How British Should British Hi-Fi Be?

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ServerBaboon wrote: and then you look closely it brags about the British sound not manufacturing.

And that is a perfect link to my next moan: the British sound.

From what I read elsewhere the British sound isn't all that great - perhaps that's why this Far East brand finds it so easy?!

I've heard people complain that it's harsh, bright and fatiguing, although initially impressive, and they will never trust the reviews of What Hi-Fi again.

It makes me wonder whether I should try and distance myself from the British sound?

Digging deeper I found one actual UK brand (part of it made overseas) didn't have any original thinking, and helped itself to a magazine project which is still within copyright (usually taken as being 50 years).

I remember a long time ago worrying about infringing the copyrights of others, and that made me determined to be able to design circuits myself (I was then in my teens).

What I found was in tune with Marie Antoinette: "There's nothing new except what has been forgotten" - there are no new configurations of circuits as such - however, those configurations can be done your own way. This is in contrast to what I find - often a circuit is changed a little: a value swap here, a different device there, semi-plagiarism??

So is this what the British sound is all about? The design I homed in on was a late 1960s design.

Back then designers were having real problems with solid-state bandwidth and stability, and using techniques to "improve" the sound which do not stand up to scrutiny today - simulation demonstrates the tell-tale signs which lead to the harsh, bright and fatiguing sound.

It has taken me many years (almost a working lifetime) to truly understand which issues cause that sound and even with fantastically specified devices like flavour of the month opamps, removing those traits is not an easy task.

I can see why they were so easily overlooked. Most of these problems are way beyond the audible spectrum and often below the gain-bandwidth portion of a device, and so it therefore doesn't matter? Wrong! It can be heard. Not the frequencies way beyond our hearing, often in several MHz, but its effect on the behaviour of surrounding and connected components - and it is this which causes the sonic problems.

This being the British sound is of great concern to me as a British designer. I do not wish to be tarred by the same brush. I want to "fly the flag" the best way, and not the way of others who label half baked designs with the union banner.

Richardl60 wrote: Never heard the British sound described as bright harsh or fatiguing though would have used those terms to describe the mass market Japanese sound as that some time ago.

Unfortunately it seems there are one or two letting the side down spectacularly. Adverse comments don't do Britain any favours and British manufacturers need to ensure they are truly world-beating in the way their products sound. I am backing Britain by the way.