Izbira sistema( hifi nasveti)

[kuzma2]

Kako uporabne so različne avdio informacije?

Svoje znanje o audiju nadgrajujemo z različnimi izkušnjami in informacijami, ki si jih nabiramo skozi čas. Od lastnih izkušenj in testov, ter pri znancih, avdio srečanjih, prebiranju revij, knjig ter seveda interneta. Tako interentnih revij kot člankov, do prebiranj in sodelovanj na različnih forumih pri nas in predvsem v tujini.

Toda, kako izluščiti tiste prave informacije od tistih neuporabnih, slabših ali celo škodljivih. Namreč, konec koncev so vse informacije namenjene nekemu prepričanju drugih, da je to ta pravo. Npr. prijatelj, ki je v svojem prepričanju kupil novi ojačevalnik , je prepričan, da je kupil dobro. In to informacijo želi potrditi na tak ali drugačen način. Tako, da se sam prepriča, da ima prav, ko mu bodo to še dodatno potrdili prijatelji. Če mu bodo, bo zelo vesel, če ne , bo na koncu celo iskal druge avdio prijatelje. Zelo težko bo priznal, da je kupil slabo- predvsem, ker so mu mogoče pri izboru pomagali isti prijatelji s svojimi nasveti.

Avdio trgovine- dajte se prepričati in pazljivo prisluhnite razlagam ter demonstracijam. Nato poskusite to prenesti v svoj sistem.Npr. pri zvočnikih, ki so vam všeč upoštevajte predvsem dva faktorja. Ali so zvočniki primerni za velikost vaše sobe in možne postavitve ter ali imamo tak ojačevalnik, ki jih bo poganjal. Tu na žalost lahko pomaga samo izkušen trgovec ali avdiofil. Osnovno pravilo pa so majhna soba-manjši zvočnik, bližje stene- manjši zvočnik. Manjši zvočnik- manjša moč, večji zvočnik- večja moč. Večji zvočniki- z velikimi basovci- več moči- včasih nič ne pomaga , četudi imajo dober izkoristek. Predvsem razni zelo močni ojačevalniki za hišni kino niso sposobni poganjati veliko najboljših zvočnikov. Seveda demo doma pove lahko veliko.

Pisana beseda. Včasih so bile samo revije,danes imamo tudi internetne revije in forume, ki so seveda zastonj in tam zvemo o novih izdelkih in novih firmah.

Namen vseh je jasen in čist. Promoviranje avdia. Toda ali znamk, ali samih piscev oz. sodelujočih. Saj je jasno, da vsak, ki se pojavi pred neko javnostjo( tekst ali sodelovanje na forumih) se bo poskušal prikazati v najboljši luči- beri znanju. Toda, tako kot se npr. kritiki lahko skregajo ob neki kritiki umetnine, tako se lahko tudi v audiju krešejo mnenja. Običajno pa čas pokaže svoje. Nekatere umetnine ostanejo, druge pa pogoltne čas v pozabo.

Zato ima mogoče mnenje v revijah le večjo težo, kot pa po netu, kjer mrgoli anoniminih piscev , ki se pojavljajo tudi pod različnimi pseudonimi in s tem sami lahko celo sebi potrjujejo svoja mnenja in lahko neukega bralca zelo zavedejo.

Toda rešitev je bolj preprosta, kot se zdi. Ob prebiranju vseh te informacij je zelo preprosto( ob uporabi veliko časa) mnogo informacij preveriti. Če npr. na nekem forumu hvalijo nek nov lampaški ojačevalnik, ki je »kao nekaj najboljšega«, je stvar preprosta. Če je res tako dober, ga bodo hvalili čez pol leta ali leto tudi drugje- seveda je treba tu malce paziti na anonimneže, ki se lahko pojavijo še kje drugje. In če se tak ojačevalnik potem celo pohvali v par revijah- bo že nekaj na tem izdelku in ga je vredno preizkusti. Če pa ima samo eno- le lastno hvalo( ali še par lastnih hval pod drugimi nicki) in je test dobro napisan, vas lahko prepriča, da je problem vašega sistema ravno v tem, da nimate tega ojačevalnika in ga morate takoj kupiti. Toda nikjer drugje ne boste o tej aparaturi ničesar prebrali. Le zakaj? Ker ljubitelji zvoka ne prenesejo zvoke te čudežne aparature ali pa je le bil eden blefov v audiju, ki jih ni toliko, kot nekateri to razlagajo in poskušajo delati paniko le za svojo promocijo.

Toda ne skrbeti- ni izdelka, ki bi bil tako revolucionaren, da to ne more nakup malce počakati.

V praksi čas le izlušči dobre izdelke in s tem dobre avdio firme. Toda vedno se bodo našli različni "kritiki", kar je seveda prav, da bodo kritizirali izdelke, toda vprašajte se zakaj to delajo? Ali kot gre fraza iz Watergate afere- follow the money! V tem primeri berite - kritiziranje znanih firm- le zakaj!. Poskusite navzkrižno preveriti pisce- kaj vse hvalijo in kritizirajo in boste dobili sliko. Oziroma, kje vse se pojavljajo. Ali vse hvalijo, ali vse samo kritizirajo. Ali pokažejo tudi kaj znanja, ali so samo bleferji o Hifju. Saj veste tisto o kritikih-kdor ne zna , zna samo kritizirati.


Sedaj pa se resnično vprašajte tole, če ste seveda resnično zadovoljni z zvokom svojega sistema. Kaj je bilo tisto, ki je vplivalo na to , kako ste sestavili vaš sistem in da ste prišli do dobrega zvoka. Katere informacije so bile najbolj uporabne. Osebni stiki s prijatelji- če jih imate, trgovci, lastno znanje, forumi, revije,…. Kaj je tisto, kar je( bilo) resnično uporabno?


Franc Kuzma

PS: Pri Kuzma forumu se ve namen le tega-informiranje, učenje in promocija dobrega zvoka ter nekaterih blagovnih znamk, ki jih zastopamo ter seveda Kuzma analognih izdelkov. Kaj je tu narobe- po mojem nič, saj se marsikaj da navzkrižno preveriti po webu- ki je ravno to v osnovi je! Da revij niti ne omenjam.

[kuzma2]

Zadnja številka Stereophila -July 2007:

Test NAT phono predojačevalnika( Srbija)- MF ga je testiral in zaključil, da je zvok zelo odprt toda malce naporen za poslušanje- toda potrebno je prebrati cel test.

V nadaljevanju testa CD playerja Nagra, Wes Philips ugotavlja razlike v zvoku med single ended in balansiranim izhodom, ki ga preferira proizvajalec.
Balansiran izhod ima še eno dodatno vmesno stopnjo, kar sicer seveda omogoča poganjanje aparature na velike dolžine. Toda to ni problematično v domači uporabi. Razlike naj bi bile zelo, zelo majhne.

Kaj je ugotovil si preberite, toda osebno ne vidim razloga iti na balansiranje in še vedno ostajam na single ended kablih.

Torej je vredno razmisleka, ali je balansiranje rešitev problema zvoka vašega nezadovoljstva!

[kuzma2]

Našel sem star tekst, ki je sicer že bil nekje objavljen pred leti, pa vendar:


10 HIFI ZAPOVEDI OB IZPOSOJI APARATUR

1. Ne izposojaj si aparatur,če ne veš zakaj.
2. Ne poslušaj aparature, ampak ocenjuj celotni sistem.
3. Ne poskušaj izboljšati slabosti svojega audio sistema z
eno dobro aparaturo.
4. Ne ocenjuj aparature,ki ni nič kriva za napake tvojega
sistema.
5. Ne ocenjuj basa,če imas zvočnike v kotu.
6. Ne ocenjuj zvoka v prazni sobi.
7. Ne izposojaj si aparatur,če nimaš dobrih kablov.
8. Ne izposojaj si dobrih kablov če zanje nimaš denarja.
9. Veliko sprememb na boljše, se kasneje lahko izkaže za
dvomljive.
lO.Ne ocenjuj zvoka, ampak se o njem pogovarjaj.
FQ

Dodatek:
Pes, ki veliko laja, ne posluša nikogar, razen sebe!

[kuzma2]

Za tiste, ki prodajate robo in ko že dobite ček, in predno pošljete robo si preberite še tole iz Enjoy the music:


Audiophile Scam / Fraud Alert!
Nigerian Scam!

It has come to our attention that AudioWeb has become the target of a scam (illegal theft, trickery, etc.). Basically, a person going by the name John Kojo or Mr. Benjamin will claim to be interested in buying something you are selling on AudioWeb, yet have a check sent valued over the amount of the product. The specific name of the scam artist is not important, the basic idea of the scam is. He will ask you to Western Union the extra amount of the check to him. Naturally the check is forged and you will be out thousands of dollars.

Usually this check will clear your bank account due to United States banking laws insisting funds are available within a certain period of time. Due to various financial institution routing, the check basically "hangs" within the system long enough to force the funds to become available, when in fact the real funds are bogus. When your bank discovers the funds are not available they take the money back out of your account (and possibly charge you a bounced check fee). Please see below check and e-mail offered simply as an example. The check you receive will most probably be different as will the names accordingly. Again, it is the basic idea of this scam that is important.


Podobno se je že zgodilo pri nas. Človek bi kupil veliko robe, poslal ček in tedaj naj bi se poslala roba, višek denarja pa naj se nazaj nakaže. K sreči se je posumilo zgodaj, da tukaj nekaj smrdi in se robe in denarja sploh ni poslalo. Toda pazite, lahko vam banka potrdi , da je ček v redu, toda vnovčenje običajno traja cca 21 delovnih dni in šele tedaj boste skoraj 100% vedeli, da je vse v redu.

[kuzma2]

Če vas zanima zakaj gredo in še bodo šle cene aparatur navzgor- tudi ameriške v ZDA, si poskusite prebrati tale članek:

[url]http://www.enjoythemusic.com/magazine/manufacture/0108/[/url]

[kuzma2]

Kam postaviti zvo?nike v sobi? Preberite si tale ?lanek, ki je v angleš?ini:

Master Set is a systematic procedure of setting up speakers that creates a stable music image that is the same from any seat in the listening room and eliminates inter-speaker distortion and the resulting listening fatigue from this distortion. In performing the setup procedure, one also mitigates the bass resonances of the listening room

Master Set is an outgrowth of seminars held by John Hunter, owner of Sumiko Importers, for his dealers in order to better set up the speakers in the Sumiko dealer showrooms. It has remained pretty much an in-house procedure for the Sumiko dealers, with no published information of any kind, other than a few internet forum postings.

Prelude:

After RMAF 2008 I made a longish post in The Lab about Master Set. Since that time I have made some revisions to my initial procedures, and hence am making a new, and shorter, write up. It will be in 2 parts; an overview here, and then the procedural steps on The Lab.

I first heard speakers set up with Master Set at RMAF 2007. I was quite impressed by the sound, which was the same at any seat in the listening room, as well as the clean natural sound of the music, especially vocals. At RMAF 2008 I revisited Master Set and learned enough information about the procedure to be able to do a DIY of Master Set on my own system in my own listening room.

The Principle:

Master Set is based on the idea of the placement relationship of the two speakers with each other in regards to sound pressure level from each speaker into the listening room. The idea is to "anchor" one speaker on one side of the listening room, and then to match the other speaker's sound pressure level with that of the "anchor".

The Results

The music will sound the same from any seat in the listening room, to the right of the right speaker, to the left of the left speaker, in the middle, or anywhere else in the room. This is not really subjective as it is very easy to hear. The elimination of "inter-speaker distortion", I'm using this term for lack of a better one, results in music that will sound quite clean and natural, especially vocals. This is always a bit subjective, as everyone tends to think their system sounds this way. But with Master Set, all the veils and distortions just seem to disappear. It's easy to hear. I have heard Master Set in 2 quite different music systems - a very expensive system at RMAF with Rowland Class D amplification and Vienna Acoustics Die Musik speaker, and my own very modest system with a 60 watt Class A/B Aspen Lifeforce amplifier and Osborn Titan Reference speakers - with similar overall results.

What Master Set is NOT:

Master Set is not based on the usual parameters of speaker placement, distance from speaker to listening position or distance from a room boundary; nor is it based on random placement and room correction. With Master Set, the first parameter above is rendered irrelevant, there is little need for any room treatment at all, though every room and situation is different.

Conclusion:

The best part of Master Set is that it is virtually *. It merely requires a setup song and your time. Even if you do not understand anything I have written, or fail to believe any of it, it will cost you virtually nothing in order to try it. It's worth a go! And then you can evaluate the results. Lastly, words simply do not describe the improvement to the sound of a music system from setting up the speakers with Master Set.!!!!!

Now, on to the Steps!


Master Set Procedures

The Needed Tools:

The only items needed to perform Master Set are your ears, a setup recording, a tape .measure, and a small level. Master Set can be performed by one or two persons.

The Set Up Recording:

Ballad of a Runaway Horse by Jennifer Warnes:

You can find this song on Jennifer Warnes - Famous Blue Raincoat, 20th Anniversary Edition, or Rob Wasserman - Duets, or Trios This song works because of its simplicity and the steadiness of the voice line and the bass line, especially the bass line. Other recordings could be used provided that they have a simple steady bass line that is easy to hear. I've found the above song to work best.

Initial Set Up

Remove any bass traps and other room treatments that you may have in the room and turn off the subwoofer, if you have one. Set the speakers against the rear wall, and perpendicular to it. Speakers should be as far apart as reasonable. Important considerations are to keep speakers 2 to 3 feet away from side walls, and for the listener to be at the point of an equilateral triangle with the speakers. You can measure the dimensions with a tape measure or just make them approximate.

NOTE: Master Set works best if done along the long wall of the listening room, as that best mitigates room reflections, however it can be done along the short wall if necessary. For the first DIY attempt, try and use the long wall. Because the speakers will be physically moved, it is best to remove any speaker spikes at this time so as to facilitate moving the speaker or stand. I have found it helpful to use a tape measure laid out perpendicular from the wall when making the speaker movements. The movements need to be kept small and the best way to do this is with the tape measure as a reference otherwise the movements tend to be too large.

Be Patient. Master Set will likely take you from 1 to 3 hours. The movements are small, and at first go it may be a bit hard to hear the differences that I have described. But just keep at it. You can email me if you have questions or difficulty in the procedures.

Step 1: Setting the "anchor" speaker

This step sets one of the speakers as an "anchor" in the room. Either speaker will do. This step also has the goal of finding the smoothest bass response in the room.
First, just listen to the song, and notice the strong steady bass line in the first 2 verses. There are 19 notes in each verse, though the 2nd verse does have some extra 8th notes added. Listen carefully and notice that some of the bass notes have a "plonky" and/or exaggerated sound character. In this step you will be searching for the spot that will smooth out this "plonky" character of the note as it resonates in the room.

With both speakers playing, move the speaker out from wall about 6 inches and toe in the speaker directly to the listening position. Notice as the sound moves from being centered to this side. Continue to move the speaker out in small increments, ½" or so, until the sound is totally from this one speaker. Mark, or make note, of this spot.

Now, continue to move this speaker out from the wall in very small increments, 1/8th" or 2-3mm., and listen to the first 2 verses of the song. You are listening for any difference in the bass response of the 19 notes. Continue these small movements until you find a slight lessening in the bass resonance character. There may be more than one spot where this can occur. However, for keeping this simple, just find the first spot that smoothes out the bass. You may wish to make another very very small movement or two from this spot to find the very best spot.

Note: if you are having trouble discerning any difference in the bass with both speakers playing, you may wish to disconnect the speaker set against the wall temporarily, in order to better hear any bass differences. However it's best to keep both speakers playing. If you move the one speaker out too far into the room the sound will reconnect with the speaker against the wall, and move back to the center. You do not want this to occur. It is important to find the best bass in the zone where all sound comes from just the one speaker. That will keep this setting independent from the other speaker when you move the other speaker out into the matching position!

Once the smoothest bass response has been found you can set this speaker into a "final" position and level it. This speaker is now "anchored", and will not be moved again during the procedure.

Step 2: Setting the other speaker.

This step will move the other speaker into place and be adjusted to match the sound pressure of the "anchor" speaker. Move the speaker out from the wall about 6 inches, toeing the speaker directly in to the listening position. Now begin moving the speaker out at very small increments, no more than 1/8th in. or 2-3 mm. at a time, and only listen to the bass line. Continue to move the speaker out at these small increments until you hear a lessening of the bass resonances. Once you find a lessening in the bass make a small movement or two of 1/16th in, or 1-2 mm. and listen for the best response. You will also tend to notice that all of the music tends to smooth out and become much more clean and clear sounding as the two speakers equalize.
NOTE: You may be able to feel the bass resonance in your feet. This makes finding the best bass spot quite easy as the resonance will disappear in your feet.

You have now found the placement spot where the speakers are equally pressurizing the room. This is what you are looking for, and essentially you are done with Master Set.

Step 3: You can tweak the midrange setting at this point by varying the toe in of the speaker by toeing out in 1/16th increments. My own experience is that I have never found any real difference in midrange sound from this procedure. Also, you can raise the front of the speaker a couple of degrees. This is known as adjusting the rake angle, and I have found this to be a good effect. Set the speaker permanently and level it.

Finalizing:

Now, move to several positions in the room and listen. Notice if the sound stays the same in any location. If there is some movement of the sound as you move around the room, you will have to reposition the second speaker slightly. If you've done Master Set correctly, the sound will be the same from any listening position in the room as long as you are out a couple feet from a wall. The music will only change in perspective, such as if you move around in a concert venue. In my current listening room my favored seat is on a perpendicular axis with the right speaker, yet the music is perfectly centered between the two speakers.

Final Comments

The sound you obtain with Master Set should have a perfect left-right stereo image with very clean clear instrumental and vocal sounds. Listen first to your most favorite songs and recordings and notice how they now sound. If you have any room treatments or bass traps, you may return them to the room at this time, and note any if there is any change. Turn the subwoofer back on. You may have to turn it down slightly or reposition it as you will likely hear some bass resonance from the sub. I just turned mine down a bit.

If you are pleased with the sound, then you have found something new.
If not, you can always return to your previous setup, having only spent some time and nothing else.


Probajte, ?lanek ima svojo logiko!

[kuzma2]

Test , kako izboljšati zvok sistema iz Mapleshade Records:

How To Do Listening Tests:

Pick two or three one minute selections—longer will overload your audio memory. Make sure they encompass the instrument timbres and dynamics that mean the most to you. Always listen to exactly the same selections in the same order, before and after each tweak or change. After 25 or so of these tests, you'll be surprised at how precisely you resolve small sound differences.

* Audio Upgrades:

• Almost everybody sits way too far from their speakers, that is, 8' to 10' or more. Try a low chair (or floor pillow) 5' away. You'll hear a phenomenal increase in clarity, bass impact and soundstage—roughly like spending 100% more on your speakers.

• Nearly everybody sits too high. The "tweeters at ear level"rule sounds logical but fails when tested. For a test, sit on one or two phone books: you'll hear an amazing new warmth and fullness in baritone voice, trombones, tenor sax, plucked bass—and a far more natural treble balance.

• For much improved bass and huge soundstage, put your listening chair or sofa right against the wall behind you. Move your speakers in to 5' in front of you and 7' or more apart. No room treatments will yield this much bass improvement.

• Lift all speaker, power and interconnect wires 8" off any non-wool carpet or plastic tile. Use string, wood, cardboard or 20 ounce Styrofoam cups for temporary props. You'll think you've pulled horse blankets off your speakers. For a more civilized-looking solution, see here.

• Remove your speaker's cloth or foam grill. Snip off any plastic phase ring in front of the tweeter. You'll hear as much as a 100% improvement in treble.

• Almost all small speakers are on stands that are way too high (24" and up)—and, all too often, too flimsy. Want to hear how much bass and warmth your speakers are losing? Try 'em on the floor, tilted back with a wood or metal block under the front. If you're on carpet, lay down a heavy plank or cutting board first. See here for even better sounding solutions.

• Speakers on stands or shelves MUST use feet, but never soft ones: no rubber/plastic feet, Blu-Tack, Sorbathane, etc. For firmer bass plus clearer mids and treble, try speakers on three hardware store wood plugs or buttons. See here to get 2-3 times the effect.

• Ditto for all CD players, amps, power supplies, etc. If the wood buttons aren't high enough, try three wood blocks (3/4" or so), to raise components off their rubber/plastic feet. You'll hear an instant bass-to-treble upgrade. Of course, stacking components is the worst of all worlds: you're failing to drain vibrations and forcing the components to share vibes.

• NEVER use speaker cables shorter than 8'. Amazingly, 4' sounds much worse than 8'. Contrary to common belief, shorter interconnects (2 m or less) and longer speaker cables sound WAY BETTER than the opposite—based on extensive head-to-head tests.

•For seamless subwoofer sound, use only the speaker cable input, not the RCA input. In addition, connect the two main speakers directly to the main amp output, not to the subwoofer's output. Always fire the subwoofer driver left or right, not at you or down into the floor. Set the crossover at the lowest possible frequency that doesn't leave a bass gap. You'll be amazed at the overall transparency you gain.

• Contrary to manufacturer hype, subwoofer placement is crucial. To get clean bass attacks, subwoofers must be precisely (±1") the same distance from your ear as the midrange driver. Corner placement always leads to boom. Also, subwoofers sound much cleaner on cones than on spikes or rubber feet.

• If you have bi-wirable speakers with brass jumper plates, replace the terrible-sounding plates with bare, unstranded copper wire. For a jumper that's much better yet, see here. If you bi-wire, separate the treble and bass cables by 1' or more; bundling wires will ruin most of the bi-wire advantage. Bi-wiring is worth doing only for cables with limited bass and treble.

• For any separate power supply: listen, then turn it 90 degrees, turn another 90 degrees, etc. One of the four positions will sound way better (due to non-uniform transformer leakage). In addition, separate power supplies are even more vibration-sensitive than the components; see here for the solution.

• You can't believe the extra harshness and grunge you hear due to home appliances "poisoning" the AC power with electrical noise. To really sweeten your sound, try turning off every fluorescent and halogen light in the house, as well as air conditioning, oil burner, electric stove, dimmer and CD boombox; unplug every surge protector, digital TV, computer and U.P.S. (because they all have "sleep" modes). No power conditioner and AC filter stops this "poisoning".

• Weight on top of speakers, amps, CD players, transformers, turntables, and power supplies can tighten bass, clean up treble and clarify midrange detail.

• Too much weight, wrong placement, or wrong materials seriously degrade potential improvements. Don't use lead, sand, concrete, brick, stone, corian or damped laminates. Of course, brass is still best; next iron, then wood.

• The right way to add weight is one (or 1/2) pound at a time. Listen, then add one more. Eventually, one more will deaden everything. Remove the last weight, then move the weights around to find the sweet spots.

• Weights are much more effective if you've replaced rubber feet (or no feet) with wood or brass footers.

• To audibly improve any cheap interconnect, use a razor to carefully peel the thin plastic insulation off the braided metal you'll find underneath. Split 2-channel interconnects and separate the two by several inches. Cut heat shrink and plastic strain reliefs off the back of RCA plugs and remove their metal barrels (if possible). Amoung generic wires, choose the skinniest for best sound.

• For speaker, AC and wall wart power cables always split two-conductor wires and separate by at least 6". Don't forget to keep all wires off artificial fiber rugs and de-static them regularly.

•Never bundle wires, no matter whether AC, speaker or IC. If you must run wires parallel for more than a foot, separate them by 6" or more. Wires that cross at at 45 degrees or more can touch without any sonic degradation.


Technical Questions? Email tweaks@mapleshaderecords.com or call 410-867-7543.

[kuzma2]

Evo še dve stvari za "probat":


Jim Smith:( pisec knjige Get better sound)
Tweaks to try

(1) Shielding the IEC connector on removable power cords

I first saw mention of this on AudioAsylum.com, and then on Audiogon’s message boards. It’s relatively simple to try. Essentially you obtain a copper union/sleeve with an inside diameter large enough to slide over the IEC AC power connector (component end) on a replaceable power cord. I have several brands of power cords around and I found that a 1.5” inside diameter copper union fitted over them all.

I couldn’t locate any at my local Ace Hardware, Lowe’s or Home Depot. But they were in plentiful supply at a nearby plumbing supply house. About $4 each.

Just remove the power cord from the component (after powering it down). Slide the copper sleeve over the IEC connector. Plug the power cord back into the component. Making sure the copper sleeve is physically against the component.

The theory is that even most shielded power cords are not shielded within the IEC connector. I found that it was worthwhile for some components and power cords, not so much for others. But over all, worth trying – and cheap!

Here are a couple of links relating to this simple tweak:

Audiogon: http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl ... 1237170946

Audio Asylum: http://www.audioasylum.com/audio/tweaks ... 62067.html

You may need to use whatever technique works in each situation to keep the sleeve from being able to vibrate or move. Try it for yourself and see what you think.

(2) How you may able to use your CD player’s pause feature for best sound.

I remember discussion of this several years ago. But I had forgotten about it.

A few weeks ago I was voicing the system of a client in another state. In the midst of listening and voicing, on occasion I had distractions that required me to put the CD player into the ‘pause’ mode. Each time, when I resumed listening, I was shocked to hear a noticeable improvement in the sound. The staging perspective, the timbre, even the apparent dynamic range, was better. This was a widely available mid-priced player. I want to try it on my Ayre CD5xe, but haven’t had time yet.

I did notice that the pause had to be longer than just a few seconds, probably 45-60, to make a difference. I strongly suspect that this phenomenon may be variable by player and brand.

Try it and let me know how it works for your system.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[kuzma2]

Kako sestaviti Digitalni izvor: C. Hansen-Ayre:

Computers and Audio

Charles Hansen, Ayre Acoustics

A revolution is brewing in the world of audio. Led by the astonishing success of Apple’s iTunes Store, downloads are becoming an important source of music. The rumor mill has it that by year’s end, the iTunes Store will be offering downloads in full 44/16 CD-quality resolution. And websites like HDTracks.com are already offering not only CD-quality downloads, but even high-resolution files. They are planning to have over a thousand high-res titles available by the end of 2009!

No less important than your computer becoming a new way to purchase music is that it also provides you with a new way to listen to your music. Once the music is on your computer (a prerequisite to putting it on your portable music player), you now have incredibly easy access to your entire digital music collection. Transferring your CD collection is a simple, if somewhat time-consuming task. Once accomplished, every single disc, and even every track on every disc, can be easily accessed.

You can sort by title, artist, composer, genre — just about anything you choose. What’s more, you can create custom playlists, similar to the old practice of making “mix tapes” with a cassette recorder but with without any length limitations. You can select “random” play to create what is, in effect, your own personal radio station. Or you can restrict the “random” play to specific artists, genres, or just about anything you desire. The possibilities are truly endless.

There are two questions most people have about computer-based audio:

1) How do I start?

2) How can I achieve true high-end playback quality?

First of all, plan on storing your music on an external hard drive that is separate from the computer. Second, know that sooner or later all hard drives will fail. So don’t buy one hard drive, buy two and use the second one to back up the first. I have my computer setup at my desktop where I work all day long. Therefore the entire setup has to run extremely quietly. The best bet in this situation is a external hard drive that uses a 2-1/2" notebook drive inside of it. Not only will this run quietly, but they can use the power supplied by the connecting cable, eliminating the need for extra wires and “wall warts”. If you are in a situation where the drives are far from your listening position, you can easily get double the capacity for the same price with a 3-1/2" desktop drive. The penalty is increased noise and a mandatory external power supply.

Notebook drives currently top out at 500 GB. This is enough to store about 800 uncompressed CD’s and will cost around $100 in an external enclosure. You can use lossless compression (FLAC for the Windows or ALAC for Mac) to bump this up to around 1300 CD’s, but most people notice a slight reduction in sound quality. But this is a column on how to get better sound! Presumably it’s because the computer’s processor is working harder when decompressing files on the fly instead of just loafing along playing the music.

Without a doubt, the easiest way to start is with a Mac computer running the iTunes music player. A Mac Mini will do the job quite nicely and the base model is $600. It is very compact and very quiet. Just about any keyboard and mouse will do the job, provided they are equipped with USB connectors. You will also need a display equipped with a digital DVI (or the much newer Display Port) input.

Since this column is about getting the best sound, adding memory will improve the sound quality. (Don’t ask me why!) The same is true for using a Solid-State Drive for the computer’s main drive, but these are still somewhat pricey. Currently the best ones are the new models from Intel. They have an 80 GB model for around $230 and a 160 GB model for around $450. The 80 GB is plenty to run the applications you will need for a music server. The side benefits of an SSD are dead-quiet operation and incredibly fast boot-up times.

The limitations of the Mac are that FLAC files (the most common format for high-res downloads) require conversion before they will play, the playback sample rate must be changed manually, and the music sorting options for classical music are not as flexible as some programs. Expect that in the coming years that third-party software will solve these problems.

If you don’t want to wait for these problems to be solved, you can start right away with a Windows computer. The Mac Mini is still a great choice, as for several years they have been using Intel processors that allow for dual booting. You can partition the hard drive on the Mac Mini and install a fresh copy of either XP or Vista and have a machine that will run either platform. Or just about any notebook computer will also run quietly and work well as an all-in-one solution.

Another nice thing about the Mac Mini is that it has a FireWire port. This gives more flexibility when choosing an interface for your DAC and/or external hard drive. The sound quality will be slightly improved if the DAC and the external hard drive are on different interfaces. So if you have a FIreWire DAC, then use a USB hard drive and vice-versa. (Again, I have no idea why, but this column is about getting better sound!) If you have an Ethernet DAC, then either type of hard drive will work great. If you don't have a FireWire port, adapters are available for both notebooks (PC-Card) and desktops (PCI). Finally, there is a new type of external hard drive interface called eSATA that runs separately from any DAC.

For the PC, the best two options for most people for music playing software are either J.River’s Music Jukebox or Foobar 2000. The first one is a slick all-in-one package, while the second is more of a do-it-yourself kit, with many plug-ins available. You probably already know which program is right for you.

Finally, the question is how to get the music out of your computer and into your stereo system. There are dozens of different options, but the great thing is that a computer offers another type of flexibility that virtually no other disc transport offers. Instead of sending out a steady stream of jittery audio, hoping that the D/A converter can reduce the jitter, the D/A converter can send commands to the computer telling it when it needs more audio data.

This allows for an essentially jitter-free audio interface, unlike the common S/PDIF connection found in conventional audio gear. This type of interface is called “asynchronous” because the master audio clock in the DAC is completely separate from any of the clocks in the computer. These types of DACs are available in all different price ranges and with many different interfaces. Examples include Ethernet DAC;s from Squeezebox and Linn (each requiring their own specific music player software), FireWire DAC’s from Apogee, and USB DAC’s from dCS, Wavelength, and Ayre. Each of these are capable of reaching the same low jitter levels as a one-box CD player.

Finally, don’t forget that your computer is a huge source of RFI. Spend some money on a dedicated power line filter that you can plug all of your computer equipment into. This will help keep the noise generated by the computer out of the rest of your audio system. And along the same lines, be sure to always use wired network connections. Wireless systems are miniature radio transmitting stations that broadcast RFI and make it harder to get good sound from your system.

More information can be found from a variety of sources. Here is a link to a page of links:

http://www.ayre.com/usb-links.htm

Enjoy!

(note from Jim – these links on the Ayre site are informational and do not espouse buying anything from Ayre Acoustics. So I wanted Charles to include them.

FWIW – around here I have several CD playing systems, including the top Zanden rig. But what I listen to primarily is my Ayre CD-5xe – which is back at the factory as I write this – it’s receiving the new MP (minimum phase) update. So I obviously think that Charles has something to say in the digital realm, and hope this article was informative and interesting to you.)

[administrator2]

Kako postaviti zvočnike v sobi- nasvet je breplačen:
Link:http://www.higherfi.com/speaker_position.htm

[administrator2]

Za tiste, ki še vedno verjamete v mešanje kablov( da "popravite" vaš zvok), si preberite članek o tem , da je boljše imeti cenejše kable ene firme, kot pa dražje "skup" zmetane za boljši zvočni rezultat.
Link: [url] CES 2010 Show Report

Nordost's Foundation Theory Posted Fri Jan 8, 2010, 3:37 PM ET
By Jason Victor Serinus

When I entered the Nordost room, Roy Gregory and Lars Kristensen of Nordost were in the midst of preparing a demo of their Foundation Theory. Although the literature on the theory, which should be available on Nordost's website, consumes five small-print pages, the basic theory boils down to this: consistency in your brand of cabling, whatever the brand may be, produces greater rewards than mixing different lines of cabling.

Asking me to choose the music—I selected the opening few minutes of Channel Classic's extremely dynamic, R2D4 DSD-native SACD of Mahler's Symphony No.2, conducted by Ivan Fischer—the men began with a true hodge-podge mix of cabling from a number of deservedly respected companies. These included Transparent, PS Audio, and Van den Hul. They also added an Audience power conditioner to the mix.

Frankly, the components were so excellent that the Mahler sounded pretty good even with the mix of cabling. I couldn't make sense of a rapid descending zig-zig-zig pattern in the double basses, but everything else sounded like really good hi-fi.

After each round of listening, the cables were slowly changed. First, we heard Nordost's entry-level power cables. Then Nordost Blue Heaven cabling entered the picture. Then came Nordost's new Sort Kones, which are resonance control devices designed to provide a route for a component's sonically damaging internal vibrations to exit a component's chassis. (Microphonics, I was told, are more damaging inside solid-state equipment than tube gear). Somewhere along the line, Roy removed the Audience conditioner, replacing it with one Quantum device, then a full complement of two Quantum QX4s and one QX2. Finally, the Nordost Blue Heaven was replaced by Nordost higher level mono-filament cabling, in this case, Tyr.

The difference each successive change made in the sound of this Simaudio amplification and Raidho Ayra loudspeaker system was striking. Each time, timbres became more distinct, soundstage width increased, and images took on palpable three-dimensionality. Most important, the images began to cohere, and that formerly confusing zig-zag in the double basses made musical sense. Once the two Quantum QX4s and single QX2 were switched on, I was able to hear around and behind images, getting an uncanny sense of acoustic space.

The real shocker was the complexity of sound and color that emerged once the final switch was made to Tyr mono-filament cabling. I can only imagine how good the system would have sounded like had Nordost Odin been introduced instead.

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Verjamem, da to velja za večino solidnih nevtralnih kablov.

[administrator2]

Evo nekaj za premislek, ko izbirate ali ocenjujete komponente ali sisteme po sejmih in drugje in potem to znanje trosite dalje:

Nek mlajši znanec, ki se že kar nekaj let intenzivno ukvarja z avdio( CD+LP) in ima dober sistem ranga 7-8.000 EUR in je obiskal že kar precej sejmov pri nas in v tujini in je vedno dokaj kritičen do zvoka, je po vrnitvi iz Munchena potem, ko je zopet "zalaufal" svoj sistem in ob tem bil kritičen do svojega zvoka, tako kot na sejmu, izjavil nekaj takega:

"Večina sistemov je igrala tam vsaj 5x boljše od mojega in po njegovem večina obiskovalcev in kritikov zvoka na sejmih ima sploh tam možnost slišati prvič zvok, ki je na nekem precej višjem nivoju, ki ga imajo sami doma. In tedaj slišijo vse in seveda slišijo tudi napake, in takoj hočejo pokazati, kako so dobri poslušalci in potem bereš izjave kot jih: zanič, slabo, ipd......nimajo pojma, se nič ne trudijo, ipd....."

Torej, bodite najbolj kritični do sebe.

[administrator2]

Avdiofilske izkušnje ali življenje?

1.Dobro je živeti s tistim kar imaš.
2.Še bolje je preizkusiti boljše.
3.Dobro je živeti z boljšim.
4.Še bolje je preizkusiti najboljše.
5.Dobro je živeti z najboljšim.
6.Še bolje je preizkusiti boljše od najboljšega.
7.Dobro je živeti z boljšim od najboljšega.
8.Še bolje je preizkusiti najboljše od najboljšega.
9.Dobro je živeti...!!!

[administrator2]

Obisk HIEND trgovine:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCBe7-6rw4M

[administrator2]

Kje je meja med HIFI in HIENDOM?
Zelo enostavno- to je stvar vsakega posameznika?
Ko ob poslušanju glasbe ugotovite, , da imate občasno občutek da v vaši sobi pred vami “ igra inštrument oz. inštrumenti” ali je tam npr. pevec in se vam zazdi, da sistem izgine in ostane le glasba, potem je to vaš Hiend.
TODA, tedaj se vam šele odškrtnejo vrata dobrega zvoka in mukotrpno ukvarjanje z avdio reprodukcijo se šele začne. Šele tedaj ugotovite kaj pomenijo majhni premiki k še bolj verni reprodukciji inštrumentov. In tedaj začenjate razumevati, da stvar ni v tem, da je 5x dražji system boljši za 5x, ampak je to nemerljivo, ko se začenjate približevati živi izvedbi, kakršno si je zamislil skladatelj oziroma izvajalec.

PS: Če se vam pač to nikoli ne zdi, pa uživatje v glasbi na vašem HIFI sistemu in ne trobite naokrog po audio forumih o tem, da je pač vam vse isto. Koga pa to zanima? Nobenega!