Armstrong 600 era
 

In article , Huge
wrote:

Editor's seem to have decided that such things would frighten off
wooden-header readers. Personally, I suspect some would be put off,
but new readers would be attracted.

I fear you are wrong. Building things at home is dying (which is why the
DIY sheds are closing stores). Young people these days don't even know
how to change a fuse.

That's always been true for a large section of people. However the RPi has
been a spectacular success and hackspaces have grown. So when you consider
the small size of the number of 'hi fi enthusiasts" I suspect a magazine
could attract people who'd prefer to DIY and learn how things work rather
than pay 1,000 quid for mains cables. You only need to sell to a small
percentage of the UK population to make a monthly mag a success. Question
of which particular audience you're going for.

The problem at present is, I suspect, reader 'surveys' that by their nature
only cover the preferences of *existing* readers.

My speakers are "A no-compromise loudspeaker for the home constructor"
from HFN&RR around 1980-ish (possibly). Sadly, I seem to have lost the
magazine.

I probably have the issue, but off-hand don't know the speakers.

Jim

--
Please use the address on the audiomisc page if you wish to email me.
Electronics http://www.st-and.ac.uk/~www_pa/Scot...o/electron.htm
Armstrong Audio http://www.audiomisc.co.uk/Armstrong/armstrong.html
Audio Misc http://www.audiomisc.co.uk/index.html

Armstrong 600 era
 

In article , Jim Lesurf
wrote:
I suspect a magazine could attract people who'd prefer to DIY and learn
how things work rather than pay 1,000 quid for mains cables. You only
need to sell to a small percentage of the UK population to make a
monthly mag a success. Question of which particular audience you're
going for.

Occurs to me to add: I've noticed an increasing tendency for people to
write to magazines, etc, asking for help with computer-based audio. And
that the magazines tend to be a bit shy of this topic. "Ooo! Too
complicated, we're not a computer mag." Which again seems a weird fear of
DIY to me given that the same mags often praise the quality of high rez
files. Again the assumption seems to be that such files are dealt with via
expensive closed dedidcated consumer devices. Not by the user learning or
doing anything.

Stark contrast to earlier decades. And I can't help feeling that a magazine
that *did* deal with these matters with enthusiam might well gain readers.

Jim

--
Please use the address on the audiomisc page if you wish to email me.
Electronics http://www.st-and.ac.uk/~www_pa/Scot...o/electron.htm
Armstrong Audio http://www.audiomisc.co.uk/Armstrong/armstrong.html
Audio Misc http://www.audiomisc.co.uk/index.html

Armstrong 600 era
 

On 28/11/2015 11:46, Huge wrote:
On 2015-11-28, Jim Lesurf wrote:
In article , Huge
wrote:

[19 lines snipped]

My speakers are "A no-compromise loudspeaker for the home constructor"

... built by yours truly ...

from HFN&RR around 1980-ish (possibly). Sadly, I seem to have lost the
magazine.

I probably have the issue, but off-hand don't know the speakers.

If you came across the issue (IIRC, it was on the front cover), I'd
cheerfully swap a photocopy for a bottle of something nice!

Although I'm still mulling over buying a pair of Quad ESLs. I'm about
to move into a house with a very big lounge, so I could probably fit
them in.


You can describe your speakers though. What drivers, crossover and
enclosure type?

ESLs are not for the faint-hearted. :-)

--
Eiron.

Armstrong 600 era
 

On 28/11/2015 12:02, Huge wrote:
On 2015-11-28, Eiron wrote:
On 28/11/2015 11:46, Huge wrote:
On 2015-11-28, Jim Lesurf wrote:
In article , Huge
wrote:

[19 lines snipped]

My speakers are "A no-compromise loudspeaker for the home constructor"

... built by yours truly ...

from HFN&RR around 1980-ish (possibly). Sadly, I seem to have lost the
magazine.

I probably have the issue, but off-hand don't know the speakers.

If you came across the issue (IIRC, it was on the front cover), I'd
cheerfully swap a photocopy for a bottle of something nice!

Although I'm still mulling over buying a pair of Quad ESLs. I'm about
to move into a house with a very big lounge, so I could probably fit
them in.


You can describe your speakers though. What drivers, crossover and
enclosure type?

That's why I want the article. I made them nearly 30 years ago, and
can't really remember what's in them, other than they're sealed box (aka
"infinite baffle") with two enclosures (one bass, one mid-range) in the
same box. The bass, midrange and treble drivers are KEF and I can't
recall the supertweeter manufacturer. (Nor indeed, hear it any more,
I suspect). The crossover is home-made from the design in the article
with components supplied by Wilmslow Audio.

They stand nearly 4ft tall and weigh a great deal, since they're lined
with concrete. It was amusing to watch the removal man trying to pick
one up, the last time we moved house.

Here's a transmission line from the mid seventies with the standard issue
Wilmslow Audio KEF drivers and supertweeter.
http://p10hifi.net/planet10/TLS/downloads/Pro9TL-1.pdf
The crossover and drivers might well be the same.

--
Eiron.

Armstrong 600 era
 

On 28/11/2015 11:09, Jim Lesurf wrote:
In article , Jim Lesurf
wrote:
I suspect a magazine could attract people who'd prefer to DIY and learn
how things work rather than pay 1,000 quid for mains cables. You only
need to sell to a small percentage of the UK population to make a
monthly mag a success. Question of which particular audience you're
going for.

Occurs to me to add: I've noticed an increasing tendency for people to
write to magazines, etc, asking for help with computer-based audio. And
that the magazines tend to be a bit shy of this topic. "Ooo! Too
complicated, we're not a computer mag." Which again seems a weird fear of
DIY to me given that the same mags often praise the quality of high rez
files. Again the assumption seems to be that such files are dealt with via
expensive closed dedidcated consumer devices. Not by the user learning or
doing anything.

Stark contrast to earlier decades. And I can't help feeling that a magazine
that *did* deal with these matters with enthusiam might well gain readers.


I've been quite intrigued by some of the Raspberry Pi projects. If I get
some spare time (not likely right now), I'll have a go at a media server
and connect it to my NAS. 3 things:

1. I'm not that sure about the hardware - the Pi itself, and the DAC -
in objective terms. Would they be as good as, say, the Cambridge NP30 I use?

2. The interface, box, knobs, remote. This is something I am interested
in - making it look good and easy to use.

3. The software. I use 3 'apps' to control the NP30 - each do slightly
different things I like - proper listing (ignoring 'The' prefix for
example), playlist creation, and an ability to not crash. I have a
feeling there'd be steep learning curve, but it's probably this more
than anything that'd motivate.

(1) I'm not that bothered about, and there's plenty of blog and wiki
type resources for support.

(2) and (3) I'm not so sure of.

--
Cheers, Rob

Armstrong 600 era
 

In article , RJH
wrote:

I've been quite intrigued by some of the Raspberry Pi projects. If I get
some spare time (not likely right now), I'll have a go at a media
server and connect it to my NAS. 3 things:

1. I'm not that sure about the hardware - the Pi itself, and the DAC -
in objective terms. Would they be as good as, say, the Cambridge NP30 I
use?

IIRC someone like Woolfson make an excellent decidcated RPi ADC/DAC. But
beyond that I couldn't say if the 'Pi's own DACs would match something
else. Never even had an RPi.

2. The interface, box, knobs, remote. This is something I am interested
in - making it look good and easy to use.

3. The software. I use 3 'apps' to control the NP30 - each do slightly
different things I like - proper listing (ignoring 'The' prefix for
example), playlist creation, and an ability to not crash. I have a
feeling there'd be steep learning curve, but it's probably this more
than anything that'd motivate.

(1) I'm not that bothered about, and there's plenty of blog and wiki
type resources for support.

(2) and (3) I'm not so sure of.

I'd also check if the system is using Pulse Audio. That can be the kiss of
death for good audio. The developers are obsessed with 'mixing' all streams
to a nailed-to-the-wall sample rate and bit depth. And it can be a real
PITA to control, despite the claims. Devil in various details.

In a recent Linux mag I read a smug comment that Pulse now has excellent
mixer software for good audio. Erm. My Oxymoron alert buzzed. Good audio
means *avoiding* any software resamplings you can avoid. Particularly ones
you can't check or control.

Jim

--
Please use the address on the audiomisc page if you wish to email me.
Electronics http://www.st-and.ac.uk/~www_pa/Scot...o/electron.htm
Armstrong Audio http://www.audiomisc.co.uk/Armstrong/armstrong.html
Audio Misc http://www.audiomisc.co.uk/index.html

Armstrong 600 era
 

On 28/11/2015 11:46, Huge wrote:

Although I'm still mulling over buying a pair of Quad ESLs. I'm about
to move into a house with a very big lounge, so I could probably fit
them in.

By a strange coincidence I looked in my local bazaar today;
it had a 303 (£150) and a pair of 57s (£400).
I managed to resist temptation.

The proprietors have no idea of marketing as these were hidden away
in different corners of the shop and not connected up.
Or maybe they were defective so playing music through them would
deter the punters.

--
Eiron.

Armstrong 600 era
 

In article ,
Eiron wrote:
On 28/11/2015 11:46, Huge wrote:

Although I'm still mulling over buying a pair of Quad ESLs. I'm about
to move into a house with a very big lounge, so I could probably fit
them in.

By a strange coincidence I looked in my local bazaar today;
it had a 303 (£150) and a pair of 57s (£400).
I managed to resist temptation.

The proprietors have no idea of marketing as these were hidden away
in different corners of the shop and not connected up.
Or maybe they were defective so playing music through them would
deter the punters.

ESL 57 could well have faulty drivers etc if not recently serviced. Nice
though they are - assuming you don't need more than moderate levels.

--
*IF A PARSLEY FARMER IS SUED, CAN THEY GARNISH HIS WAGES?

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

Armstrong 600 era
 

In article , Dave Plowman (News)
scribeth thus
In article . com,
Albert Zweistein wrote:
On 09/11/2015 08:59, Jim Lesurf wrote:
In article . com,
Albert
Zweistein wrote:



Below is a quote from your page at
http://www.audiomisc.co.uk/Armstrong...airandmod.html
'And listening to Radio 3 or 4 using the FM tuner demonstrates how
much nicer these can sound via FM than via DAB.' I quite agree but
would you say this is a result of the low bit rate the bbc uses or is
an indication of the inherent superiority of analogue vs digital
sound reproduction?

Alas I can't give a simple yes/no answer to that question because
there are a number of differences between FM and DAB in practice.
Couple of examples:

FM tends to add some low order distortion, and also intermod,
particularly for stereo. Caused by the limited bandwidth, etc.

BBC FM has *level* compression applied in a different way to DAB. So
the dynamics are likely to be different. My impression is that this
tends to make the FM sound 'warmer' as it acts a bit like a 'sustain'
pedel.


I wonder why human ears prefer the sound of a bit of 'sustain'? I
certainly do.

Have a mate who constantly goes on about how much better FM is than
digital.

So set up a test for him. Three tuners all on R3 - one FM, one DAB, one
Freeview. Levels carefully balanced. A long silent pause when switching
between them - so the delay on digital didn't give the game away.

He failed miserably to distinguish which was which. ;-)



He should get his hearing checked then!....

--
Tony Sayer

Armstrong 600 era
 

In message , "Dave Plowman (News)"
writes
In article ,
News wrote:

However, were I to play the same album on
vinyl and CD, I doubt I could tell the difference.

It's usually easiest towards the end of an LP where the lower velocity
between disc and stylus shows up the inherent problems rather more.

I must find an album I have on both vinyl and CD, and conduct a
listening test.

Back when I was young and single, I would arrange my speakers to match
my favourite sitting position but now, in a family environment, that
doesn't happen. Couple that with usually doing something else whilst
listening, aging ears and other noises within the house and I'm happy to
listen to mp3s played on a laptop and 'cast' to my amp. The next test
will be playing the same track on CD and mp3 and seeing whether I can
detect any difference.
--
Graeme