Reference

Tubes Do Something Special

Peter van Willenswaard Sep 26, 2000 First Published: Sep 26, 2000

Most people who now listen to tube amplifiers began with a transistor amp, and know from experience that a tube amp of a given measured power output sounds louder than its nominally identical transistorized equivalent. The unofficial consensus is that you need two to four times the transistor power to achieve the same loudness as you would using tubes. In other words, given the (subjectively) undistorted sound level a 25W (footnote 1) tube amplifier can provide, if you want the same loudness from solid-state technology you would have to replace it with at least a 50W transistor amp (footnote 2).

Reference Room Treatment Reviews

Room Tuning: ASC Tube Traps & the MATT Test

Brian Damkroger Feb 02, 2000 First Published: Feb 02, 2000

One of the challenges I faced in optimizing the performance of the Thiel">http://www.stereophile.com//loudspeakerreviews/216/">Thiel CS7.2 loudspeakers that I reviewed in February 2000 was controlling and tuning their interaction with my listening room. Intuition, experience, trial and error—all came into play, as did several of the procedures and calculations covered by Jonathan Scull in his "Fine Tunes" column.

Reference Features

Measuring Loudspeakers, Part Three

John Atkinson Jan 28, 1999 First Published: Jan 28, 1999

This series of articles is based on a paper presented at the 103rd Audio Engineering Society Convention, New York, September 1997. The preprint, "Loudspeakers: What Measurements Can Tell Us—And What They Can't Tell Us!," AES Preprint 4608, is available from the AES, 60 East 42nd Street, Room 2520, New York, NY 10165-0075. The AES internet site, www.aes.orghttp://www.aes.org">www.aes.org;, offers a secure transaction page for credit-card orders.

Reference Features

Measuring Loudspeakers, Part Two

John Atkinson Dec 14, 1998 First Published: Dec 14, 1998

This series of articles was initially written (in slightly different form), as a paper presented at the 103rd Audio Engineering Society Convention, New York, September 1997. The preprint, "Loudspeakers: What Measurements Can Tell Us—And What They Can't Tell Us!," AES Preprint 4608, is available from the AES, 60 East 42nd Street, Room 2520, New York, NY 10165-0075. The AES internet site, www.aes.orghttp://www.aes.org">www.aes.org; , offers a secure transaction page for credit-card orders.

Features Reference

Measuring Loudspeakers, Part One

John Atkinson Nov 07, 1998 First Published: Nov 07, 1998

This series of articles was initially written (in slightly different form), as a paper presented at the 103rd Audio Engineering Society Convention, New York, September 1997. The preprint, "Loudspeakers: What Measurements Can Tell Us—And What They Can't Tell Us!," AES Preprint 4608, is available from the AES, 60 East 42nd Street, Room 2520, New York, NY 10165-0075. The AES internet site, offers a secure transaction page for credit-card orders.

Reference Miscellaneous

ETF, or How I Learned to Love My Equalizer

Kalman Rubinson Jul 08, 1998 First Published: Jul 08, 1998

Because I'm suspicious of just twiddling knobs to make the sound "nice," I didn't rely solely on my ears when I used the Z-Systems rdp-1 that I review elsewhere in this issue for speaker and room contouring. Instead, I used the ETF speaker/room-analysis software from Acoustisofthttp://www.acoustisoft.com">Acoustisoft; to help me manipulate the equalizer properly. This program can measure the first-arrival, on-axis speaker response, as well as the room response with its early and late reflections and its resonances.

Reference

A Future Without Feedback?

Martin Colloms Jan 03, 1998 First Published: Jan 03, 1998

Over the years as a reviewer, I have tracked the swings of opinion and popularity of various audio ideas and technologies. Amid a sea of advanced designs that achieve powerful technical performance and laudable specifications, I'm reminded of a major blind listening test of 18 power amplifiers that I set up for the long-since-defunct UK magazine Hi-Fi for Pleasure back in 1975. We had "advanced technology" then: the transistor amplifier had matured and was well accepted by audiophiles. Prices of the review samples ranged from $300 to $3000 (equivalent to $1000-$10,000 in today's dollars). The auditioning sessions were graced by the presence of many industry leaders, among them the late Spencer Hughes of Spendor, Julian Vereker of Naim, Philip Swift then of Audiolab, Alan Harris then of retailer Audio T., Bob Stuart of Meridian, and John Wright of IMF (now TDL in the UK).

Reference As We See It

The Stereo Soundstage

Peter W. Mitchell Jul 29, 1997 First Published: Jul 29, 1993

What is the angular separation of your loudspeakers as viewed from your favorite chair? Whatever your answer, it's wrong. Of course I don't mean that it's a factually incorrect answer, just that any single value of subtended angle cannot be ideal for all recordings.

Reference Solid State Preamp Reviews

Aunt Corey's Homemade Buffered Passive Preamplifier

Corey Greenberg Nov 06, 1995 First Published: Nov 06, 1991

"An' then ya bring alla ground wahrs to uh, uh single po-wint..."

Reference

Bad Vibes!

Shannon Dickson Nov 06, 1995 First Published: Nov 06, 1995

A thorough exploration in a magazine article of such a pervasive and complex topic as vibration control in audio systems is next to impossible; vibration and sound are so intimately bonded that it would be very easy to extend this discussion to just about any area of interest in audio. My intention here is simply to lay a foundation for understanding the basic mechanical forces affecting our quest for improved sonic fidelity, and in the process provide the tools for anyone to achieve good, practical vibration control in his or her system.