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Best all-rounder?

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Guests Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 26 Jun 2008 at 10:38pm
"Dynamic Range Compression ( DRC ) has been used for years to help improve the quality of music played through lo-fi transmission systems like AM radio and telephones, but increasingly heavy handed compression has also been applied to recordings at the mastering stage.........play this recording through a hi-fi system and the sound seems lacking. Because it is....it's lacking in dynamic range "
 
So says Alan Sircom in Hi-Fi Choice,
 
Sorry, I was bored and went out to look for an air-rifle magazine, and ended up with my annual Hi-Fi mag !
 
The " Turn Me UP " organiastion ( www.turnmeup.org ) is trying to promote the idea of cutting quieter albums, with stickers on recordings with " full dynamic range "
 
Adrian.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote stuxter Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 27 Jun 2008 at 8:20am
@ dave `im leaving ` millier... for once we actually agree on somethingWink
 
@ab pest.... couldnt agree more.... who... with a top notch system, is gonna sit down and listen to GIRLS ALOUD. If they mixed one of thier albums to sound good on hi-fi, then its gonna sound poop on radio !   Confused
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Graham Slee Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 27 Jun 2008 at 12:53pm
Well it's a good job that this old retro item blows the crap out of all the chic-boutique favourites!

@ tg: I'm sorry this is so sketchy but until the trade feel comfortable with this "shocker" of a product I can't really say or even hint.
That none should be able to buy or sell without a smartphone and the knowledge in how to use apps
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote tg [RIP] Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 27 Jun 2008 at 1:29pm
Yes, that is OK - I have made some guesses anyway Censored
Can't find a way to weld the covers on the review samples can you ?
A quick spot with a MIG torch on the screw heads should do it, just enough to stop them being removed (block up the slots) - quench with a wet rag straight after - shouldn't have time for heat transfer to damage anything - I've welded right next to windscreen seals this way without damaging the rubber.
You would just have to drill the screws to get them out afterwards.
I'm probably being silly - good luck with it anyway.

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote ManuelC Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 27 Jun 2008 at 1:47pm
Well Han,
 
Right, all equipment we use tampers with the source, but I believe that happens because we can't help it- it would cost millions to record and reproduce perfectly a quiet, casual conversation.
The idea is that it would be good to be able to reproduce the original recording (in itself a whole mix of technical and artistical choices and circumstances) as best as we can, nothing added, nothing filtered (hint).
 
But, of course, as it was very well put, even our listening rooms become factors, let alone our ears and the time of day.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote dvv Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 13 Jul 2008 at 10:42pm
I always seem to find these great topics last ...
 
Graham, if you recall, we talked about this very phenomenon some years ago. I can't remember if Alba was mentioned, but I do remember saying that an integrated from Amstrad, while hardly a revelation, did sound way better than one would epect, better than some competing far better known models, and all that at about a third of their price. But hey, that's Amstrad, the "all but the kitchen sink" company, what do they know about good sound?
 
Perhaps an even better illustration of the mud we are wallowing in is a Sanyo integrated amp, which appeared in the early 80-ies. It used STK power modules when they were truly horrible (unless you used them at half their rated power, but they are infinitely better these days) and, as with many Sanyo Marubeni products, it was feature rich and cheap. As far as I have been able to ascertain, it has appeared as an OEM product by quite a few companies, mostly from Germany: Saba, Nordmende, BASF and as Lenco from Switzerland.
 
If tested as a Sanyo model, it not only got thumbs down, it also got a kick in its electronic arse - yes folks, this is a bad karma product. But if the IDENTICAL in all respects but the external looks product with a different name came by (yes, I did check, I did compare the schematics, I did compare the parts, etc), hey, it was all right, no big deal, but all right. Never mind that it cost more - or perhaps that's why it was "better".
 
Product sharing like that has been around since those days, but invariably with the same result. Yet, for one who knows, an inverse deal was also possible - if you bought a nominally German, but actually Japan made Palladium integrated amp, you really bought a Pioneer SA-8500 Mk.2 repackaged, paying around 20-25% LESS than for the "real" Pioneer.
 
Graham, it's all in the marketing. Marketing is when you add say two totally useless but also zero harm diodes in your say DC Servo circuit, and call it an "Intelligent DC Input Output Transformation", or IDIOT. You just have to have an acronym, man, without it, you ain't whole! Wink 
 
I already suggested, and I repeat what I'd do in your place - I would very seriously consider an all discrete circuit. Op amps are just fine, but it is a fact that they are closed, they sound the way they do and there's little you can do about it. In a dicrete circuit, you keep absolute control over how it sounds and lose nothing in the process, even if it is more complex and involving (but also more fun!). Actually, you not only do not lose, you gain if you put your heart into it. You end up with a veritable monster, which at 10V rms has a noise and THD factor of just 0,05% - but at 500 kHz! Under the same conditions, Noise+THD at 20 kHz is below -100 dB, or 0.001%. I think - I can't measure below that. Nor do I want to, frankly, there's no point.
 
I could ramble on for some time, but I'll spare you the torture - let me just repeat that you are now in a situation where you realistically HAVE to come out with a monstrosity of some kind. Never mind if it sells, it's primary job is to highlight your technical prowess and thus rub off some stardust on the regular line. Heck, everybody and their dog did it, how do you expect to get out of it?
 
If you have a problem with starting the ball rolling, let me know and I'll supply a few circuits FYI, you can use either them, or simply as a starting point for your own, whatever, so long as you do do it. I hereby publically renounce any and all royalties on any basis, except for another pint, of course, you don't get out of that.
 
As for helping out in any way I can, well, I still have the same address and, oddly enough, the same enthusisam as I did when we met, despite a few more years and kilos under my belt. I'll help any way I can.
 
But, before you do anything, excluding only doing nothing, I want you to sit down and calmly think over a shunt regulator. Then make a model and listen to your own Solo and try to believe it's the same one from just a minute ago. It ain't gonna be easy! It's that much better.
 
Cheers,
DVV
 
P.S. Graham, I can't find where I activate the feature which informs me of new messages in a thread I am following. Being the Lord of the Site, kindly activate it for me.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote tg [RIP] Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 14 Jul 2008 at 12:14am
@dvv - the man is away on hols for a week - http://www.gspaudio-community.activeboards.net/forum_posts.asp?TID=193
Normal programming will resume shortly :D

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