Took me 5 seconds to find these...

Now Gentlemen, gather round for the history of Isophon. Once upon a
time they made lots of speakers that were widely used, in fact they are
one of the oldest manufacturers of speakers in the world. But, alas,
their fortunes waned and naughty Blaupunkt came along one day and stole
them all away, leaving only the name. This was found in a waste paper
basket on a German bahnhof by a clever chappie called Doctor Roland
Gauder. "What can I do with such a name?" mused the good doctor.....
"Liebchen - make yourself famous by designing some excellent
lautsprechers" cajoled his frau. "Ach, but you are right, mein kleine
apfel strudel" retorted the good doctor. And so he did. And lo they
were good, and many people revered his name. Aber what confusion if we
mix up the old Isophon speaker units with the doctor's new creations!!!
Ach no, mein good man, das ist umoeglich!!!

Don Pearce wrote:
On Sat, 23 Sep 2006 16:58:47 +0100, "Keith G"
wrote:


"Don Pearce" wrote


snip 'grey isn't a colour' &c.


Thinking SS doesn't distort is the first level of denial. Thinking your
speakers aren't *coloured* because you are using SS amplification takes it
to the second level...


It is a question of degree - SS distorts possibly a hundred to a
thousand times less than SET,


So what? If the results are at least *preferable* what does it matter?
Sticking with summat because there's a popular notion that has been
perpetuated from the dawn of audio - that THD figures are the be-all and
end-all of an amplifier's performance shows a distinct lack of imagination,
in my book....


You need to use your imagination? I don't want to have to use my
imagination when I listen to music. And I don't need to when I have an
amp that doesn't distort audibly.

you are either using your imagination to fill in the gaps when you
listen or you are using it when you assess the quality of your playback
with a SS amp.




You use a Cyrus 2 if I'm not mistaken - what's wrong with all the subsequent
incarnations? (Last one I heard was a Cyrus 8....??) Presumably they are not
making them to measure *less well* these days - in which case, dare I
presume that 'measures better' doesn't necessarily mean performs better at
least in the case of Cyrus amps...??


I do indeed have a Cyrus II, and it sounds great. So great in fact
that it sounds identical to the Marantz home theatre amp I'm currently
using in the living room. I haven't heard any of the later Cyrus
incarnations, so I can't comment.


Sorry you have to settle for that.

Scott

Keith G wrote:

I had a Cyrus power amp for a while - hopeless little thing it was...

I get plenty of whack from my stack of 50-watters. :-)

Tri-amping seems to have resulted in a big boost in headroom - a single amp
sounded a bit strained, as does a mate's PSX jobbie into Ruark Broadswords
if it's up loud. (There's always a 'too loud'.) Keeping out of the strain
region, I can't fault them, sonically.


--
Wally
www.wally.myby.co.uk
If it ain't broke, fix it until it is.

In article ,
Keith G wrote:
No surprise there - par for the course for the Denial Boyz, all trading
on vague childhood memories and hearsay bull**** passed by word of
mouth. Fortunately for me, I've had a thumbs up from a good number of
people here whose opinions I'd put way before yours - but then, I guess
that's not saying much, I think I'd include our Garden Gnome in with
that definition...

I'm sure you value your knitting circle's opinions. Others live in the
real world.

(Had to stifle a little chuckle when you mentioned LS3/5s after all your
yapping about *bass* a while back!! ;-)

You should really try them, Keith. With a sub. But you obviously don't
like to hear the top and bottom octaves.

--
*It is wrong to ever split an infinitive *

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

"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in message
...
In article ,
Keith G wrote:
No surprise there - par for the course for the Denial Boyz, all trading
on vague childhood memories and hearsay bull**** passed by word of
mouth. Fortunately for me, I've had a thumbs up from a good number of
people here whose opinions I'd put way before yours - but then, I guess
that's not saying much, I think I'd include our Garden Gnome in with
that definition...

I'm sure you value your knitting circle's opinions. Others live in the
real world.


They do? Where's that then...??



(Had to stifle a little chuckle when you mentioned LS3/5s after all your
yapping about *bass* a while back!! ;-)

You should really try them, Keith.


No thanks, I'm way past little fartboxes like that - the best of the bunch
were the Ruark Sabres until I fried a tweeter in one of them....


With a sub.


Stoppit.....


But you obviously don't
like to hear the top and bottom octaves.


Plowie, trust me - you have *no* idea......

"Andy Evans" wrote in message
oups.com...
Took me 5 seconds to find these...

Now Gentlemen, gather round for the history of Isophon. Once upon a
time they made lots of speakers that were widely used, in fact they are
one of the oldest manufacturers of speakers in the world. But, alas,
their fortunes waned and naughty Blaupunkt came along one day and stole
them all away, leaving only the name. This was found in a waste paper
basket on a German bahnhof by a clever chappie called Doctor Roland
Gauder. "What can I do with such a name?" mused the good doctor.....
"Liebchen - make yourself famous by designing some excellent
lautsprechers" cajoled his frau. "Ach, but you are right, mein kleine
apfel strudel" retorted the good doctor. And so he did. And lo they
were good, and many people revered his name. Aber what confusion if we
mix up the old Isophon speaker units with the doctor's new creations!!!
Ach no, mein good man, das ist umoeglich!!!



Andy, I just naturally assumed he was talking about the *real* Isophons!
;-)

"Wally" wrote in message
...
Keith G wrote:

I had a Cyrus power amp for a while - hopeless little thing it was...

I get plenty of whack from my stack of 50-watters. :-)

Tri-amping seems to have resulted in a big boost in headroom - a single
amp
sounded a bit strained, as does a mate's PSX jobbie into Ruark Broadswords
if it's up loud. (There's always a 'too loud'.) Keeping out of the strain
region, I can't fault them, sonically.



I had a pair of Broadswords (I *really* have tried a great number of
speakers) - they had Dynaudio drivers, sounded very good (for the type) and
needed a *lot* of stoking....

Way beyond Cyrus' remit....

Nick Gorham wrote:

Eeyore wrote:

Now consider the same with added low order THD from a valve amp.

If they make the final sound more relistic then it is makes them less
colored.

'Realism' and fidelity are not the same thing. Realism is subjective, fidelity is
measurable.

Graham

Err, isn't that the entire point. Some think realism is the goal, and
strive for that, others believe that fidelity is the goal.

The funny thing is that my experience has shown that really good kit does both ! That
does suggest to me that personal bias applies in the subjective case.


One can be measured, not the other, so to one person measurment is valid,
to the other, not.

Both are correct to their own aims.

It doesn't have to be a zero-sum game you know :-)

It would appear that you agree with me !

Graham

"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote:

In article . com,
Andy Evans wrote:
I presume it must be a belief that they know best that does it ! I'll
bet most of them aren't professional audio practicioners. It's almost
unkown to come across a valve amp in a studio monitor setup. I also
wouldn't mind betting that very few of them are that familiar with the
very instruments whose recordings they listen to.

Hello - reality check. Valve users PLAY the instruments that "audio
practicioners" (whatever that is) listen to. Ever heard of a Fender
Twin reverb? A Marshall stack? Crikey, musicians use even those nice
little 19" valve preamps that grow ears and live in professional
racks....... Oh, I forgot, professional musicians are either stone deaf
or listen on kitchen radios which proves they know nothing about sound.

The parameters of musical instrument amplifier and speaker systems
(electric guitars etc) bear no relation to those required for decent
general reproduction. If you don't believe me try using a pair at home.
They will sound perfectly dreadful.

Instrument amplifiers intentionally add harmonic distortion in order to to sound
'fatter' and 'richer'.

The effect is well recognised by anyone with as much as an ounce of sense !

Graham

Andy Evans wrote:

The parameters of musical instrument amplifier and speaker systems
(electric guitars etc) bear no relation to those required for decent
general reproduction. If you don't believe me try using a pair at home.

They will sound perfectly dreadful.

Yes.

An SET ampliifer is even more horrible !

Graham