I am most comfortable in the company of engineers.

It’s more than just camaraderie. To non-engineering folk, our conversations might sound like a different language what with all the terminology bandied about. But more than terminology is the implied understanding of bigger concepts. Terms like -3dB, half power, slew rate, open loop, rise times, wave shapes, carry with them major implications. If our depth […]

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ICONS: The history of Finnish loudspeaker manufacturing cannot be written without the Gradient 1-series.

Don’t feel embarrassed if, when watching this loudspeaker, you think what you see is a design speaker. It certainly looks as if it were a design speaker, and your belief surely would be justified in view of the fact that the speaker ended up being an item in the MoMA (NY) permanent collection as well […]

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CONVERSATIONS WITH COLIN / STEP DOWN CONVERTERS: Do they degrade the sound?

  Dear Colin, I recently saw a 240v integrated amp from the UK and was wondering if it is ok to use with a Step Down Converter? What are the pros and cons of using a step down device? Does it affect the sound and am I in jeopardy of blowing the transformer or ruining […]

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A DC blocking capacitor is a heck of a lot simpler than a complex DC servo-eliminating circuit.

PAUL McGOWAN / PS AUDIO Conventional wisdom would have us believe best results are obtained via simple solutions. The simpler the solution the better and cleaner the outcome. I find simple solutions are often the most difficult to accept and inevitably the hardest to find. How many times have you gone round and round in […]

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