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I think I have an explanation

Posted by Russ57 (A) on February 26, 2007 at 06:38:39

In Reply to: I think I need an exorcism, or I have discovered something I can’t accept posted by Russ57 on February 25, 2007 at 06:20:59:

Okay, let’s start by rehashing things. Since Russ has gone to having no crossover between a driver and an amp he thinks the differences between amps are greatly reduced. Not that there aren’t any differences, just that they are much smaller than with normal speakers with passive crossovers.

The good members of the forum have suggested that either he is drunk, possessed, has crappy amps, ears, and/or speakers, or it must be a synergy thing. The guys over on the prop head forum are still freaking over the fact that I stated that (in the past) I could hear differences between different brands/types of “resistors, capacitors, and tubes”.

So now that we have established my total lack of credibility let’s forge ahead and see if I can offer any sort of plausible explanation. Think of it as raving lunatic ramblings to go with your manic Monday commute. Lest anyone think I was offended in anyway fear not. I knew full well the ramifications of making such a post!

Now I have purposely not gone into great detail about the speakers or electronics as I don’t think it is all that relevant (strange as that sounds). But one key part is that lately, due to loaning stuff, I have been running as a 2-way and have not been using the open baffle mid. Also key is that I am using a constant directivity waveguide and most of my previous experience was with dome tweeters.

I think what is going on is a lack of reverberant sound energy, or at least a different pattern of it, caused by the directivity of the waveguide. In short, side wall reflections are greatly reduced. I think this reverberant sound field is responsible for many fine timing clues and creation of the ambience or hall effect of the recording venue. I also think this, the ability to create a 3-D sound stage, is perhaps the single biggest advantage of tubes and vinyl. It would seem this phenomenon, or speaker design flaw, was masked by the reverberant sound field from the open baffle mid previously, so was unnoticed.

Now I have made no attempt at any controlled study. If anything I have been playing around. Often the source is FM radio. The speakers are a cobbled up mess. Room acoustical treatment is non existent. So nothing here anyone can take to the bank. Once I get everything together I’ll experiment with adding a back firing tweeter and report if I find something interesting. Others have had favorable results.

If there is any validity to my theory I suppose it would indicate that a solid state amp and a tube amp would sound much the same on a speaker in an anechoic chamber if said speaker had constant impedance. I suppose ditto on headphones too huh?

Your comments are solicited and welcome.

Russ

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