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.
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[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 , 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 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.