From: randy@unix.ecs.rpi.edu (Randall Bradley)
Newsgroups: rec.audio.high-end
Subject: Re: Antique Audio Equipment
Date: Wed, 18 Nov 1992 22:15:12 GMT
Organization: Rensselaer Design Research Center, RPI, Troy, NY
NNTP-Posting-Host: 129.89.7.4
Keywords: Western Electric, Altec
Originator: tjk@csd4.csd.uwm.edu

Is this really the "high-end" forum??

I'm not sure. Especially what I've been reading lately, like that
stuff about antique electronics. Dick Pierce got most of it,
but what he missed is very important. 

For example, the ideas that were expressed in the original 
article; like what some things were done certain ways, and how
"weak" frequencies were amplified (or something) is absurd, and 
absolutely off the wall.

Yes, it is a very romantic view of design, taken from a point
of view of little no understanding of the subject. I guess it
is an attempt to explain things that are beyond comprehension.


The classic quote is (and I paraphrase) "Any sufficiently advanced
technology is indistinguishable from MAGIC." 


While audio does at times appear to be like magic, and does 
embody elements which are magical, it is not magic. For example,
the reason that a 2A3/6A3 triode power tube sounds "better" than 
an EL34 (as some think) is that it is a TRIODE. And, triodes have
a distinctly different transfer curve than pentodes. Which is 
again very different from bipolar transistors.

But, it can be demonstrated that very well designed, and built 
amplifers of any technology can sound very close, so as to be 
virtually impossible to tell apart.

Before the rest of the crew flames out and goes nuts on me, this
does not mean that all amplifiers sound the same. They do not.

The reasons for the differences are manifold, and it would take to 
much space to educate the masses from this forum. But, amplifiers
that are not clipped (at all) in actual service, with proper design
and materials and speakers, etc., etc. don't sound particularly at all.

The differences of things like oil filled caps and carbon resistors,
compared to teflon and foil caps and bulk metal film resistors start
to "look" and sound more important than the basic topology of "good"
amplifier designs. Eh?

The reasons that some systems sound NATURAL, not "squeezed" or 
some other phrases, are complex, and cannot be reduced to simple 
philosophies as suggested by dieter in Antique Audio Equipment.

Or, put it another way, there are just as many horrible sounding 
systems today, as there were 30 years ago. "Squeezing" has nothing to
do with it. Horns are not in and of themselves a panacea for anything.
Efficiency itself does not imply fidelity or accuracy,nor does 
high power or "micro levels of distortion."

In the end the goal is to recreate the closest approximation to a
live event (the recorded "live" event) that you can, in your listening
room. That means the the result must be able to "fool" your ears into
believing that it is not an electronic/mechanical device operating.

That is NATURAL sound, that is the goal of high-end. The only question
for you, the audiophile, is which set of compromises are you willing
to accept, and which are unacceptable. Then, select the gear that 
gives the appropriate results, without regard to philosophy or vintage.

That's all folks!


			-_-randy_-_