Gentlemen – what is this ‘thing’ called bi-wiring and will Elsdon Wonfor Audio be making speaker cables that use this tecnique? Thanks. Ron McQueen. {Colin} Dear Ron, bi-wiring is used to stop the reflection signal of one or more transducers affecting the movement or control of another. This can happen and it is caused by […]
AUDIO: DIY / Technical
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I’m thinking of getting a little T-Amp as a spare amp / for 3rd system use (I have a pair of Klipsch Heresys doing nothing at present – I could set them up in the ‘record shop’, I’ve also got a pair of JR149s, but I doubt a chip amp would drive them). Anyone got […]
Dear Colin, power supply question. How often do we have to turn off our equipment such as power amp, pre amp. cd player , power conditioner ……? Can we leave them on for days while listening on and off or do we have to turn them off after every session of listening? As a general […]
Dear Colin, step up transformer noise. I purchased an amp from Europe that needs 240v [ I am on north American voltage].. I bought a step up/step down transformer to equalize the voltage. it works, but the transformer produces noise through the speakers, even when the amp is turned off. the transformer I bought was […]
There have been quite a few questions lately regarding the safety (or otherwise) of driving 4 ohm speakers from amplifiers only rated to drive 8 ohm loads. Rather than just add to the mass of unsubstantiated conflicting opinions (e.g. “amplifier XXX is built like a tank, so it must be able to drive 4 ohm […]
I have always been told your loudspeaker does not need as many tube watts as transistor watts. Why? If the loudspeaker manufacturer says it takes 200 watts for power handling how many tube watts does it take? MORE
Hi Colin. Who if any are your audio designers heroes and why? Thanks. Nigel Beethoven (no jokes please) Hello Nigel. Heroes is a bad thing to have as it puts normal humans on a dais and yet they are human. But the gents and ladies in this complex industry that I put up with; the […]
Dear Colin, Zero autoformers; how to measure impedance please? I got a pair of Speltz zero autoformers recently but when I measure the total impedance, my multimeter sees only 0.4-0.6 ohm no matter what I do. It seems the multimeter could only read the DC resistance from the autoformer itself but not the total impedance […]
Seems to be a trend in termination plating toward Rhodium and I’m wondering why. Anyone give opinions on the sonic character of this plating? Take a look HERE
You might have heard of DSD audio, but what exactly is it? Here’s everything you need to know. In the last few years, digital audio has become a bit more complex than it used to be. You can listen to digital files in a wide variety of formats and we’ve written blog posts about these […]
Hi Guys, Roger Sanders of Sanders Sound Systems Ltd sells purpose made coaxial design speaker cables for Electrostatic speakers. They are made to be low inductance, low capacitance, and moderate impedance cables. As I cannot afford his $600 per pair asking price, does anyone know of any other cables (as cheap as possible) that fulfill […]
Hello Colin. From reading your very cogent and helpful answers to those questions here I appreciate that you take the design of power supplies very seriously. I’m writing here out of ignorance of the design process and indeed materials used but I wonder if it’s coming to the point where the next set of advances […]
Physical acoustics is the area of acoustics and physics that studies interactions of acoustic waves with a gaseous, liquid or solid medium on macro- and micro-levels. This relates to the interaction of sound with thermal waves in crystals (phonons), with light (photons), with electrons in metals and semiconductors (acousto-electric phenomena), with magnetic excitations in ferromagnetic […]
Every recording has the perfect volume level it needs to play at but often times when you reach that perfect level you get listener fatigue. Is that normal and right? Watch Now
Surely the radio aerial, with possibly a signal amplifier present for weaker signals, could be regarded as being the equivalent of vinyl’s cartridge and phono amp stages? If achieved then consequently, we may have more choice and availability of aerials and magazine reviews. Imagine going into a hi-fi shop to discuss an aerial/amp combination that […]
I bought a Raspberry Pi and a Hifiberry DAC because i loved the idea of a fully fledged component the size of a cigarette packet. I expected a long and painful configuration would be the premium i paid over £50, but my iPhone recognises it with the generic Open Elec O/S. I can now use […]
Dear Colin, If audiophile grade feet, power cords, and fuses can really improve sound quality, why don’t high end designers/manufacturers just incorporate these audiophile grade components at the time of build? Why sell an under-optimized item that can be easily improved upon by the owner or a modder? I guess you don’t do that at […]
If the source has an XLR output but the amp it feeds has only a coaxial RCA input can you use an XLR adaptor without compromising sound quality? Continues HEREhttps://www.psaudio.com/askpaul/can-you-use-an-xlr-connector-for-single-ended/
https://theartofsound.net/forum/showthread.php?64873-Short-USB-cable-and-long-interconnects-or-long-USB-and-short-interconnects
WHAT IT TELLS US Sensitivity is a measure of the magnitude of input signal need for the amplifier to produce full output, at maximum volume. This tells us what signal sources the amplifier can handle, and produce full output if required. But it also tells us where the volume control is likely to be set is […]
PAUL McGOWAN / PS AUDIO As we move forward building the new Octave Recording studio we’re learning a great deal from both Gus Skinas and J.I. Agnew. Most of you know Gus, the mastering engineer of some note (you name the artist and it’s likely Gus has mastered something of theirs), and Copper Magazine readers […]
Be fascinated HERE
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 […]