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Re: Lauded by audio magazines?

Let's see:

"The main theme of this book deals with absolute polarity, a very important aspect of sound reproduction which has been much neglected."

"Near the end, Johnsen states his major premise: 'Only one concept must be grasped: Electricity can reverse its phase, while music cannot.' The problem with this statement, from my viewpoint, is that the author uses the word "phase" instead of "polarity" to describe what can happen to the electrical signal. He does this elsewhere in the book also, which can tend to confuse the very issue he is trying to clarify. The problem is one of terminology, not of substance."

"Although I agree with the major premise of the book -that absolute polarity is extremely important- I must say that pages 67 to 74 are full of erroneous and misleading information about loudspeakers. Unfortunately, it is a case of trying to explain, in technical terms, why some loudspeakers behave the way they do, without having the expertise required to do do. Since the author is no loudspeaker system designer and quotes the writings of others who are not designers either, perhaps this excusable."

"The last two chapter are an odd mixture and, therefore, difficult to describe. There is an interesting list of recordings, each marked with the author's own polarity convention, which is relative to the first record for which he determined the correct polarity. It would have been better if he had determined the absolute polarity of his own system before he began marking his collection. As it is, his "normal" and "reverse" designations might be reversed! Oh well, at least they are consistent, which ir more than the whole audio industry can say for itself."

"The tone of Johsen's book is rather quixotic, and I don't think the author will mind me saying so. Rahter, I suspect he will take this a the compliment it is meant to be. This is a potentially controversial book, and it is quite clear the author intends it to be so. I found it fun to read."

Johnsen's book had been reviewed in a negative manner by Pr. Dan Shanefield in Boston Audio Society Speaker. Passage from Clark's reply to the review: "A negative review [Editor's note: two, actually, as well as a generally positive (Ithought) one] of my first and only book recently appeared herein."


Klaus

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Topic - Acoustic polarity, again - KlausR. 02:36:41 05/06/07 (113)
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