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Archive for 'August,2012'

Quincy Jones

Quincy Jones

Very few musicians, let alone people in general, are recognizable by the first initial of their first name. Quincy Jones, or Q, is one such person. Even though he started out as a jazz trumpeter, Q’s [...]

Turntables and radios

Turntables and radios

Yesterday we gave a little history on the amazing invention of the “talking machine” that, for the first time in the history of mankind, allowed millions of people to enjoy music in their homes.  And not [...]

Separates

Separates

The separates category in high-end audio is one that is continually occupying my thought process.  On the one hand the idea of multiple dedicated boxes allows us to add specific functions to our systems – each [...]

Ketchup and separates

Ketchup and separates

My good friend Jim Cohen is a world renown chef and makes the tastiest ketchup you’ve ever tried.  Compared to Heinz or your favorite supermarket ketchup, Jim’s is just head and shoulders better than anything I’ve [...]

Getting bass right

Getting bass right

In yesterday’s post I discussed the fact that there are basically only two ways to connect a modern powered subwoofer: with a high level or a low level input.  The vast majority of subwoofers today no [...]

Feeding a sub

Feeding a sub

I was ready to jump onto a different subject than setup today but a number of you have asked me to at least touch on how to connect a sub and make sure it integrates properly [...]

Music and rooms

Music and rooms

After reading through our series on rooms and tuning, my son Scott suggested I watch a video by Talking Heads leader David Byrne on how architecture changed music. This talk, available on the wonderful TED Series, [...]

Actually measure what you have

Actually measure what you have

When I used to be a part of loudspeaker manufacturing at Genesis one of the tools we relied on the most was something called an RTA. This stands for Real Time Analyzer and while the one [...]

Lasering

Lasering

Our series on setting up your system for best advantage talked a lot about measuring and making sure your loudspeakers are spot on in terms of distance to the rear wall, distance to your listening position, [...]

The last link

The last link

As you can imagine, every room and every system and situation are different.  It is nearly impossible to give good all-purpose advice that’s specific to anyone’s stereo system and what we’re trying to do in this [...]

I’m so diffused

I’m so diffused

The first time I can remember anyone paying attention to room treatment was back in the mid 1970′s when the local manager of our Pacific Stereo store added a brick surface to the wall behind his [...]

Room treatment

Room treatment

This will be the first of a few posts on room treatment, so big is this subject I will be writing about. When we first started this series of posts on the setup of your system [...]

Two Russian Masters of the Symphony

Two Russian Masters of the Symphony

Two of the greatest symphonic composers of the 20th century were born and died in Russia. Their music lives on, and for good reason. [...]

More bass

More bass

I rather think I shortchanged everyone yesterday in my post about bass.  I guess my bias towards adding subwoofers outweighed anything else and I realize not everyone agrees with me or can add a subwoofer.  This [...]

Bass

Bass

In past posts I have written much about bass and much of what I have written involves the use of subwoofers.  As many of you know I believe you need subwoofers to make your system whole. [...]

Going bigger

Going bigger

Continuing with our setup series you’ve now managed to get the loudspeakers to disappear on a simple vocal and trio piece as well you’ve hopefully managed to get decent center fill, focus and image perspective.  It’s [...]

Becoming a magician

Becoming a magician

You’ve probably noticed that in this setup guide we’re focusing primarily on imaging and have been ignoring other aspects such as tonal balance.  That’s ok and there’s a good reason for it.  As I mentioned in [...]

Getting depth

Getting depth

Yesterday’s post got us connected and playing our system for the first time.  Through the use of Stereophile’s test disc we’ve determined that the channels are correct, the phasing is right and the balance between the [...]

Dialing it in

Dialing it in

In our last post we managed to get our loudspeakers roughed in, measured and connected and confirmed that everything is correct in our electronic setup from end to end.  Excellent work so far. Our next step [...]

Measure and connect

Measure and connect

In our quest for the best stereo setup within our room we’ve managed to find where the effects of the sidewalls are minimized and placed our loudspeaker pair just outside this boundary.  This is the starting [...]

Our new best friend

Our new best friend

Yesterday we learned that our rooms are a necessary element in the stereo system.  It’s good to think of your room as but another component in the chain of your music system and with that thought [...]

The double edged sword

The double edged sword

Yesterday we went ahead and cleared everything out of our listening room save for the equipment and the loudspeakers.  Today we’re going to begin figuring out where to place the loudspeakers. Let me begin by pointing [...]

Starting from scratch

Starting from scratch

In our quest for getting our systems dialed in I am aware that many of you will not be starting from scratch with an empty room as I will be describing.  That’s fine, just follow along [...]

Let’s start with some observations

Let’s start with some observations

I am going to start a series on how to setup your system and how to tweak and maximize it as best you can for any given room and setup.  I think it’s important we lay [...]

Weekend chores

Weekend chores

In my 40 plus years of playing with high-end stereo systems the single biggest mistake I see people making is improper setup. I am continually amazed at the money, time and care spent on acquiring high-end [...]

Oops

Oops

A number of you correctly pointed out I incorrectly called Michael Fremer a Vinylphobe instead of a Vinylphile – nice McGowan!  Sorry about that Michael, I would guess most of you know Michael’s not terrified by [...]

Is there a perfect preamp?

Is there a perfect preamp?

Probably not and certainly since we can see far enough into the future to realize big sweeping changes are ahead for us when it comes to the control and preamplification of the music we really would [...]

Trying to put the genie back in the bottle

Trying to put the genie back in the bottle

So if the days of the analog preamp are numbered because the number of analog sources for it to control are diminishing and if digital preamplifiers really haven’t appeared on the scene in any numbers and [...]

Digital volume controls

Digital volume controls

I struggled with how to write this because the subject’s rather complicated and in the end decided to keep it simple.  Heck, it’s Sunday after all and we’re supposed to be taking a day off. Yesterday [...]

Volume controls

Volume controls

Well, this is a fine hornet’s nest I’ve gotten into.  Half of you seem to think I live in a cave and haven’t any clue what high-end audio is all about and the other half think [...]

The output

The output

In the last couple of days I’ve been writing about the end of the analog preamp era and the beginnings of the digital preamp era.  That’s sparked a lot of controversy and there are calls for [...]

End of an era

End of an era

The era of the analog preamplifier has come and gone and in its place we have a new class of product: a digital preamplifier – a term that may be new to you.  First, a bit [...]

The era of the preamp is over

The era of the preamp is over

As you probably are aware TAS (the magazine) is publishing a major review on the PerfectWave system in their September issue that starts mailing out today.  Since part of the core idea behind the PerfectWave system [...]