Home General Asylum

General audio topics that don't fit into specific categories.

[ Follow Ups ] [ Post Followup ] Thread: [ Display  All  Email ] [ General Asylum ]
[ Alert Moderator ]

My take

1. Subwoofers
Bad ones are amazingly bad. Good ones are sonically invisible. Much depends on the design of the mains speakers. If sealed, with their 6 dB/octave rolloff, mating a sub is almost impossible without drastically coloring the sound. However, ported designs, with their 12 dB/octave rolloff, mate rather easily and seamlessly.

2. Digital
There has always been both good and bad digital. Some 16/44.1 recordings are surprisingly good. Of course, the "Odetta" CD still reigns as he worst-ever recording, regardless of medium. Runners-up include the CD issues of the great Doug Sax recordings - I'll never understand how THAT happened.

Now, however, the game has changed. Plangent-processed recordings are, by far, the most accurate AND musical medium. Listen to Tom Fine's breathtaking Plangent remastering of his parents' Paray/Detroit Saint-Saëns 3rd Symphony. It's better than 15 ips/half-track tape... a lot better. Get it from prostudiomasters.com. Bob Ludwig's Plangent remastering of the Springsteen albums is just as good, though not quite as dramatically better than Tom Fine's work. BTW, congratulations and thanks are due to Bob who just announced his retirement.

3. Conventional drivers...
Lotsa good, lotsa bad. Field coils can be hugely involving. The Quad ESL-57 will always be in the Top Ten best list of just about everyone lucky enough to hear them.

I do think Tannoy gets the "conventional drivers in a box" thing better than others, and by a pretty big margin. I hope Paul Mills' latest venture, Fyne Audio, continues to improve his designs. While we're at it, here's a big FU to Uli Behringer, who trashed the Tannoy company.

4. Solid state
Though I have tubes everywhere, I've had truly great solid-state gear. Vintage amps from SAE and BGW are breathtakingly musical. Pick up a vintage BGW 100 or 100A power amp for a song, and if you get it working properly, it will delight you. The SAE P250 is on my short list of best all-time amplifiers, tube or solid state. Yamaha's disastrous B-2 power amp may be the best I've ever heard, tube or solid-state.

Almost every new development has given us better sound, but if badly implemented (as they often are) disappointments. Keep developing, keep inventing, and we'll take advantage whenever we can.

WW
"Put on your high heeled sneakers. Baby, we''re goin'' out tonight.

This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors:
  Schiit Audio  

Follow Ups Full Thread
Follow Ups
FAQ

Post a Message!

 Forgot Password?
Moniker (Username):
Password (Optional):
  Remember my Moniker & Password  (What's this?)    Eat Me
E-Mail (Optional):
Subject:
Message:   (Posts are subject to Content Rules)
Optional Link URL:
Optional Link Title:
Optional Image URL:
Upload Image:
E-mail Replies:  Automagically notify you when someone responds.

[ Top Top of Page ] [ Contact Us ] [ Support/Wish List ] [ Copyright © 2025, Audio Asylum, all rights reserved ]
[ General ] [ Speakers ] [ Tubes ] [ Vinyl ] [ Digital ] [ Hi-Rez ] [ Video Asylum ] [ Cables ] [ Tweaks/DIY ] [ Music ] [ Films ]