Thank you all for your kind thoughts, the new plumbing is taking some getting use to and I keep getting told off because I haven't to lift anything for a few weeks even a kettle half full... this is causing some fun at home as I have to get the wife or kids to do stuff for me and the novelty is wearing off for them!!!! I need a cattle prod to remind them LOL 
My only complaint was I spent 2 weeks in hospital and didn't get one bed bath, this modern attitude towards recovery does have its down side... In fact the second day after the op they got me out of bed, only could manage 10 minutes, but I was amazed at how fast your body does recover, though as they cut a piece of my intestine out to make my new conduit, my guts are only just starting to function properly.
Looking forward to more of Bills posts from Audiostream, I am a big fan of the site having been banned for asking relevant questions and posting opinions that were contrary to the beliefs held by the open minded dictator that runs the site, whom I believe was created by the nocturnal liaisons between Kermit and Miss Piggy...
My only complaint was I spent 2 weeks in hospital and didn't get one bed bath, this modern attitude towards recovery does have its down side...
In fact the second day after the op they got me out of bed, only could manage 10 minutes, but I was amazed at how fast your body does recover, though as they cut a piece of my intestine out to make my new conduit, my guts are only just starting to function properly.Looking forward to more of Bills posts from Audiostream, I am a big fan of the site having been banned for asking relevant questions and posting opinions that were contrary to the beliefs held by the open minded dictator that runs the site, whom I believe was created by the nocturnal liaisons between Kermit and Miss Piggy...
I just happened onto his thread, and dove right into the cable direction discussion from 3 tears ago...While it has probably been discussed did anyone note that audio is AC? So, unless you have some wicked DC offset from your old Adcom 5636 DC coupled Amp, there is no net electron flow. There is a wave propagation down the cable, which travels at the speed of light. At 20 KHz, the wavelength is 49K feet, so the wave is effectively the same value at every point on a 10 foot long cable. In this situation, and at these scales "directionality" is meaningless. Even in a DC situation it would also be meaningless, but with AC is double silly...
"...banned for asking relevant questions and posting opinions that were contrary to the beliefs held by the open minded dictator..."
Sounds like where the USA is headed!!!
Cheers,
Scott
Wow, for $1395 you get a 16 GB SSD Network attached drive ...apparently with a switching "wall wart" block supply. Not much else in that box.. But it's good to know they managed those resonances, since resonance can really mess up a digital data stream
I just bought an 8 TB NAS drive from Western Digital (OK, it is not SSD) with most of the same features for $400. I use that for data storage, not for music, but...I have another 4 TB drive dedicated only as a music server. It was also plug and play, connected to my WiFi network and directly plugged to an Arcam AirDAC via Ethernet. Supports VOX, iTunes, Arcam, etc, etc..
The Roon player he describes is nothing more than a user interface with a bot that goes and creates album liner equivalent content. That's fun, but it has zip to do wight he audio quality. All of the impact on audio quality from software will be from the CODEC, about which he says nothing. Although with the long list of formats the box supports, one can imagine there is an array of off the shelf plain jane (probably shareware) CODECs onboard...
I have 53 albums, about 20 of which are high def 24/96 FLAC encoded albums that run about 1.5 GB each, on that drive and it is already at 35 GB..a significant HD library is going to need at least 1 TB of space...so 16 GB, especially for $1400 is truly silly..
That said, the Nimitra does have a nice pretty box. My WD drive is pretty, well, PC looking... but then, it is hidden way inside my stereo, which only has a simple face plate and a turntable for the user interface...
However, to put this in perspective, a 2 TB SSD SATA module runs about $600, and a multiple bay NAS drive to hold a few of those would run about $250...For more than 10X the storage.. And so far, the only this this device appears to offer is storage and network connectivity.
Thanks for the morning laugh!
S
Just read the Audiophile Optimizer review. Impressive!!
One wonders, if the grotesque Windows OS is getting in the way ("it looks like you are trying to listen to an audio file!"), why not get rid of it entirely, instead of using a tool like this to l of the parts you don't need? Whatever is left just still a gross melange of code, little of which is suited to running an audio streaming device.
In most PCs the PC itself is not actually doing any of the audio work. That would be the "sound card"...which probably has a co-processor to run the CODEC. So this sounds like true software snake oil to me, but I am sure it eliminate that pesky sibilance, avoids graininess and fibrousness in the upper registers, frees up the low end for true pithy impact, broadens the soundstage beyond the scope of the original recording venue, and kills off any heaviness or slag in the midrange...
A friend and I have been making a new audio server system based on the Raspberry Pi Zero. The Pi Zero is about $20, and runs a stripped down version of Linux (which is easy, since Linux is very modular anyway). It has more than enough juice to pull files off the HDD, decode them into an I2S stream, and send them off to our 24/96 rate converter and DSP crossover/equalizer and DAC board. Remember, at 24/96 the bits are coming at you at 4.03 MHz, so a core running at 700 MHz can issue about 175 instructions per bit, or, more usefully, 4200 instructions per audio sample... Which is pretty impressive for a $20 part the size of two books of matches... The Pi supports track and source selection commands from a remote app running on an IOS or Android device (iPad, iPhone, etc), and manages the DAC (mute on change, and volume ramp up) during track changes to avoid audio artifacts from the change in the digital stream (aka pops and clicks). You do not need much more.. So, if you want to strip down, strip off the laptop and the cumbersome Intel Motherboard.. as well as the boat anchor Windows OS...
Scott
One wonders, if the grotesque Windows OS is getting in the way ("it looks like you are trying to listen to an audio file!"), why not get rid of it entirely, instead of using a tool like this to l of the parts you don't need? Whatever is left just still a gross melange of code, little of which is suited to running an audio streaming device.
In most PCs the PC itself is not actually doing any of the audio work. That would be the "sound card"...which probably has a co-processor to run the CODEC. So this sounds like true software snake oil to me, but I am sure it eliminate that pesky sibilance, avoids graininess and fibrousness in the upper registers, frees up the low end for true pithy impact, broadens the soundstage beyond the scope of the original recording venue, and kills off any heaviness or slag in the midrange...
A friend and I have been making a new audio server system based on the Raspberry Pi Zero. The Pi Zero is about $20, and runs a stripped down version of Linux (which is easy, since Linux is very modular anyway). It has more than enough juice to pull files off the HDD, decode them into an I2S stream, and send them off to our 24/96 rate converter and DSP crossover/equalizer and DAC board. Remember, at 24/96 the bits are coming at you at 4.03 MHz, so a core running at 700 MHz can issue about 175 instructions per bit, or, more usefully, 4200 instructions per audio sample... Which is pretty impressive for a $20 part the size of two books of matches... The Pi supports track and source selection commands from a remote app running on an IOS or Android device (iPad, iPhone, etc), and manages the DAC (mute on change, and volume ramp up) during track changes to avoid audio artifacts from the change in the digital stream (aka pops and clicks). You do not need much more.. So, if you want to strip down, strip off the laptop and the cumbersome Intel Motherboard.. as well as the boat anchor Windows OS...
Scott
Yeah, it is actually pretty cool. Its interesting that the Core supports what appears to be a clean architecture and a good quality CODEC suite. And then the cool user interface (and presumably background server with all the album art/info content) runs on the target control device (e.g. Mac/PC or IOS device).
I think I'll look into this as an alternate to the Max2Play software we have been fiddling with. That user interface isn't much better than iTunes, and the CODECs are just OK. Not sure why they bother with 32/384 depth/rate for RoonReady.. seems like overkill, especially since 95% of the available HD content is 24/96.
Scott
To ER (Audio) is awesome
Hello, all.
I'm wondering what the minimum gauge of speaker wire I could use from a pair of 100 watt SAE 2200 power amps to a pair of 505 mini panel electrostatics, in kit form from Australia.
Against all my previous expectations, the supplied leads from the transformers appear to be 35 gauge, or possibly even smaller.
Any reason to be running my usual 14 gauge speaker wire from the amp to the transformers' inputs?
Is virtually all speaker wire thicker than 35 gauge just a marketing ploy to waste copper?
Or is this because it's pushing high voltage, low amperage into what I'm figuring is about a 20 ohm load?
If these little wires are harming the signal, I can't hear it; these are the first drivers I've ever connected, and gotten quite wonderful sound from, with zero tweaking.
Hello, all.
I'm wondering what the minimum gauge of speaker wire I could use from a pair of 100 watt SAE 2200 power amps to a pair of 505 mini panel electrostatics, in kit form from Australia.
Against all my previous expectations, the supplied leads from the transformers appear to be 35 gauge, or possibly even smaller.
Any reason to be running my usual 14 gauge speaker wire from the amp to the transformers' inputs?
Is virtually all speaker wire thicker than 35 gauge just a marketing ploy to waste copper?
Or is this because it's pushing high voltage, low amperage into what I'm figuring is about a 20 ohm load?
If these little wires are harming the signal, I can't hear it; these are the first drivers I've ever connected, and gotten quite wonderful sound from, with zero tweaking.
Let's see if I can explain this in non-technical terms...
The transformer does what its name suggests. It transforms the low voltage, high current signal from your amplifier to the high voltage, low current signal needed by electrostatic speakers. High currents need thick wires, low currents need thin wires. So you have thick wires from the amp to the transformer and thin wires from the transformer to the speakers.
The transformer does what its name suggests. It transforms the low voltage, high current signal from your amplifier to the high voltage, low current signal needed by electrostatic speakers. High currents need thick wires, low currents need thin wires. So you have thick wires from the amp to the transformer and thin wires from the transformer to the speakers.
I might clarify this just a tad..High currents do indeed need larger wires. This is because there are lots of electrons to move (current is measured, basically, in electrons per second past a given point..a "coulomb" is the measure of charge. It represents 6.24 x 10^18, or 6.24 quintillion electrons. One Ampere of current (i Amp) is defined as one Coulomb per second)...
Since no conductor is perfect, they all exhibit some resistance. Larger wires have larger cross-section and thus are like many parallel resistors.. more parallel resistors means lower overall resistance. When current flows through a resistor, it generates power, which must be dissipated as heat. The relationship is E=(I^2)R, where E is watts, I is the current and R is the overall resistance of the wire. You can see that the power dissipation rises and the SQUARE of the current. Push to much current through a small high resistance wire, and it will heat up. Push enough current through it, and it will melt.
The second statement in the quote, however is slightly misleading. Lower current signals do not NEED smaller wires. Lower current signals can be sent over smaller wires without melting them.
The reason for the small wires in the electrostatic speaker is similar to the smallish wires connecting a speaker voice coil to the terminal lugs on the speaker. Notice that you may be using big fat #14 wires (or fatter #10's or something) between the amplifier and the speaker, but right at the speaker the wires going to the voice coil are rather small.. In both cases we have a tradeoff. Big wires are physically heavy, and they will add a mechanical load to the speaker transducer (either the ES transducer, or the speaker voice coil and its attached cone). For the same reason the efficiency of a speaker drops off if you put your hand on the cone, you do not want heavy wires adding to the moving mass of the speaker. The wires are chosen to be a large as necessary to handle the expected current, but no larger. Because they are physically short, the effect of heat and inductance (see below) is relatively low.
A wire is not quite like a resistor or an inductor you might use on a circuit board. A wire is distributed, whereas a resistor is a small "lumped element" device. In reality a wire can be modeled as a long string of very small resistors inductors and capacitors. The image below shows this. For a short segment of wire (denoted "dx" in the figure) the wire is actually a very small resistor, in series with a very small inductor. For a wire close to a ground plane, there is also a large shunt resistance (which would be, for example the resistance of the insulation - probably 10 megohms per millimeter), and a small shunt capacitance. Obviously a wire that is closer to a ground plane will have a higher capacitance per mm than a wire out in free space on its own. A coaxial cable has a very specific combination of inductance and capacitance per unit length, and this is what determines the "characteristic impedance of a coax cable (you have probably seen "50 ohm", or "75 ohm" cables. This is what those numbers refer to). A twisted pair will have some small capacitance (and some high resistance) between the two twisted wires.. thus also forming a "transmission line" somewhat like a coaxial cable.
Remember that these "parasitic" inductances, resistances and capacitances are distributed all along the wire, so we measure them in terms of micro-ohms per foot (or mm), and micro-henries per foot, pico-farads per foot, etc. Obviously, if a small wire has higher resistance and inductance per foot, then making it shorter will reduce the total value of that resistance and inductance (fewer feet), and for a given length of wire, making it fatter will reduce the resistance and inductance (more parallel paths).
If you were to power the entire system from amplifier to speaker with #32 wire, it would sound awful. First, because those small wires are very inductive, so the high end would get killed, and the wire and speaker would present a funky load to the amplifier. More importantly, the resistance of those wires, over a long distance would cause heating at any reasonable current level (listening level), and at high levels they would melt. Similarly, were you to somehow attach #14 wires to the electrostatic transducer, it would weigh it down and cause many different acoustic issues.
An explanation, and a calculator for twisted pairs is available here: http://www.allaboutcircuits.com/tools/twisted-pair-impedance-calculator/
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Very old!!!...............
I remember the time (I was 14 I think) when I built this TV "modulator" (that's how they called them) for my ZX Spectrum. took composite as input and provided RF modulated output (we did not have TVs with composite input back then). it had a 1uF electrolytic paralleled with a 1nF mica at the output. I asked my then-guru how come a cap having gross tolerances was paralleled with a 1/1000 one. obviously, he said "well, just build it that way"
..................
but I can't resist:Some time ago, in the last generation of PC CRT monitors, I changed all electrolytics in the video signal (some monitors have a bunch of them, specially the Asian ones) for some mini-polyester or polypropilene ones. Always resulting in more sharpy images, and with more constant and stable white/gray scale. Some people blamed the CRT. But why? The high-end CRT operates with >100MHz clock pixel, a very fast switching one. And we know that the electrolytics have a bad manner with fast signals (not the drums in recordings, please!!!
), with bad DF. Even the polyester ones are various order of magnitude better in this respect. Other factor is the leakage, affecting the CRT coupling. And some cheaper models have a bad decoupling, with great distance from last capacitor, so I add a small cap directly to IC terminals.Even the expensive Sony ones have these bad engineering practice (caps are caps, after all, and not distorts like active components, so...
), and is my pleasure to impress my friends upgrading these.Ahhh, good (recent) times. Now with these HDMI DC-coupled digital stream, why bother
...LATE EDIT: the modded monitors resulting image have less overshoot and better pixel sharpness, without "ghosting" or ripples (better defined)
The elcaps original are more blurred and with some overshoot.
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