Horn loudspeakers are considered the most efficient loudspeakers but, they don’t have horns on their woofers. So, how does that work? How can the horn loaded midrange and tweeter ever match the non-horn loaded woofer? Watch Now
Paul McGowan
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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 …. When we bite into a juicy sweet apple we say it’s delicious. What a great, descriptive word. Delicious can apply to almost anything. A delicious read. A delicious idea. A delicious track of music. I remember the first time I heard the DirectStream Memory Player. The first track I listened to was our One […]
Originally published in 2012 In a recent post I mistakenly called the great David Hafler “Bob”. Oops, I think I had “Bob” on the brain. Sorry. But speaking of history, I think the stories of the people in any industry are perhaps more interesting to me than the actual products and technologies they design. I […]
Paul McGowan writes: I remember well my first encounter with the Infinity IRS speaker system – it was an experience filled with awe both at the size and presence of this massive system as well as the magnificence of the performance. That first event took place at Harry Pearson’s home in Sea Cliff New York […]
In the early 70s I was serving my time in the Army as a disc jockey in Munich Germany. It sounds like an idyllic situation and it would have been if voluntary. But there were perks. One of the best parts of my job was interviewing rock stars like Elton John, Frank Zappa, Mick Fleetwood, […]
Paul McGowan writes: In a post entitled An idea, I suggested that we could all benefit from a local high-end expert recommending, demonstrating and setting up equipment and services in our homes. Not too long ago, there were plenty of them – they were called high-end audio dealers. Today, there are sadly fewer each year. […]
Paul McGowan writes: “You won’t believe this Schiit” and so reads the front page of Schiit Audio’s website. Schiit Audio has my admiration for several reasons: the brilliance and audacity of the name, their products and the founders. I haven’t yet had the pleasure to try their Schiit, but people I respect highly have and […]
Paul McGowan writes: We know CDs can sound great but what about copying them to a hard drive, NAS, or streaming them online? The bits are identical, so they should sound identical. Right? Wrong. Find out why when Paul invites us into the world of digital audio. Watch Now
Paul McGowan: I am guessing it’s time to simply get to the meat of this fantasy of mine: that of electronically enlarging the size of the room. I am assuming we all understand the why of it, and now let’s go to the how of it. I want to state up front that I have […]
I promised in that post to let you in on a secret method to making sure your subwoofer integrates with your system well and it’s a two part solution: start low and start low. I know, but I couldn’t resist. The first start low is with the frequency. Even if you plan on crossing over […]
Paul McGowan writes: I use plenty of Audiophile terminology in my writings. Lots. From time to time readers have asked me to define those terms as they apply to what we hear and what they mean to me when I write them. Perhaps it’s time to start a bit of that and see where it […]
TOSLINK is a plastic optical cable that connects the output of a source device, like a CD or DVD player, to a decoding device like a DAC. Of all the connection schemes for digital audio, TOSLINK is the most reviled. It’s really gotten a bad rap. Indeed, it is typically the worst sounding of any […]
Paul McGowan David Pogue, one of my readers, suggested to me “the cheapest tweak” that he’s ever tried and I thought it might be interesting, this fine Sunday morning, to give this tweak a try if you’re looking for something to do. The tweak concerns extreme toe in of the loudspeakers – toe in that’s […]
Paul McGowan writes: John Atkinson, editor of Stereophile magazine, made an observation that has me puzzled. Years ago he measured a live performance at London’s Festival Hall to see what actual dynamic range of an orchestra might be. The results were published in the October 1981 issue of Hi-Fi News. He found that the quietest […]
Paul McGowan writes …. It is said that subwoofers are double-edged swords, helping and harming the music in our systems. Paul gets down to the truth of the matter in this short video. Watch Now
Paul McGowan: Vinyl personalities depend on the pressing, the number of times its been played, the environment, the particulars of the stylus plying the grooves of the record and any number of unique circumstances of play and usage. The individual personalities of vinyl add a unique dimension to this analog medium – but the personality […]
Paul McGowan: I figure there’s perhaps 100,000 Audiophiles in the world. 700 or so of them read this daily post I write. I often wonder if it makes sense to write something that most people will not read. I guess it’s the same basic question philosophers have been asking for centuries: if a tree falls […]
My thanks to Wyn Tathem of Simply Hi Fi in Australia for sending me the great photo of a true Sub Woofer pair which I’ll include at the end of this email for those of you reading strictly by email. Yesterday I suggested using a Y connector at the amplifier inputs if you were […]
Paul McGowan writes: A couple of readers have asked a good question. ”A digital recording of a live event doesn’t always sound as good as an analog recording of the same, yet you say a digital copy of that analog recording ALWAYS sounds identical. How can that be?” This is a really interesting area and […]
Originally published in 2015 Paul McGowan: Super Audio Compact Disc, better known as SACD, is the Blu-Ray based optical medium that Sony developed as a next generation storage mechanism to the original Compact Disc. Instead of PCM (Pulse Code Modulation) as the format, like that of CD’s and most high resolution audio today, SACDs use […]
Paul McGowan writes …. The problem with rabbit holes is they are easy to go deep before you realize it’s the wrong one. I went down several in the design of the amplifier line that eventually became the BHK, as well as building the first Power Plant two decades ago. My first idea to […]
Paul McGowan: We all love to wrap thoughts and conclusions in blankets. It’s our brain’s way of categorizing complex data into chunks that can be more easily managed. But there’s often a downside to this. It can hold us back from experiencing that which is new to us. Silver is always bright, copper is always […]
Paul McGowan writes: I smiled when one of the posters on our Community Forums quoted another company’s slogan “no cable is better than any cable” explaining how their wireless approach is superior to a hard wired ethernet connection. I smiled because they lifted one of our long term slogans “there’s no preamp like no preamp”. […]