HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: disc5e6@rosie.uh.edu (92S00302)
Subject: Re: James Bond microphone wanted
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41    
Organization: University of Houston
Date: Tue, 7 Apr 1992 18:32:00 GMT

In article <1992Apr6.161101.11052@city.cs>, lionel@cs.city.ac.uk (Lionel Tun) writes...
>In article <9204042122.aa09981@Bonnie.ics.uci.edu> mmcguire@Bonnie.ICS.UCI.EDU writes:
>>Netters,
>>  I live in an apt. complex with very thin walls.  I can tell whenever anyone
>>is talking in the next apt., but I can not understand it unless I put my ear
>>to the wall.  Is there some sort of microphone that I can attach to the wall
>>that will pick up voices in the next apt.?  If so, what is it, where is it, and
>>apprx. how much does it cost?
>>
>>Me
> 
>I think pressing your ear hard against the wall will give the best
>reproduction. I can't see how a microphone can possibly improve on
>that. Maybe your signal is not high enough. Ask your neighbours to
>speak up a bit:-). A high quality wine glass can be used if you 
>don't like having your ear against the wall, but it does diminish
>the volume and clarity a little. Presumable anything which samples
>only a small area of the wall is going to be inferior to having
>your ear agains the whole of the wall. Experts?
> 
>Your best bet is probably to drill a small hole through the wall
>(when your neighbours are out) and stick a small condensor mike
>through the hole. Make sure the hole comes out somewhere unseen
>like behind a picture or plant or something. (Do you know the
>layout of their apartment? If not you may have to break in while
>they are out to have a look around, or else if you are good at
>acting, you can dress up as a TV licence inspector and knock on
>the door. If you are auditioning for the James Bond part these
>activities should be good practice for you.) Alternatively if it
>is for a short time, you could conceal a radio mike in the apart-
>ment. However the battery life is in the region of hours, not
>days.
> 
>Lionel Tun
> 
>--
>Lionel Tun   (lionel@cs.city.ac.uk)
>Vision Group, City University, London, EC1V 0HB. 071-477 8000 x 3889

    Don't forget that as long as your going to drill holes in yth e 
 t the wall you mioght as well put in a fiber optic camera so you can see
what all the screaming is about.  Be sure to record the juicy parts for 
pi  public viewing. (make copies for all of us if they are good, but law
suits are your problem)

Of course drinking is required while recording to give you some defense.
"Gee your honor it wasnt me some guys broke in while i was passed out" 
weell havew a ppint on us and weell have a longneck


From: noble@hplvec.LVLD.HP.COM (Bob Noble)
Date: Tue, 7 Apr 1992 23:13:34 GMT
Subject: Re: Imped. Matching w/ Resistors?!
Organization: Hewlett-Packard Co., Loveland, CO
Newsgroups: rec.audio

In simple terms, your addition of 2ohm resistors between the amplifier
and the speaker allows the speaker to keep vibrating after the amp says
it is time to stop.  You have taken "tight" bass and made it "loose".
You probably now have a peak in your frequency response near the bass
system resonance.  The speaker mfr intended your amp to keep this peak
damped out (flatter response).  The resistor in series will also change
the effective response of your crossovers, so there may be some changes 
in mid and upper response as well.  Most speaker mfrs design, test, and
intend for their product to be attached to a low impedance (high damping 
and all those other terms apply) amplifier output.  Hence all the talk
about cable systems and reducing interconnect resistances into the 
femto-ohms.

The resistors will not hurt your system in any way, but they have likely
degraded the frequency response to some degree.

But if you like it, do it.

Bob Noble
From: peterco@eff.org (Peter A. Cohen)
Newsgroups: rec.audio
Subject: Suggestions on replacement speakers > $400?
Date: 14 Apr 92 14:35:35 GMT
Article-I.D.: eff.1992Apr14.143535.17569
Organization: ON Technology, Inc.
X-Useragent: Nuntius v1.1a2

Time to upgrade my speakers- they're sounding flat and drab...10" long
throw woofers were great when I lived in a long, narrow room but don't
sound so hot anymore.

Does anyone have any advice for systems to look at for ~$400?  So far
I've seen the Bose AM3 system, a similar one that's made by ATC (?), and
some really nice loudspeakers.

The Bose system I was singularly unimpressed with- it had very watery
bass response and lacked the clarity that the ATC system had.  Some of
the loudspeakers in this range are great- JBL's, Infinity's, etc...I'm
wondering what the benefit of going with a satellite system might be.

Anyway, any advice or suggestions are welcome.  Please post here, or
e-mail me if you're a bandwidth conservationist.

- Peter
Newsgroups: rec.audio
From: jgardner@convex.com (John B. Gardner)
Subject: Re: Imped. Matching w/ Resistors?!
Summary: Is low damping bad?
Keywords: damping amp
Organization: Engineering, CONVEX Computer Corp., Richardson, Tx., USA
Date: Tue, 14 Apr 1992 15:56:23 GMT
X-Disclaimer: This message was written by a user at CONVEX Computer
              Corp. The opinions expressed are those of the user and
              not necessarily those of CONVEX.

In article <181050@pyramid.pyramid.com> lstowell@pyrnova.pyramid.com (Lon Stowell) writes:
>   You want the absolute highest mismatch you can get between the
>   amps internal impedance and the speakers impedance...with the
>   amplifier being the lowest impedance you can get.....(within
>   reason).     
>
>   This way the amplifier shorts the coil of the speaker...so
>   anytime the speaker tries to transfer energy to the amplifier it
>   is shunted by a virtual short--which brings a moving speaker to a
>   dead halt as rapidly as possible when the desired direction of
>   motion changes.  Anything else will cause the cone to "flap in
>   the breeze"...with very tubby bass.   

I've seen this several times in this thread - that high damping is
critical for accurate reproduction.  Well hold on just a second here,
most tube amps, which "audiophiles" drool over and sell there Saabs
to purchase (;-), have very LOW damping factors.  In fact, the
Carver Silver Seven's which cost about $17,000 and are pretty much
universally revered in the audiophile ranks, have a damping factor of 
6!!!  Yes, that's 6!!! Compare this is to solid state amps which are
typically >200.

So, are we flapping our jaws in the electronic breeze, or could someone
explain how an amp with a damping factor of 6 can sound good, despite
what everyone is claming here.

thanks,
-- 
   /\ /_  _    jgardner@convex.com
   \//_//_/
   /     /     "Poor is the man whose pleasures depend
  /    \/       on the permission of another" -Madonna
From: schuster@panix.com (Michael Schuster)
Newsgroups: rec.audio
Subject: New Japanese Coax Power Plug
Date: 14 Apr 92 12:50:02 GMT
Distribution: na
Organization: PANIX - Public Access Unix Systems of NY

New Japanese portable radios feature a standardized coaxial power connector
which is color coded according to voltage (e.g. for the new SONY shortwave
portables yellow means 6V). They are center pin positive and form factor
INCOMPATIBLE with every 'universal adaptor' presently sold. The barrel
appears to be 4MM as opposed to 2.5 or 5mm+ sizes presently used, and
the center pin is VERY LARGE compared to the relatively thin barrel size.

Anyone have a source for these things?


-- 
_______________________________Mike Schuster________________________________
NY Public Access UNIX: schuster@panix.com        | 70346.1745@CompuServe.COM
The Portal (R) System: schuster@cup.portal.com   | MCI Mail,GEnie: MSCHUSTER
Xref: sparky rec.audio:7075 rec.video:5998
From: lstowell@pyrnova.pyramid.com (Lon Stowell)
Newsgroups: rec.audio
Subject: Re: requesting CD player advice
Date: 7 Apr 92 21:40:44 GMT
Reply-To: lstowell@pyrnova.pyramid.com (Lon Stowell)
Organization: Pyramid Technology Corp., Mountain View, CA

In article <1992Apr6.002350.29222@cco.caltech.edu> christos@cco.caltech.edu (Christos S. Christoforou) writes:
>>
>Exactly. If one can NOT distinguish between the sound of two
>players, then why must one pay more to get the better CD player?
   
   You might prefer the track-track seek time?  You might find that
   one tracks semi-defective CD's where the other won't?

   And maybe you prefer the bells and whistles?

   Or perhaps you just like the shape, color, or the nice wooden
   cabinet moldings?

   
   Seriously though, there are audible differences in most players I
   have listened to.  Some are obvious (and IMHO a sign of a real
   serious design compromise or screw-up) and others are a bit more
   subtle.

   Even the most egregious differences still seem to me to be less
   than the differences between a typical high-end arm/cartridge
   combination and mass-fi ones.  And even those pale in comparison
   to the differences in speaker sounds...or even the SAME speaker
   in different rooms and locations.
From: moskowit@tronsbox.UUCP (Len Moskowitz)
Newsgroups: rec.audio
Subject: Re: Help!! Good portable CD cable needed!
Date: 8 Apr 92 19:40:39 GMT
Organization: Xanadu Enterprises Inc.

In article <PHR.92Apr8003259@soda.berkeley.edu> phr@soda.berkeley.edu
(Paul H. Rubin) writes:

>I have one of those cheap portable CD players plugged into my
>stereo receiver, using an adapter cable with a 1/8" stereo
>plug at the CD end and RCA plugs at the receiver end.  I'm on
>my third such cable (the first came with the CD player, the
>second was a random off-brand, the third is made by Sony),
>and they *all* have an intermittent connection at the 1/8"
>plug so often one channel will go out and I have to wiggle
>the plug around to re-establish the connection.  The cables
>are definitely flaky---holding the plug stationary and wiggling
>the wire makes the usual scratchy noises come out of the speaker---
>though the internal socket is likely also not too great.
>
>Does everyone have this problem?  Are these cables all just no good?
>Can someone recommend a good brand?...

I use a good quality pair of RCA phono cables and then I plug them
into an adapter that converts the two RCA phono plugs into a single
stereo mini phone plug.  If I remember rightly, Radio Shack has a
decent quality, durable adapter for less than $5.  They may even have
one that's gold plated.
-- 


Len Moskowitz
moskowit@tronsbox.xei.com
From: andrew@lsa.ncl.omron.co.jp (Andrew Walduck)
Newsgroups: rec.audio
Subject: Re: Blind Listening
Date: 17 Apr 92 06:08:03 GMT
Reply-To: andrew@lsa.ncl.omron.co.jp (Andrew Walduck)


In rec.audio, chrisc@gold.gvg.tek.com (Chris Christensen) writes:
>   This is total bull!  The musicians ARE very concerned with room sound
>   and the quality of Timbre is their LIFE.  Where do you get off with
>   these statements!  To state that a musician in an orchestra isn't a
>   listener is correct, after all they are only creating the gawd damn
>   shit!.

hmmm...does a musician really know how his music sounds to the audience??
I think not. A guitarist may know when he's hot...but he doesn't know
how it sounds to the audience. To know how it sounds to the audience,
he'd have to be in the audience and playing at the same time!! ;-)

Or another example...a bassoonist in an orchestra may know how she sounds,
and she may know how others around her sound...but she does not know
how the orchestra sounds to the audience. A musician in a orchestra, is in
the orchestra, and cannot know how the orchestra sounds to the listener in
the audience, its a physical impossibility.
 
And yes...I am a musician.

Andrew Walduck -- OMRON Japan -- andrew@lsa.ncl.omron.co.jp 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Henry Spencer says "Retch barf." 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: lkoh@elman.austin.ibm.com (Lisa Koh;Austin)
Newsgroups: rec.audio
Subject: PLEASE HELP ME...I'M CLUELESS
Date: 8 Apr 92 17:36:08 GMT
Reply-To: ...@cs.utexas.edu:ibmaus!auschs!YOURCOMPUTER.austin.ibm.com!YOURLOGIN
Organization: IBM Austin, TX

hi there!

I have been agonizing for the past 3 months about shopping for
a stereo system....(i just bought a stereo vcr, so i'm more anxious than ever
to buy a stereo now)...I get advice from everybody from every direction, 
so i thought, what the hell, i might as well ask even *more* people...

what i want to know is if anyone has a complete system (amp, speakers, cd
player are all i need) that they know about & love and can recommend highly.

i'm looking for a pro-logic surround sound amp, a cd carousel w/ all
the great features for lazy people like me, a unified remote, &
long-lasting quality speakers....unfortunately, i have a small
budget...around $1000  :(

should i go w/ kenwood?  jvc?  sony?  i can't afford the top of the line stuff

and also, where should i buy the stuff?  (i live in austin, tx)  i'm afraid
of getting screwed by all those salespeople at the smaller stores

sorry for being such an uninformed consumer, & thanks in advance!

waiting for the deluge,
lisa koh

><> ><> ><> ><> ><> ><> ><> ><> ><> ><> ><> ><> ><> ><> ><> ><> ><>
Xref: sparky rec.audio:7084 rec.audio.pro:398
From: kenyee@ksr.com (Ken Yee)
Newsgroups: rec.audio,rec.audio.pro
Subject: Re: awesome Klipschorns and speaker lifespan
Date: 7 Apr 92 21:43:03 EDT

glantz@enable.tay1.dec.com (Mike Glantz) writes:
>I've heard this said, too, but Klipsch claim that the K-horns have extra-
>ordinarily flat response compared to other speakers. Indeed, their literature
>shows a response curve which is flat to within two dB from below 20Hz to above
>20KHz. Do you or anyone else have any data or references to support the
  I thought the curve matched their specs...-3db at 35hz and 17khz...

 ken
From: wood@uk.tele.nokia.fi (Peter Wood)
Newsgroups: rec.audio
Subject: Closed Minds
Date: 8 Apr 92 06:15:27 GMT
Organization: Nokia Telecommunications, Transmission Product Development,
	Cambridge, UK

>>>>> On 7 Apr 92 05:42:21 GMT, gilchr@ee.ualberta.ca (Andrew Gilchrist) said:
....
Andrew> ...like every other anti-digital rant I've seen. Please spare us...

[anti-analogue rant deleted]

Andrew> Feel free to say what it is about LP recordings that "sound better" to you,
Andrew> but be warned, we all already know "warm", "less grating", "more musical",
Andrew> and some others I can't be bothered to catalog right now.

Doesn't it interest you at all that people find analogue recordings more
musical?  If it doesn't interest you, why do you listen to your music system
at all?  Surely reproducing music is what it's there for?

Why do you write to rec.audio if you're not interested in music, and if you're
convinced that you know all the technical answers about its reproduction
already?

Pete

--
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
- Peter Wood,   Nokia Telecommunications,  Transmission Product Development -
-                    Cambridge, UK.  Tel:  +44 223 423 123                  -
- External Email: wood@uk.tele.nokia.fi         Internal Email: NTL02::WOOD -
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Newsgroups: rec.audio
From: wiking@informatik.tu-chemnitz.de (Jan-Aage Bruvoll)
Subject: Problems with portable CD-player
Organization: tu-chemnitz
Date: Fri, 10 Apr 1992 13:44:14 GMT

Hi! I'm the proud owner of a Kenwood DPC-81 portable CD-player, but
I'm having problems with the darn thing. It seems to be VERY choosy
when it comes to the quality of the CD, it won't accept cheap CDs
unless I give it a punch on the back. (That seems to help against
coughing, too...) The tracking capability is absolutely awful, I
sent it in for repair, but they did nothing about it. Does anybody
have the same problems and/or a solution?

Thanx in advance for any help.

--

Jan-Aage Bruvoll/wiking@informatik.tu-chemnitz.de
The poor Norwegian _boy_ stuck in Germany...
From: p0p4018@zeus.tamu.edu (PREMTHAMKORN, PRAKIT)
Newsgroups: rec.audio
Subject: Corey Greenberg's Unity Gain Preamp.
Date: 16 Apr 92 20:17:00 GMT

preamp?  I itchs to try it but the parts are not cheap (Buff-3J, millitary spec.
cost $65 each, Welborne labs' PS-1 power supply costs $95, etc).  Is it worth 
the investment?  Please comment.
Thank You
Organization: Texas A&M University, Academic Computing Services
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41
From: eccleswn@NeXTwork.Rose-Hulman.Edu
Newsgroups: rec.audio
Subject: Re: More Psuedoscience...: A Golden-Ear perspective on CD players.
Date: 10 Apr 92 18:50:53 GMT
Article-I.D.: cs.1992Apr10.185053.16010
Reply-To: eccleswn@NeXTwork.Rose-Hulman.Edu
Organization: Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology

In article <1992Apr10.101107.23972@bristol.ac.uk> smee@bristol.ac.uk (Paul  
Smee) writes:
> In article <1992Apr8.225520.3291@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu>  
reha@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu (Reha Elci) writes:
> >In article <180948@pyramid.pyramid.com> lstowell@pyrnova.pyramid.com  
(Lon Stowell) writes:
> If, on your system, you CAN hear a difference between 20KHZ sines,
> squares, and triangles, then it means there is something wrong with
> your system -- it's adding distortion at lower frequencies than its
> inputs.  (Must be a name for that.  Sub-harmonics, maybe?)

Here's another way of looking at it.

Take the Fourier transform of triangle, square, and sine waves. You'll  
discover that the sine wave produces an impulse at 20kHz. That is, you'll  
be able to hear the sine wave as it is recorded since the system's  
bandwidth includes all components of the spectrum. The square wave will  
produce an infinite spectrum, as will the triangle wave. So what's this  
all mean? Well, you cannot -- CANNOT -- hear a perfect triangle or square  
wave. That is, you can't even perceive it because your ear is bandwidth  
limited. As to reproduction of it, also unlikely that you'll be able to  
reproduce it with an audio system that is bandwidth limited.

Interesting, huh?

Bill
Newsgroups: rec.audio
From: jstimson@cbrown.claremont.edu
Subject: Imped. Matching w/ Resistors?!
Organization: Harvey Mudd College
Date: 5 Apr 92 23:02:59 PST

I have a pair of Infinity Reference-3s that I am driving with a Yamaha AV-66
Integrated amp.  It is rated at 100W, but has an automatic cutout that shuts it
down at volumes that I consider much quieter than a 100W amp should deliver,
and before any distortion is apparent.  The speakers are nominally 6 ohms.  I
just bought some high-power resistors and put 2 ohms in series with each
speaker.  The result seems to be extended frequency response, especially on the
low end, and greater volume output before it shuts down.  Can anyone explain
why this worked, other than "the magic of impedance-matching"?  Could more
resistance enhance this effect, or should I just experiment?
							- John
(So much for monster cable - I'm using RESISTORS to improve my sound!)
Newsgroups: rec.audio
From: s_fuller@iastate.edu (Steve Fuller)
Subject: Info wanted for Non-audiophile
Organization: Iowa State University, Ames IA
Date: Wed, 15 Apr 1992 05:28:50 GMT

I am looking for titles of books, magazines, or magazine articles
that would help me become a bit more informed about audio terms
and how the things they describe relate to what the best
equipment to buy is. I would prefer material that is unbiased
towards any particular manufacturer or type of system.

Examples of terms that need explaining: headroom, sensitivity,
bandwidth, etc. Articles that are borderline technical are fine,
though my knowledge of electronics is cursory at best.

Basic use will be to educate me for future mid to high end home
audio purchases.

Feel free to post here or send email, I will start following this
group in order to enhance my education. 

Thanks in advance...

-- 
---------------------=---------------------------------------------------
Steve Fuller         = Critics are like eunuchs in a harem. They know
Net.nerd             = how it's done, they've seen it done every day,
s_fuller@iastate.edu = but they're unable to do it themselves. B. Behan
Xref: sparky rec.audio:7036 rec.audio.car:1932
From: lgorbet@carina.unm.edu (Larry P Gorbet ANTHROPOLOGY)
Newsgroups: rec.audio,rec.audio.car
Subject: Re: Sony D303 Discman
Date: 7 Apr 92 15:28:02 GMT
Article-I.D.: lynx.59pj8lj
Distribution: na
Organization: University of New Mexico, Albuquerque

I have a D303 and I like it a lot. The sound is good (better than my fair
bit older home player). And it is quite well done ergonomically.  It has
a lot of repeat modes, a "resume" function (which begins playing a CD
where you left off when the player is turned back on), indexing (handy 
for getting to a place in more complex music and other esoterica -- see
below).

A tribute (albeit a tad offbeat) to its ease of use is that I took it
last weekend on a trip surveying for Boreal Owls in northern New Mexico.
I have a CD of bird calls and songs, and its A-B Repeat mode lets me have
it endlessly repeat a selected segment (in this case the recorded calls 
of just that one species, minus the human voice announcement at the 
beginning.  I have a cheat sheet with all the Track/Index numbers, so I
just punched it up in a few seconds, turned on the Resume function, and
went to work. I was snowshoeing through woods at close to 10,000' with
a light snow falling, new moon, and dark. The D303 was in a little muff 
around my waist with a cord running to a speaker around my neck. Using it 
meant reaching in the muff, turn off the HOLD (which prevents settings
changing when I'm walking around), turn it on. When ready to move on, hit
the OFF button and HOLD.  In 4-5 hours of this, I never needed to use
a flashlight and never had a glitch -- it worked perfectly just by feel.

It has a digital out jack should you have home equipment that can take 
advantage.  You can get a cordless remote, though I have not.  The included
headphones are, as usual, a little marginal.

If you have specific questions, please e-mail.

Good luck in any case.
From: lstowell@pyrnova.pyramid.com (Lon Stowell)
Newsgroups: rec.audio
Subject: Re: NAD or Nakamichi
Date: 9 Apr 92 01:03:06 GMT
Reply-To: lstowell@pyrnova.pyramid.com (Lon Stowell)
Distribution: na
Organization: Pyramid Technology Corp., Mountain View, CA

In article <Apr.8.15.24.47.1992.5632@yoko.rutgers.edu> mohan@yoko.rutgers.edu (Sunil Mohan) writes:
>When I bought my last CD player, I took a pair of headphones to the
>store, and listened to the CD players on display. And I was able to
>distinguish between the different sounds, and picked one that I liked.
>At that time, it was a Sony CDP 970.
>_
   Without knowing where you hooked the headphones up, one doesn't
   know whether to agree with you or not.

   A lot of CD players (including some pretty expensive ones) use
   VERY cheap headphone drive circuits...even though they might have
   excellent line out circuits.  

   If you plug the headphones into an amp then yes, a decent pair of
   phones often reveals differences in players quite nicely.
From: chojnows@osiris (Brian Chojnowski)
Newsgroups: rec.audio
Subject: rotel ra-500, need specs
Date: 10 Apr 92 17:04:01 GMT
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana


	Doees anyone have the specs or manuals for this integrated amp?
I called Rotel and they dont have them anymore.
From: kenyee@ksr.com (Ken Yee)
Newsgroups: rec.audio
Subject: Re: Vandersteen recommendations....
Date: 13 Apr 92 02:57:29 GMT
Article-I.D.: ksr.11387

sbhattac@sales.GBA.NYU.EDU (Shankar Bhattacharyya) writes:
>In what sense do the Martin-Logans blow you over? And which model was that?
  I'm curious too...I listened to the Sequel's and I thought they were
  too bright at times and they had too small of a sweet spot...

 ken