design parameters etc/good sound

[tomg]

Oh, I've got transistors and bias diodes too....;-)

Tom

> > I think (flamesuit ON) very few of the people in the world can hear the
> > distortion in an audio system unless it is GROSS.  Usually the speakers
are far
> > worse than anything else in the audio path!
>
> True--most people don't listen to music very carefully
> anyway--they're usually only looking for a cheap
> reproducer. This has been true since the first Edison
> phonograph appeared.
>
> IMO the problem started in the 1960s, with early solid-state
> hi-fi that truly sounded like crap. People with good ears
> hated the stuff--but the electronics industry and its pundits
> denied that there was any problem. Len Feldman, Julian Hirsch,
> and the staff of Consumer Reports were major pushers of bad
> solid-state audio equipment. It took TEN YEARS before these
> "experts" admitted there could be a problem. And to this day,
> crappy transistor audio equipment (some of it quite expensive)
> is still being marketed, and still being reviewed favorably in
> various mass-market magazines. And people STILL argue insanely
> about sound quality. Now that high-end audio is an established
> billion-dollar industry, isn't it about time for some egos to
> deflate themselves.....on both sides?
>
> And I won't even discuss the assholes who love to rant about
> the "infallible" (often misapplied) ABX listening test......
> To summarize: I personally hope there's a special corner of hell
> ready for Tom Nousaine and David Clark.
>
> > And those few 'audiophiles'  (think
> > pedophile....necrophile...) that "could" hear the difference are
probably so old
> > they cant hear over 12-15KHz anyway.
>
> Yep. Speaking as a person VERY experienced with audiophiles,
> I have very little respect for most of them. They are just
> as subject to fads and hype as the average joe.
> More so, probably---audiophiles are always middle-aged
> men (boys) in the throes of mid-life crises.
>
> Go look at the "Joelist" for some examples of man-boys.
> http://rabi.nmr.mgh.harvard.edu/~reese/joelist/
>
> There is good-sounding solid-state equipment.
> Just not enough of it....you still have to spend some
> $ to get the best sound.
>
> Opamps have gotten really good recently,
> but STILL the best studio mic preamps, limiters
> etc. are always based on class-A low-feedback designs,
> made of either tubes or of good-quality discrete
> transistors.
>
> Here's a free tip: want a good-sounding home hifi
> for very little money? Get an early-1970s Pioneer
> or Marantz receiver, or separates. These models used no
> op-amps (which had abominable performance at the time)--
> all class-A circuits, conservatively designed, using
> moderate feedback and GOOD bipolar devices. The kind of
> high-speed alloy-junction devices
> (sealed in hermetic metal cans) that you can't even
> buy anymore. That's why such equipment is getting scarce--
> when it blows up, it usually doesn't get fixed, because
> most of the transistors and special biasing diodes are not
> available anymore....