In the early 70′s Stan (The “S” in PS) and I only made phono preamplifiers. They had no controls, just a turntable input and a set of RCA outputs. Designed to go into the auxiliary inputs of the user’s preamplifier. But that was never how we used it. It was impossible for us to design […]
Month: October 2021
Found 143 results
Our knee-jerk reaction to pro vs. home is that the former is better than the latter. After all, the pros make their living using equipment and we amateurs don’t. Ergo, a pro drill must be better than a Black and Decker, a chef’s knife superior to a Popiel offering. Of course, not all pro gear […]
What do you all think of Made in Japan Onkyo, Sony (non ES) and Yamaha CD Changers from 1987-1993 sound and build quality wise? How would they compare to a new Onkyo DX-C390? I just bought a new Onkyo DX-C3Onkyoill be delivered soon) and with the lack of CD changers available in the new and […]
Today I’d like to finish up on SMPS (switch mode power supplies) and how they work in a power amp as well as why we don’t want them in digital source equipment. I’ve detailed how much better a SMPS is from the aspect of DC; we get almost no ripple, it’s clean and without […]
Paul McGowan Everyone one of us has them. Even if they’re the small and sitting atop your head. Without speakers, everything else is useless for making sound. But I suppose one could make the same argument about sources or AC power. With nothing to pass through loudspeakers, or clean AC to power them, speakers would be […]
Paul McGowan writes: Just for grins I pulled out a 30 year old preamplifier from PS Audio and gave it a listen. I was stunned at just how good it sounded. At first I was depressed because it immediately said to me that we can’t have made much progress over the last three decades. But […]
From our 1998 archives:
Since I got back into hifi this time last year I’ve been having a good time piecing various systems together and in particular trying out all sorts of speakers. I’ve bought many sets now when they’ve cropped up ie Castle, Celestion, Ruark, Royd B@W, Naim and many others, some have been a great surprise and […]
Reader Mark Fisher writes: “those who have worked on the problem longest and are most familiar with it are often those stuck in the deepest most inescapable ruts of all they’ve dug for themselves over the better part of a lifetime. They’re the experts.” Now there’s something all of us can not only relate to […]
Paul McGowan writes: In a previous post The thing about skeptics I asked you to play along with my thought game. If you are in a perfectly quiet space in your home or work, close your eyes and try and visualize the size of the room. Can you do it? Can you get a sense […]
“As good pairs seem to go for £1000, my question is how would they stack up against other speakers in the same price bracket old or new? Also I seem to remember reading somewhere that due to their ruthless accuracy they exposed weakness in early Naim amplification, and were not a good partner…fair”
FYI: A thread – from a while back – that some might find contains interesting observations, advice and so on. Certainly worth dipping in and out of if you have only a few minutes to spare. Neil / editor in chief –//– I have, for near on 20 years, been the very proud owner of […]
From our image vault and so is FYI only because ….. we don’t have this for sale.
Vacuum tubes are the original amplification devices. How do they stack up against modern solid-state transistors, especially in audio systems? Paul gives us the real scoop. Watch Now
OVERVIEW: This tuner is fully manual, FM-only, and is a UK-built top-flight performer (Linx reportedly reworked the Magnum Dynalab design to their own custom spec). Please note that although the Theta will work and sound ok with a ribbon aerial, in order to hear the quality of this tuner properly, you are best by far […]
Paul McGowan: Your watch should be accurate. So too your alarm clock. And let’s not forget how important it is for the country’s GPS system to be accurate, for without accuracy, our machines that tell us where we are and where we’re going will lead us astray. But how important is accuracy in your digital […]
