Audio tech

[nacktman]

Since this forum is to be about all types of technical stuff I thought I'd ask this here.

How many of you out there are fellow audiotechs and love fiddling around with sound mixing?

Okay, maybe this is a generational thing, but who thinks the audiotechs of today are just lazy and kick up the bottom and obscure the rest of the spectrum in the mistaken idea that is what increases the volume of the sound?

[MJ_KC]

I prefer balance in the size of the speakers that I use so there is no over emphasis on any frequency range. What I have never understood is the need to put 16 inch speakers in a vehicle and have such extreme low frequency vibrations that it can actually cause the sheet metal to rattle.

[NakedGary]

I attended a CES Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, NV many years ago, and outside the center they were displaying and demonstrating a Volks Wagon beetle with two thousand watts [1K per channel stereo amplifier with huge speakers.

The vehicle was actually visually bouncing slightly on the tires, and some younger visitors would actually get in this vehicle and shut the door. Must have been more of a pain pressure thrill than a music experience. Even outside a few feet away the pressure waves felt strange on your clothes and skin.

[NakedGary]

nacktman

An old audiophile here back to the mid to late 50's before Stereophonic, 8-Track, Cassette, and Transistors amplifiers.

We use to make our monophonic audio gear from plans or kits, components, and vacuum tubes.

Later had a McIntosh MC-240 Stereo tube amplifier with a chrome chassis [worth a thousand to 4K today], Dynaco kit pre and power amps, Then it was separate stereo pre-amplifiers, RIAA equalizers for the turntables variable reluctance cartridges, & stand alone FM Stereo Tuners, and open reel tape recorders.

I still have some of that gear and crank it up once in a while, and use some AR3 Acoustic Research speaker enclosures daily that are from the sixties.

Then vinyl and tape were king, today CD's, DVD's and all solid state electronics integrated home theater boxes with HD Radio are king in the home, with WMA/MP3, I-pods and portable mobile electronic the size of a deck of cards have good sound to your ears, but not the quality, faithful, and glass clear fidelity and power you would mistake for live performances. Those were the days...I enjoyed tinkering around and enjoying the results of quality audiophile gear & music almost forgotten about today, or unknown to our younger generation today.
.

[kdsisa]

Yep, though I used to be much more into it than now. I've run out of time to enjoy listening to the good stuff, both the music and the equipment. Nowdays I've ripped my CD's to a computer and play them off of that. Not exactly the finest source around, even in lossless format. One of these days I'd like to get back in to it, just need the money and the time to enjoy it.

kdsisa

[MJ_KC]

Originally posted by kdsisa:
Yep, though I used to be much more into it than now. I've run out of time to enjoy listening to the good stuff, both the music and the equipment. Nowdays I've ripped my CD's to a computer and play them off of that. Not exactly the finest source around, even in lossless format. One of these days I'd like to get back in to it, just need the money and the time to enjoy it.

kdsisa
I also listen to music primarily on my computer. It has a Dolby 4.1 sound card and speakers so it actually sounds pretty good. The second place is in my truck or Corvette.

I seldom play music on the system attached to my HDTV, even though it is about $4000 worth of tuner/amplifier and speakers. It is just a lot easier to play some music while using my computer.

[NakedGary]

I use portable MP3 players like the I-POD but better, and more functions while at the resort as they do not allow speaker radios, or boom boxes.

I get pretty good sounding WMA/MP3 transfers, and can listen and record FM, and use it for memos or voice recording and it has line in and encoder so you can record in several formats, such as PCM, MP3 etc. This thing fits in the palm of you hand and has a SD slot and internal memory, and can be used as a USB2 thumb or flash drive also to unload my camera images.

So home, vehicles, or at the resort I can enjoy pretty good quality music, e-books, or voice blogs from a cigarette pack sized device.

[DJ Guy Productions]

Overall when It comes to anything Audio/ Video first thing is that If your a true audio buff, you have to remember, Not everyones house is set up for huge club speakers, that will break the windows and scare everyone in your area. You can get a really nice set of speakers and a great amp. That will do the same thing, but in a much smaller size. Sure alot of computers now come with sound cards that will give you just as good of sound, without having the expense of new speakers.

And in regards to anything that is HDTV, unless you have a satellite receiver and a HDTV Satellite dish, and hook that up using the component video cables, the cables, that are red,blue, green, directly from the receiver to your LCD, or Plasma TV. This will give you one awesome picture, Yes cable insists on saying they have HDTV picture quality, but over all from what I have seen Satellite takes the cake, 2 thumbs up.

Alot of people think that running the audio portion directly from any TV has great sound, It really cuts back alot, and wont sound as good going directly out of your audio or video unit, directly into your amp. TRUST me I changed a few friends set ups, and they where shocked, and thanked me for explaning to them how nice the sound quality really is.
Myself, I would love a system that has huge speakers, and 2 seperate 18" non powered subs, and all the awesome audio/video things to go with it, It's my passion and I love it all.

SO yes I am one of the Audio/Video Gooorus....



Originally posted by nacktman:
Since this forum is to be about all types of technical stuff I thought I'd ask this here.

How many of you out there are fellow audiotechs and love fiddling around with sound mixing?

Okay, maybe this is a generational thing, but who thinks the audiotechs of today are just lazy and kick up the bottom and obscure the rest of the spectrum in the mistaken idea that is what increases the volume of the sound?

[DoctorSurferDude]

As a hobby....yes. Audio and Video.

You can check out some of my recordings at SamandPam.com (http://www.samandpam.com) but be forewarned, it's mostly dumb stuff....

[johny]

Nacktsman: I am working only at Steinberg Wavelab 5 and 2 versions, then AVS_AudioTools soft - those all for spectrohistogram needs but not mixong. Strong tools must say. And other I use about sound its propagation programAtkins Site Noise and Road Noise 2000. If interested about cracked trial versions, may ask.

[rone]

Originally posted by DoctorSurferDude:
As a hobby....yes. Audio and Video.

You can check out some of my recordings at SamandPam.com (http://www.samandpam.com) but be forewarned, it's mostly dumb stuff....

Not so dumb, IMO. I enjoyed the link very much and it made me smile -- which is a hard thing to do. Thanks.

[usuallylurk]

Originally posted by NakedGary:
nacktman

An old audiophile here back to the mid to late 50's before Stereophonic, 8-Track, Cassette, and Transistors amplifiers.

We use to make our monophonic audio gear from plans or kits, components, and vacuum tubes.

Later had a McIntosh MC-240 Stereo tube amplifier with a chrome chassis [worth a thousand to 4K today], Dynaco kit pre and power amps, Then it was separate stereo pre-amplifiers, RIAA equalizers for the turntables variable reluctance cartridges, & stand alone FM Stereo Tuners, and open reel tape recorders.

I still have some of that gear and crank it up once in a while, and use some AR3 Acoustic Research speaker enclosures daily that are from the sixties.

Then vinyl and tape were king, today CD's, DVD's and all solid state electronics integrated home theater boxes with HD Radio are king in the home, with WMA/MP3, I-pods and portable mobile electronic the size of a deck of cards have good sound to your ears, but not the quality, faithful, and glass clear fidelity and power you would mistake for live performances. Those were the days...I enjoyed tinkering around and enjoying the results of quality audiophile gear & music almost forgotten about today, or unknown to our younger generation today.
.

A friend of mine had an H.H. Scott FM stereo receiver (circa 1964), a separate amplifier, and KLH Speakers to boot.

I have a KLH stereo - just an FM radio with a 33 / 45 RPM player and two small speakers. It works.

Back in the 1980s, you'd go to a ham radio / electronic fest and see H.H. Scott and McIntosh amps and receivers in the junk bins for $5 or less.

Not today! Glass audio has its audience...

I still have my Lafayette LR-200 and the Criterion speakers that came with it - the Garrard turntable is long gone -- but still, some pretty neat sounds. For me, it would be just fine ... but ....

I can remember listening to Robert J. Lurtesma on WGBH-FM - "Morning Pro Musica"....

In this day and age we now have HDTV, and Surround Sound 7.1 - so I have a Yamaha VX-R661 -- two Yamaha tower speakers, a Cambridge Soundworks 10S powered subwoofer, and a CS Center Channel plus. And those 35 year old Criterion speakers are the rear surround speakers in the network right now....

Back in the late 60s-early 70s - there was a lot of obscure stuff on FM, lots of classical stuff, lots of jazz. We still have a classical music station in Boston - WCRB-FM.

[NakedGary]

Ah Boston thats where my Acoustic Research AR3's were made and from still used daily I got them in 1963 or so. Still used daily...good stuff they made in those days Heavy Duty, Long Lasting, and quality.
.

[usuallylurk]

Originally posted by NakedGary:
Ah Boston thats where my Acoustic Research AR3's were made and from still used daily I got them in 1963 or so. Still used daily...good stuff they made in those days Heavy Duty, Long Lasting, and quality.
.

As long as you don't abuse, get wet, etc. those old speakers they'll last forever.

Even an old AM console radio - those things from the 40s -- will play music in a fantastic fashion, although it won't be stereo.

And also, we're lucky in Boston -- we still have what is likely one of the last commercial classical stations in the country in WCRB-FM.

I'm not a classical music fan per se, but I like to put it on once in awhile. Around 18-22 months ago, someone bought the station in an attempt to "frequency swap" it with another station he owns.

But in the WCRB founder's estate, there was a provision that the station must remain all-classical in perpetuity. So he did the frequency swap, but he lost in his attempt to switch it over to another format.

[WacoTX]

WRR in Dallas is a classical station but only has a 100 mile range.

[Daveinct]

At the risk of diverting the thread even further, beethoven.com is available wherever there's an internet connection, and is also broadcast on radio on WCCC 1290AM and WCCC 106.9FM HD2 in Hartford, CT.

Very good sound quality on the internet side. AM is AM, haven't heard the HD2 broadcast.

Dave

[WNYjoe17]

Have not heard their particular HD2 signal.
But in general, AM is reduced to around 3-5 KHz of bandwidth. Standard FM is 15KHz. HD1 or HD2 can take that to a full 20 KHz, noise-free, and in stereo. A definite step up from AM.

Depending on the exact settings, you can get currently 3 HD signals into the allotted bandwidth with reasonable fidelity. The 3rd one will usually suffer, since you can only get a total of 96 KHz. Ibiquity is working on ways to allow more than 96 KHz and/or improve the quality on the existing 96 KHz to allow for better HD3, plus HD4, etc.

The general math is 44.1 for HD1, 32 for HD2 & 19.2 for HD3. That sample rate translates into 9.5 KHz of actual audio bandwidth. Not CD quality. But a lot better than standard AM.

Joe
Radio Engineer

[usuallylurk]

Originally posted by WNYjoe17:
Have not heard their particular HD2 signal.
But in general, AM is reduced to around 3-5 KHz of bandwidth. Standard FM is 15KHz. HD1 or HD2 can take that to a full 20 KHz, noise-free, and in stereo. A definite step up from AM.

Depending on the exact settings, you can get currently 3 HD signals into the allotted bandwidth with reasonable fidelity. The 3rd one will usually suffer, since you can only get a total of 96 KHz. Ibiquity is working on ways to allow more than 96 KHz and/or improve the quality on the existing 96 KHz to allow for better HD3, plus HD4, etc.

The general math is 44.1 for HD1, 32 for HD2 & 19.2 for HD3. That sample rate translates into 9.5 KHz of actual audio bandwidth. Not CD quality. But a lot better than standard AM.

Joe
Radio Engineer

I've noticed that some stations have better stereo separation than others. It used to be noticable - VERY noticable - on phonograph records from the 60s - the British import LPs had much better sound than the American ones.

Now my next challenge is to recable my stereo / video theatre...