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Quote from rick_m
>>> "I am a staunch believer in the scientific method, it works. It's a good technique. Like Stu, I seek and expect to find at least some, if you would, "scientific" explanations for my observations." <<<
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That is such an obvious approach that no sensible person could possibly disagree with it and it is obviously one which 'unclestu' (and many others) would go along with wholeheartedly.
However I would like to reply to both 'rick' and 'unclestu' with a true story.
Quote from unclestu in a reply to one of my 'postings' :-
>>> "You wonder why most dealers have tons of gear stacked around: simple, they have to move the stuff out. Out of sight=out of mind, not good in sales. AS for the reviewers , I suspect that they are just lazy, being human after all. Linn way back in the 80's was a strong advocate of single speaker demos and many Linn dealers followed suit." <<<
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It was the 'Linn' story which was one of the pivotal happenings in our early investigations over 20 years ago !!!
Yes, Ivor Tiefenbrum of Linn, in the 1980s, claimed that passive speakers, just being present in the listening room, caused a deterioration to the sound from the (playing) speaker system. This was the start of his campaign for 'single speaker demonstration rooms'. Ivor also claimed that a telephone, present in the room, also caused a deterioration to the sound. In fact, during a Hi Fi Show, he demonstrated to a group of people (many of them journalists) how he could alter the sound of his Linn turntable, arm and cartridge, Naim amplifiers and Linn speakers by what he did to the telephone in the Hotel demonstration room. He could make the sound better or worse, depending on what he did to the telephone !!
Ivor's explanation was that the cone of the passive speaker drive unit was moving in sympathy with the air pressure waves in the room, creating additional and unwanted air pressure waves !! His explanation for the telephone having an adverse effect was the same.
There was nothing in Ivor's explanation which was in any way challenging acoustic theories. Yes, a passive speaker cone COULD be moving in sympathy with the air pressure waves being generated in the room by the playing speakers !!
Peter decided to check out Ivor's claim for himself. As we were loudspeaker manufacturers we had, readily available, plenty of speakers and speaker drive units to experiment with.
Peter brought a passive speaker system into the listening room and, sure enough, it had an adverse effect on the sound. Now, he cut out the speaker cone, leaving only the drive unit's metal frame and the magnet assembly and listened again. The adverse effect was STILL there !!! But, there was now NO speaker cone to be moving additional air !!! He then removed the metal frame, leaving only the magnet assembly. The adverse effect was STILL there. So, it must be the magnet assembly causing the problem.
Next he brought the telephone into the room. Yes, the sound was worse. This time Peter got a small boy scout compass and moved it along the body of the telephone. The needle swung around 180 degrees - showing that there was a magnetic field around the telephone.
There had been reports in the Hi Fi magazines of someone claiming that an electronic alarm watch, in the room, had caused a deterioration in the sound. The same explanation had been put forward for this as originally put forward by Ivor - that the tiny transducer in the alarm watch was moving in sympathy with the room's air pressure waves.
We did not have an electronic alarm watch, only an electronic watch, so we brought that into the room. Yes, it had exactly the same adverse effect on the sound. Peter said "What does an electronic watch have ? It has a chip and a battery. What else has a chip and a battery ? A pocket calculator." When the pocket calculator was introduced into the room it had the same adverse effect on the sound. Peter then asked "What uses a battery but does not have a chip ? A pen torch." So, we introduced a pen torch into the room and it, again, had the same adverse effect on the sound. So, Peter took the battery out of the torch, got it working slightly by connecting a resistor across it and stood it on top of the speaker cabinet. Still the same adverse effect on the sound was there !!!
So, we now had the speaker magnet, the magnetic field around the telephone, the battery all having an adverse effect on the sound but NOT the speaker cone which had started the whole experiment in the first place. Here we have an example of an observation (by Ivor) of the sound being adversely affected but his explanation (that the cone of the passive speaker was moving in sympathy with the air pressure waves being generated in the room) was no longer valid - there WAS NO passive speaker cone in the room and yet the adverse effect was still there. The problem now appeared to be magnetism (a polarisation) and batteries (also a polarised object). Peter and I had no explanation as to why these things were having such an adverse effect on the sound so we now had an observation without an explanation. This situation continued for a couple of years.
Now, 'rick' and 'uncle stu' much as you would like "scientific" explanations for any observations - if there aren't any to hand, what are YOU going to do ? Nothing ? Or something ? Are you going to tell anyone what you have discovered ? Or are you going to keep silent because you do not have any (scientific) explanation ? Even though the whole audio industry is about "listening to music" ? How wonderful it would be if there could be valid and unchallengeable 'scientific explanations' instantaneously for what people are observing, for what people are 'hearing'.
Ivor had an observation but (as it eventually turned out) with the wrong explanation. It wasn't the passive speaker CONE causing the problem. But, as the passive speaker cone COULD be seen/understood as moving sympathetically with the room's air pressure waves then Ivor's explanation was accepted. During my 50 years experience in the Hi Fi industry, I have seen this happen fairly regularly. Something is observed as 'changing the sound' and, if an explanation can somehow be stretched, pulled, squeezed from within conventional electronic or acoustic theories, then it stands a chance of being accepted (or at least taken notice of) !!
Some retailers who did not have other rooms in which to store unused speaker systems would hide them behind curtains in their demonstration rooms, believing that the passive cones would not therefore be affected if behind curtains. Other retailers would build special cupboards in their dem rooms for the speakers not needed. And we have seen reviewers position passive speakers, in their listening rooms, with the speaker cones facing the wall - again fully believing that this would solve the problem. None of them realised that the speaker cone was not the problem !!!
No doubt, unclestu, you will say that 'of course it is known that magnets and magnetism in a listening room is a problem for sound', but, with that belief structure, you will find it difficult to believe it when I say that all the magnets, the telephone, the battery etc "if correctly treated" could still remain in the listening room and the sound would be even better !!!
You pointed out to me that all you have to do to detect a magnetic field is to have some iron filings, scattered on a piece of paper, to detect a magnetic field. Yes, of course.
Or have a simple compass. Yes, of course. But, with 'treatment' the passive (speaker) magnet, in the room, will no longer be a problem for the sound - EVEN THOUGH EXACTLY THE SAME FULL MAGNETIC FIELD WILL STILL BE THERE - in the room !! Ditto with the 'treatment' of the telephone. Ditto, with the 'treatment' of the battery. In fact, when the battery is 'treated' it actually becomes a beneficial device - in the listening room !!!!
What we did next is what you have to do when you are carrying out research but have no explanation. You put the (mental) problem on a (mental) shelf, awaiting such time as an suitable explanation DOES emerge.
Which - a few years later - DID emerge !!! That, as they say, is another long story, but one well known to the people who have been interested enough to find out !!!
Regards,
May Belt.
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