The secret to getting a perfect copy of an analog recording is found in the converter that takes in the analog and spits out the digital. This converter is called an Analog to Digital Converter, or ADC, and is the exact opposite of what you’re no doubt familiar with a DAC or Digital to Analog […]
Paul McGowan
Found 619 results
Paul McGowan: In the early days of the magazine TAS (The Absolute Sound) there were, as there are today, many great writers. One of the most outspoken and, coincidently, one of my favorites was AGB. Go back and look through your copies of the 80′s and 90′s editions and you’ll see many a great article […]
Originally published in 2015 Paul McGowan: No, this post isn’t about some lame track about ‘dat bass‘, but it is about ‘dat bass’. Over dinner last night with Infinity founder Arnie Nudell and PS Audio’s Bill Leebens, the discussion turned to bass. Better put, the lack of it in today’s speakers, something I constantly harp […]
Paul McGowan: When it comes to wire sizes, numbers are confusing. Take for example our power cords. Our lowest cost power cable is based on 12 gauge wire, the next up 10 gauge, then 8. And from these numbers you’d imagine the size of each power cord is getting smaller, corresponding to the smaller number, […]
Paul McGowan: The main listening room at PS Audio is approximately 16 feet wide by 35 feet long – not a huge room but not too small either. Left bare and with nothing more than just the loudspeakers and equipment to power them in place, the room is an OK venue for sound reproduction. Add […]
Writes Paul McGowan ….. One of my readers, Mark S, asks the question of why we manufacturers seem to work so hard at building kit that serves all music and all tastes equally well. I think it’s a good question and one worth thinking about. In most fields a “one size fits all” mentality […]
We perceive sound with our ears. We listen with our minds. What’s interesting about this observation is that no two people hear or listen in the same way yet we can each agree an oboe is an oboe, a guitar a guitar, Beethoven’s 5th rather than another symphony. Our senses may be similar in function but […]
Paul McGowan: We don’t typically listen to stereo standing up, so how important is the chair and its height in a high end audio setup? Paul tackles this interesting question with an answer that might surprise you. Watch Now
Equalizers and High-End audio systems rarely are seen together because the EQ controls are assumed to muck up the sound. But what if you can’t afford a high-performance system? Is EQ alright to make up for less than great equipment? Watch Now
Paul McGowan writes: Rooms and speakers go together but not always for the best. Sometimes we’re stuck with a problematic room and there’s not much we think we can do. Paul to the rescue. Here’s advice how to think about and fix room problems and speakers. Watch Now
Paul McGowan: I lost 10 pounds! Relevant if you weigh 100 pounds, not so much if you weigh 300. Numbers employed to help me make a purchasing decision have little meaning; yet they are used over and over again. I remember the Japanese receiver onslaught in the 19870′s. Great specs, low cost, a lifeboat in […]
Marketing a product is all about telling a story. The story tells the customer what the product’s about, why he might need it and how it relates to the customer. The story might focus on the company that makes the product or the product itself but in the end, the idea is to engage the […]
Paul McGowan: Being on the front lines as a manufacturer gives me an interesting perspective most of you reading these posts don’t have. One of the continuing themes I see, from this bird’s eye view, is the tendency to blame the new guy: regardless of any facts to the contrary. If we add a new […]
Paul McGowan: One of our readers asked why on earth I would run the PerfectWave Power Amplifier you see in our new music room on a P10 Power Plant – and not go straight into the wall. After all, every time you place something between the power amp and the wall – the source of […]
Paul McGowan writes: I was showing Carl, one of our sales reps, our sound room and talking about the prospect of increasing the availability of the in-home demo. I suggested I have always loved the idea of people taking equipment home and trying it out – we used to have a slogan “your living room […]
There’s certainly a great deal of debate whether or not turntable setup is an art involving both measurement and listening. There are those that will claim they can set up a table without ever listening to it, that their techniques and tools are so advanced as to be infallible. And, of course, the opposite opinions. […]
Paul McGowan writes …. Terri and I chose to live in the safety and quiet of Boulder, while my son Scott and his wife Teresa chose the much livelier city of Denver. They get the nightlife in trade for tolerating the city’s chaos, something Terri and I have less interest in. All our choices come […]
Paul McGowan writes: You read the spec sheets of your new speaker. Flat to 17Hz! Brilliant. You wonder how an 8″ driver with a port can do something like that, but then, engineers are magicians. You fire the system up and there’s no low bass. The pipe organ rattles nothing, the notes of keyboards and […]
Paul McGowan: One of my readers commented that “it sure is easier to just put a record on the turntable and play it” in response to trying to understand the complexity of sending music out of a computer. Well, sure it is – just as it’s even easier to put a CD into a CD […]
Paul McGowan writes: A good friend of mine popped over to hear the big speakers in Music Room One but the woofer system has gone fritz and I have it torn apart to try and fix (sigh). As an aside, my director of engineering watched me struggling to figure out what’s wrong – saw my […]
What is a two and a half way system where there are two or more identical drivers on the speaker? How do they connect and why multiple drivers? Watch Now
Paul McGowan writes …. This subject’s bound to piss off or delight people so Paul just jumps into the thick of it with both feet. Shun Mooks? Tweaks? Magic audio potions? What’s his feelings on the subject and are any in Music Room One? Watch Now
Paul McGowan: One of the basic elements in an Analog to Digital Converter is called a Sample and Hold Circuit. Like the name implies, this circuit takes a sample of the incoming AC, holds that sample steady until the conversion circuit has time to turn the sample into a number (a word). It’s really quite […]
Paul McGowan: “I am sure you make great sounding products but they’d be wasted on me. I could never appreciate a system at your level!” How many times have I heard that from a neighbor, the UPS man, a vendor come to visit with us at PS Audio? Almost always. What’s interesting is that 100% […]