeit in temporary enclosures) are in the system I have found a […]

EDITORIAL NOTE: The opinions expressed in the above post do not necessarily reflect those of our editorial team – just in case you wondered. Neil McCauley  

Paul McGowan writes:  One of the biggest myths I routinely encounter in high end audio is what I call the Bass Myth; “my speakers go to 30Hz and below and I don’t need a subwoofer”.  I have travelled the world over and rarely ever do I hear proper bass. The number of speakers that can […]

Paul McGowan: Noise Harvesters were launched some years ago and were very popular amongst the high-end crowd.  Many are still used today and we get continual requests to bring the product back – which we have. I thought it might be interesting to do a short little series on how the product developed – describing […]

Paul McGowan writes: I think the answer is complicated but if we boil it down to two simple measurements it becomes easier to answer: perfection level and expectation level. The perfection level measurement is, of course, the most difficult because there is nothing perfect ever made.  So one must then set a reference level of […]

Details HERE EDITORIAL NOTE: The opinions expressed in the above post do not necessarily reflect those of our editorial team – just in case you wondered. Neil McCauley  

Paul McGowan:  Recently I promised we’d jump into Class D amps and how they work – but before going there I wanted to take a short detour – one that a few of you have been on my case to get out in the open for a while: direct coupling. I really hesitate to write […]

Paul McGowan: My little riff on power amplifiers and how I could tell I had a winner really sparked off a lot of comments and questions of where to buy or when it’s going to be available. One of you even scolded me about being a tease without offering anything in return.  Let me just […]

Paul McGowan:  A recent post covered output transformers on tube power amplifiers and why they were needed.  It also covered the fact that IMHO transformers are the last thing I would add to the output stage of a solid state power amplifier because output transformers like this contribute so much to the sound quality of […]

Paul McGowan writes: If I walk into a restaurant and open the menu to be faced with 100 different choices: Italian, American, a little bit of this and a little bit of that I have learned it’s time to run and find another.  In my experience the more choices on a menu the more mediocre […]

Paul McGowan writes: Reviewer Eric Neff wrote a bold comment in his recent review of the BHK 250 in HiFi Plus Magazine. As audiophiles, we sometimes fall into the ‘price equals performance’ trap. We fear being the emperor with no clothes when our friends ask how much we paid and it was, gasp! LESS than […]

HiFi World writes ….. An increasing number of people are using network attached storage devices to handle their collection of digital music files. After all. what’s not to like? One small box can contain a veritable living room’s worth of CDs, ripped LPs or high-resolution down- loads – and when connected to your chosen streamer […]

Paul McGowan: If I had to think of the worst thing I might add to a power amplifier, an output transformer would be right up there – yet the vast majority of tube power amplifiers sport them. Tube amps interface their output stage with your loudspeakers through a matching transformer, not because it sounds better […]

Paul McGowan writes: I never connect my stereo equipment with single ended cables if I can avoid their use. Balanced cables always sound better. I am surprised this is still new information for many people, and not just newbies entering the field. Perhaps part of the reason is slow acceptance by manufacturers of audio equipment […]

OK Paul McGowan: In a recent post about amplifier damping we covered what it meant and what happens when a power amplifier loses control of the loudspeaker – you get differences in amplitude that are anything but accurate. There is another type of damping that I reminded of: cartridge damping.  Phono cartridges have a problem […]