Propeller Head Plaza Technical and scientific discussion of amps, cables and other topics.

---

[ Follow Ups ] Thread: [ Display  All  Email ] [ Propeller Head Plaza ]

---

[ Alert Moderator ]

---

Gatekeeper? Naw...

Posted by rp1@surfnetusa.com (A) on April 10, 2007 at 10:17:52

In Reply to: "This is NOT the room for discussion of tweaks." Hmm... posted by clarkjohnsen on April 10, 2007 at 08:56:16:

I don't recall getting any authority in the matter, I am just expressing an opinion; you know, like all the others.

I agree that there was a more "human" excitement to things in the old days. With less ability to do the math (since the equations could be so hard to work in any real detail) there was a lot more trial-and-error. I remember more than one engineering text book giving the math...then saying it was easier to build the circuit and apply trial-and-error to get the proper values!

But the math is easy for the computer to do now and it is one hell of a lot easier to design the circuit you want to perform the way you want. Don't knock it, even John Curl uses it, along with his knowledge of what parts sound best in what applications. The math and engineering is the science, the knowing what to use where is the art. Even you, Clark, have to admit that the AVERAGE piece of gear being reviewed nowdays is better by far than the AVERAGE of yesteryear. The "best" is still arguable, since it is possible to stumble across something that may take years to quantify, if ever.

I agree that the JAES is suffering from hardening of the (intellectual) arteries. But there is NO shortage of folk experimenting and, yes, playing with, tweaks and designs. I just think that this room was supposed to be a room for engineering based disucssions.

That may indeed include cryoing parts and assemblies and so on. I would love to see the big guns here talking about that. But I don't think that things can be stretched to include foil haning in the air or paper under the feet of your gear, nor do I think that includes special oil scents and so on. Note, I am not adressing the efficacy of such things, only whether or not they belong in this particular room. (Yes, music does sound better if the room smells good! Humans are a unified organsism; one should not seperate our senses except for certain experiments to isolate hearing like DBT and so on.) There are rooms aplenty in AA for such discussions; it is not like the subjectivists (we ALL are to some degree) don't have forums for their ideas; most of AA is devoted to them! (As it should be, who would want to discuss "objectivist" music?)

It just seems that no engineering based forum lasts for very long until the pure subjectivists take it over and chase off the engineers. Great engineers have one foot in both camps; they do rely very much on the math, but also on intuition fed with years of experience and "feel" for their subject. But...they DO need to be rigorous in the logic of their craft. Talk of freezing cd's, or foil in the air or whatnot, tends to drive them off. (Even if they might employing such tricks at home.) It is the nature of the beast.
Give Me Ambiguity or Give Me Something Else!

This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors:

Kimber Kable

---

[ Top of Page ] [ Contact Us ] [ Support/Wish List ] [ Copyright © 2025, Audio Asylum, all rights reserved ]

---

[ General ] [ Speakers ] [ Tubes ] [ Vinyl ] [ Digital ] [ Hi-Rez ] [ Video Asylum ] [ Cables ] [ Tweaks/DIY ] [ Music ] [ Films ]

---