In the Sunday Telegraph, an endorsement for Audio Note:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main...svturnon22.xml

--
Eiron

I have no spirit to play with you; your dearth of judgment renders you
tedious - Ben Jonson.

Eiron wrote:
In the Sunday Telegraph, an endorsement for Audio Note:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main...svturnon22.xml


I have to admit to having mixed feelings about Audio Note, peter Q is
certainly a character, but I suspect that the split from Audio Note
Japan, was not done in a entirly above board and even manner, shall I say.

Also sad to hear of the recent death of Kondo San.

Reading a review of the AN UK's amp called Ongaku, it sounds a bit of a
dog's dinner, especially when compaired to the still in production AN
Japan amp of the same name, that the UK one is hoping people will assume
is the same thing.

--
Nick

In article ,
Eiron wrote:
In the Sunday Telegraph, an endorsement for Audio Note:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main...svturnon22.xml

Love the bit about valve based systems over transistors being that it
sounds like real musicians playing. But of course ignores the fact that
whatever he's listening to will have gone through probably thousands of
transistors before being played at home. It's possible the actual output
stage of his valve power amp is altering things to the sound he prefers -
but this could be cheaply reproduced by some high and low pass filtering
of a transistor amp...

--
*Also too, never, ever use repetitive redundancies *

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

Dave Plowman wrote

In the Sunday Telegraph, an endorsement for Audio Note:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main...svturnon22.xml

Love the bit about valve based systems over transistors being that
it
sounds like real musicians playing. But of course ignores the fact
that
whatever he's listening to will have gone through probably
thousands of
transistors before being played at home. It's possible the actual
output
stage of his valve power amp is altering things to the sound he
prefers -
but this could be cheaply reproduced by some high and low pass
filtering
of a transistor amp...

There is more to this than has met your eye.

Firstly, SS guitar amps couldn't hit the spot until DSP, and even
now most DSP is ****. That's a whole lot of development time and
cost, so there goes your "cheaply reproduced" hypothesis. Simulating
valve amp behaviour with SS circuits may be easy in your head, but
not in practice.

Secondly, I believe you miss the point of the whole SET plot. The
"sound of real musicians playing" is never the result of
reproduction. Real musicians playing are not trying to reproduce a
previous performance by someone else. Neither is a typical
combination of a SET and its speakers. Such a system *is* a live
performer, and is optimised for that purpose.

I am told that some SS amps are equally capable, and have no reason
to believe otherwise. But they aren't cheaply modified versions of
circuits previously intended for mere reproduction.

cheers, Ian

Ian Iveson wrote:

... The
"sound of real musicians playing" is never the result of
reproduction.

Agreed.


Real musicians playing are not trying to reproduce a
previous performance by someone else.

I don't believe anyone said they were.


Neither is a typical
combination of a SET and its speakers. Such a system *is* a live
performer, and is optimised for that purpose.

Eh? Real musicians aren't trying to be a perfect clone of a previous
performance by someone else, therefore SET amplifiers aren't reproduction
equipment?? Talk about arguing apples and oranges...


--
Wally
www.wally.myby.co.uk
http://iott.melodolic.com

In article ,
Ian Iveson wrote:
Love the bit about valve based systems over transistors being that it
sounds like real musicians playing. But of course ignores the fact
that whatever he's listening to will have gone through probably
thousands of transistors before being played at home. It's possible
the actual output stage of his valve power amp is altering things to
the sound he prefers - but this could be cheaply reproduced by some
high and low pass filtering of a transistor amp...

There is more to this than has met your eye.

Firstly, SS guitar amps couldn't hit the spot until DSP, and even
now most DSP is ****. That's a whole lot of development time and
cost, so there goes your "cheaply reproduced" hypothesis. Simulating
valve amp behaviour with SS circuits may be easy in your head, but
not in practice.

Err, a valve guitar amp sounds as it does when it is overdriven and
distorting. It's also driving a crap loudspeaker designed for that purpose.
If you don't believe me try feeding the output of a CD into the line input
and see just how bad it sounds on music.

The requirements for a home system are *totally* different.

To enlarge, the amp/speaker combo is part of the actual instrument if an
electric guitar, synthesizer etc. So it's perfectly ok to have that change
the sound from the pickup. But not on a reproducing system - it should be
as neutral to the signal input as possible.

Secondly, I believe you miss the point of the whole SET plot. The
"sound of real musicians playing" is never the result of
reproduction. Real musicians playing are not trying to reproduce a
previous performance by someone else. Neither is a typical
combination of a SET and its speakers. Such a system *is* a live
performer, and is optimised for that purpose.

But it's not a performer - that is just rubbish. It's reproducing an
already recorded performance. And although an inaccurate reproducing
system might on occasion improve the sound of a recording in general it
simply will make it worse.

I am told that some SS amps are equally capable, and have no reason
to believe otherwise. But they aren't cheaply modified versions of
circuits previously intended for mere reproduction.

I can see we'll never agree, then. ;-)

--
*You're just jealous because the voices only talk to me *

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In article ,
Eiron wrote:

In the Sunday Telegraph, an endorsement for Audio Note:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main...svturnon22.xml

Love the bit about valve based systems over transistors being that it
sounds like real musicians playing. But of course ignores the fact that
whatever he's listening to will have gone through probably thousands of
transistors before being played at home.

And balanced by an engineer using amplifiers and speakers
that a hi-fi enthusiast wouldn't like much :-)

BugBear

It's possible the actual output stage of his valve power amp is
altering things to the sound he prefers - but this could be cheaply
reproduced by some high and low pass filtering of a transistor amp...


No - that's an old myth.

Andy Evans wrote:
It's possible the actual output stage of his valve power amp is
altering things to the sound he prefers - but this could be cheaply
reproduced by some high and low pass filtering of a transistor amp...


No - that's an old myth.


Thought it might be - turning into the Land of Myths in here ATM :-)

Rob

On 2006-01-23, Andy Evans wrote:
It's possible the actual output stage of his valve power amp is
altering things to the sound he prefers - but this could be cheaply
reproduced by some high and low pass filtering of a transistor amp...

No - that's an old myth.

But if it can't be produced by filtering (i.e. general linear signal
processing) then the valve power amp is producing either:

- nonlinear distortion (harmonics; anharmonic distortion incl. intermod,
jitter, wow, flutter; or compression); or

- noise;

As far as I can see linear modification to the signal (i.e. amplitude and
phase changes that are signal-independent - i.e. filtering) and the list
above are in theory the only possible things you can inflict on a signal.

--
John Phillips