Paul McGowan Is it ethical to spend time at your local stereo dealer and then buy online at a lower price? This question is at the core of the situation dealers and customers find themselves in today and you might be surprised at Paul’s answer. Watch Now
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When audio signals pass through a capacitor they sound different depending on which kind of capacitor is in use. Why? And, for that matter, what is a capacitor and how does it work?
Setting up a subwoofer in a high-end system can be darned tricky. Is there an easy and quick way to get it right, first time, every time? You bet there is and leave it to Paul to explain how Watch Now
Paul McGowan writes: In an earlier post we talked about how most of us aspire to have a dedicated listening room but don’t have the real estate to build one. Instead, we have the shared living room to work with. Problem with this is the need for the loudspeakers to be placed 1/3 the way […]
From the archives: I am visiting the high-end show in Tokyo at the moment and last night, between demonstrations of the system, I was wandering the halls of the show when the strains of one of my all time favorite operas came drifting down the hall. La Boheme, as performed by Renata Tebaldi in 1951 […]
If you have a combination of old and new equipment is it possible to mix and match for best performance and synergy? Or, should you stick with one manufacturer’s vision of what’s best? Watch Now
Paul McGowan writes: In my post “Through and open window” I mentioned that if I am walking down the street and hear a piano through an open window I know immediately if that’s the sound of a real piano or a recorded one. Odd that we can do this even from affar and through a […]
Paul McGowan writes: We discussed the effects of depth of soundstage, characterized by some as “layered depth” to describe the spacing in the horizontal plane that we hear in our high end audio systems. I mentioned that there is yet another dimension to the depth aspect of our systems, that of height. The height of […]
When I peer into my camera’s ground glass I am intent on one thing. Sharp focus. When I check the clock for my 9:45 meeting I focus on the second hand and ignore the hour. I can tell you if I am late or early but not what time it is. When we narrow our […]
Last week was the AXPONA high-end audio show in Schaumburg, a suburb of Chicago. PS Audio was there as well as hundreds of other manufacturers. As always, I had my trusty video camera at the ready and produced a 17-minute video tour with interviews of manufacturers and views of the show and rooms. Here’s where […]
Paul McGowan writes: Ever notice how we all tend to gravitate towards the safe solution? It’s something I am certainly consistent with. We are more comfortable following Stereophile’s Recommended Component list (just to be safe), we keep our preamp’s balance control right in the middle (safer, in case we’re wrong), we use the recommended filter […]
Here we go again. Do silver cables sound different than copper? Sure they do, and that’s bound to stir up an entire new hornet’s nest. But, it needs to be said because it’s the truth. Watch Now Audio cables / buy / sell / info and … more
In the more than 40 years I have been building audio products my enthusiasm for what we do has never waned. In fact, quite the opposite. I wake up excited about each new day and another opportunity to spend time with our community and team at PS. I am one lucky guy. And sometimes I […]
We should be at the point in our subwoofer quest to kick back and enjoy our new found extra octave or two of bass – and what a great thing that is once you’re in tune with it. I wanted to touch briefly on matching the “speed” of the subwoofer with that of your main […]
Paul McGowan writes: We’ve been focusing on the designer’s choices when building a DAC or a preamp and one of my readers asked a great question: if even a single pot or stepped attenuator has a sonic signature that degrades the music, how is it then possible that the original recording chain can produce good […]
Have you ever wondered what recording studio engineers use for monitors? I’ll tell you – probably nothing you’d have in your home or system. For the most part they are anything but high-end. A few loudspeaker manufacturers proudly show us their products in the studios and mastering rooms of the world, but this is done […]
Paul McGowan writes: When it comes to implementing or even inventing new technology how does the High-End industry react? Are we pushed, pulled or dragged? It is different for each company. For example, pushing the latest technology is something PS Audio and a few other forward thinking companies do – we are in the minority. […]
Paul McGowan writes: The word passion has a number of definitions but the one I like the best comes from the Urban Dictionary: “Passion is when you put more energy into something than is required to do it. It is more than just enthusiasm or excitement, passion is ambition that is materialized into action to […]
Paul McGowan: It’s been said that CEDIA is where the growth area in consumer audio electronics is. As I wandered the halls yesterday, setup day, it struck me how little high-end audio plays any sort of role here. In every case, manufacturers boast “great sound, high resolution, music and video at the touch of a […]
In a comment on my posting about voicing high end electronics the question was asked “Is there only one ideal voicing?” Great question and here’s the entire quote. “And then it also depends on the venue and seat in the venue what is the sound you are looking for. I recall Gordon Holt’s review of […]
Paul McGowan writes: While enjoying a morning cup of coffee I was reading Art Dudley’s engaging article on his acquisition of an old pair of Altec Lansing loudspeakers in the May issue of Stereophile. In the latter half of the article he tries to tame the Altec horn of its tendency to ring when stimulated […]
Paul McGowan: My son wants a simple setup to go from one of the little $99 Apple Airport Express devices to a good sounding power amp to play music on a pair of bookshelf speakers he owns. I offered him one of our small power amps but he declined because it’s a full piece of […]
Sometimes my mouth runs faster than my common sense and caution, research and fact checking are sacrificed for the heat of the moment. Such was my proclamation that there is no such thing as a stepped staircase waveform at the output of a DAC. Instead, said I, there are a series of pulses that look […]
Paul McGowan writes: If you’ve managed to wade through this series of posts on tubes vs. transistors you’d know that while there are indeed fundamental differences between tubes and transistors that by themselves have a major impact on the sound of equipment using them, there is no single device that really does it all with […]