[
Top of Page ]
[ Contact Us ]
[ Support/Wish List ]
[ Copyright © 2008, Audio Asylum, all rights reserved ]
[ General ] [ Speakers ] [ Tubes ] [ Vinyl ] [ Digital ] [ Hi-Rez ] [ Video Asylum ] [ Cables ] [ Tweaks/DIY ] [ Music ] [ Films ]
80.177.28.171
This reply has had to be under a new heading because, not having the versatility of being able to easily navigate the Internet, I cannot now easily find rick m's original posting which I have been composing a reply to.
Quote from rick m :-
>>> "I really haven't 'lapsed' so much as have yet to arrive." <<<
Because I think you are 'nearly there', rick m, I will persist some more.
>>> "I reckon that improving the accuracy of the sound system itself is always a good thing. Whether time and money would be better spent elsewhere, such as tweaking the environment I couldn't say. Since I'm interested in electronics, that's where I tend to focus." <<<
Of course. This I fully understand. I am used to such a sentiment being voiced by 99% of the electronic engineers I have ever met. They say "I am a skilled electronics engineer and I want to get a technical solution to the problems I think are still there. When I have GOT that technical solution, then I will look at other aspects of what can affect 'sound'."
I am constantly attempting to try to get people to 'take off the blinkers' so, in order to 'cut to the core' I am going to be both outrageously simplistic and exaggerate somewhat - but only to make a point !!
As you are an engineer, rick m, my interpretation of what you are trying to do is :-
You are looking seriously at the importance of cosseting the audio signal through the audio system.
You are working from the belief that technically the audio signal is, at this present time, being cosseted through the system (hypothetically) to a technical standard of about 70% and you intend to concentrate your time and energy on increasing that to (hypothetically) a technical standard of 90% and, if it does take time (to use your own suggested time span of 20 years), then so be it !!
THEN, when you have achieved THAT technical standard and the audio signal has been cosseted to the best of your expertise and knowledge, then you will have a look at what others are describing - i.e the various 'tweaks' which people are reporting have improved their sound. In other words, you are seeing your task as working on a (hypothetical) 70% present day technical standard and improving that by 20% but that you consider that what others are doing (so called 'tweaks' in other areas) must only amount to a hypothetical 5 - 10 % improvement and that it would be a waste of your time and energy investigating this (other) hypothetical 5 - 10 % until you have solved the (hypothetical) 20 % technical deficiency i.e gained more technical *accuracy* !!
So, rick m, as Oliver Heaviside said regarding Maxwell's theory - "I would reverse it."
Now, rick m, my view, based on over 50 years experience of working in the audio industry, coupled with our own research, and then coupling all that with other people's reported experiences and results is that the technical standard of the cosseting of the audio signal through the audio system is ALREADY at the standard of (a hypothetical) 90% - and has been at that brilliant technical standard for over a decade now !!!!!
That this (hypothetical) 90% technical standard means that a wealth of information has already been 'handled' perfectly adequately by the majority of the audio equipment available and presented into the room. And, in my view, all the clues are there, and have been there for a considerable number of years, pointing to this concept, hence people's numerous reports of quite profound improvements when they have carried out various 'room treatments'.
I would seriously suggest that the audio signal IS and HAS BEEN for well over a decade cosseted brilliantly to a (hypothetical) 90% and that that wealth of information IS ALREADY in the room, but because of the problems caused by the modern environment we are only able to resolve (hypothetically) considerably less than 50% of what is already available - hence all the reported benefits of numerous 'tweaks' improving the sound !!!!
Let me expand on what I call 'removing the blinkers'. I always like to use the parallel of the Dr. Joseph Lister (Germs in the air) story of 100 years ago because it IS such a parallel with today's audio industry.
The surgeons of that time were constantly striving to 'hone' their surgical skills - to try to reduce the time for carrying out such as amputations from (say) 10 minutes to 8 minutes - in attempts to cut down the time available for blood loss and to cut the time for the micro-organisms which caused septicaemia to erupt spontaneously (because they had been taught that these micro-organisms were in the patients own bad blood and had been taught that it was purely up to chance whether these micro-organisms erupted or not !!).
However, all these surgeons had to do was to take notice of the clues all around them - at what a few of the other surgeons were realising, doing and saying. That if they wanted a better patient survival rate, then the present time of 10 minutes for an amputation was perfectly acceptable - PROVIDING they were prepared to wash their hands, wash their instruments, change their dirty, filthy, blood stained, pus stained frock coats. That the micro-organisms which caused septicaemia were already there 'in the air', on their hands, on their instruments and on their frock coats - not in the patients own blood !! But the majority of them couldn't, wouldn't !!
Were they ignorant. Probably not - because that was what they had been taught.
But, blinkered - YES !! And all it needed was the removal of their blinkers. Their surgical skills and expertise were still as important, their desire to 'hone' their surgical skills even further was important - all it needed was the removal of their blinkers - but it took decades for the new concepts of using antiseptics techniques and antiseptic gauzes to become an acceptable and regular medical procedure.
I have many contenders from within the audio industry for the parallel role of Dr. J. Hughes Bennett who asked "Where are the germs ? Show them to us and we will believe. Has anybody seen these germs ?" - And I am sure we all know of many contenders from within the contributors to Audio Asylum asking the parallel questions (cue to such as RichardBassNut) "Where are the measurements ? Show them to us and we will believe. Has anybody seen these measurements ?" Or, "Where are the DBTs ?" Show them to us and we will believe. Has anybody seen the DBTs ?"
And for the role of the doctors who used the silly catch-phrase "Shut the door quickly or Professor Lister's germs will get in."
The historical reports of the 'germs in the air' concept and subsequent controversy shows the full spectrum of reactions (again an exact parallel with audio).
From :-
William MacCormac, later to be the President of the Royal College of Surgeons, became one of Lister's staunchest defenders.
Dr. Pearson Cresswell, Chief Surgeon to the Dowlais Iron Works published that the use of Carbolic Acid.... has created quite a revolution in the surgical practice..... in every instance with marked success.
Through :-
The Lancet reporting that "Mr Lister's treatment does not find much favour in London. Are the conditions of suppuration different here from those in Glasgow, or is it that the antiseptic treatment is not tried with care ?"
James Paget of Bart's Hospital found in the few cases where carbolic acid had been used "it had been useless" but thought it could be because of some error of mode of application.
To :-
Mr Nunneley of the Leeds Hospital stated that he did not accept the germ theory of disease. He had treated his patients without carbolic acid while his colleagues who had used the antiseptic obtained no better results.
The problem hindering progress throughout history (all history) has not necessarily been ignorance but because of a blinkered approach.
I will continue with my discussion shortly.
Regards,
May Belt.
Follow Ups:
Top of Page ]
[ Contact Us ]
[ Support/Wish List ]
[ Copyright © 2008, Audio Asylum, all rights reserved ]