Recent content by Sawdust123

There are many Standard Development Organizations (SDOs) out there. I was part of AES and CTA standard committees at different times. Each SDO has their own policy on standard distribution. Some are free for members, others charge a pretty penny (though usually under $100). The beauty is that...

The guy that did a lot of the acoustic design of the JBL 3xx series had also done the JBL M2 and LS-700 series. He left JBL to help start up Kali Audio. I have the Kali IN8s with the Kali 12" sub. These replaced my old Vandersteen 2s. I am not mixing on this system but the bang for the buck was...

I didn't realize the pricing for APx-Flex was that high. A new APx-515 used to sell for less than $8K. I guess I should acquaint myself with Amir's tests. AP had some pricey software options and have introduced more since I left.

I'm a former AP employee and left to help launch a low-cost alternative (that failed). In a nutshell, nothing comes close to an AP in terms of feature breadth and technical specs. Of course, you may only a subset of the capabilities in which case there are many alternatives. For instance, an AP...

I remember taking one of AP's developers to his first ever hi-fi show (I think it was RMAF). I told him to watch the bonding ritual that occurs when two strangers meet at such shows. Step 1: Did you hear that room? or: What did you think of that room? Step 2: Mention some piece of gear you have...

One of my former customers was in the business of modeling old studio gear and create custom plug-ins for DAWs used by recording engineers. We had a nice long talk and discussed the issues faced modeling 40+ year old tube design when every surviving sample has been drifting in different...

It depends what vintage AP gear. The older System 1, System 2 and 2700 series had a an analog circuit to listen to the distortion residual. The APx series let's you view or listen to the residual as well (albeit with some latency). However, the APx doesn't take continuous readings. There are...

AP added dual FFT measurements about a year (maybe 2) ago. I haven't had a chance to use that function (I have been gone for 4+ years) but had been asking for that function for many years. My interest was waveform comparisons using actual music as the test signal and real world loads. This...

I started my career designing mil-spec microwave components (mostly LNAs and SSPAs for radar). Temperature cycling was -55c to +125c. We also had to do shock and vibe testing. You see also sorts of interesting things happen to circuits, especially naval circuits that had to withstand 5000G (yes...

Bruce Hofer, co-founder and analog genius behind Audio Precision has given several papers regarding nonlinearities in real world passive components. Capacitors and resistors will vary in value with voltage and current and heat. This variation will have linear and higher-order terms. Self...

The problem we have regarding measurements is NOT our ability to measure. The problem is knowing WHAT to measure. And there is rightly considerable debate on this matter. We use sine waves because they are simple to use and can be easily calibrated. Music is clearly not a sine wave. We test...

The limitations of measurements was something I covered in my 2015 RMAF talk, "What the specs don't tell you and why." And I only scratched the surface in that talk. I sold audio test gear for 15 years and sat on standards committees too. In a nutshell, we measure what we do because we can do...

Matt, I get the impression that we are simply two people separated by a common word. The word "vanity" can take on several different connotations. Custom license plates are called "vanity" plates because they draw attention to a vehicle. However, such plates rarely are expressions of personal...

That is a fair observation of people in general. I am a student of sales and marketing techniques (my favorite books) and a lifetime of experience practicing those skills. I have mostly worked in B2B environments where one would expect decisions to be dominated by objective criteria such as ROI...

Matt, I seem to have struck a raw nerve and that wasn't my intention. I don't disagree that audiophiles are motivated by nuances in sound reproduction. I am just pointing out that they are human and are as easily swayed by aesthetics and prestige as anyone else is. Very few people admit they are...