I just had to write to tell you how refreshing I find your
site. While so many other audio writers seem obsessed with ultra-expensive equipment,
spurious tweaks, and inflated claims, you seem to always focus on nuts-and-bolts,
straightforward information that music lovers in the real world (like myself) can
appreciate.
You also seem to buck many of the tenets of "true high
end" thinking. I mean, someone writes asking about switching to tube amplification
(which some circles in audio will tell you is the only way to go), and you tell him you
can't understand why he'd want to. You're not constantly carping about the "low
quality of redbook CD sound" (in fact, you seem to appreciate the advance in
reproduction CD represents for most people).
Your site isn't focused on reviews of the latest greatest
component that now makes the last latest greatest component obsolete. You also are the
only audio writer today that dispenses advice on cassette decks, everyone else seems to
feel cassette is too "low-fi" to warrant their attention even though most people
have large collections on cassette.
Thanks for all the down-to-earth information, and keep up
the good work.
...Travis Cunningham
You commented elsewhere on multi-standard DVD playback.
While I have not tested the specifics of PAL-encoded DVDs for playback in the U.S., I have
quite a bit of feedback on NTSC-encoded DVDs and their playback elsewhere. We are
producing NTSC DVDs here in the U.S. without regional encoding and have sent them to many
areas of the world (England, France, Germany, and various other areas of Europe, South
Africa, Australia and other areas of the South Pacific, Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan,
Thailand, Indonesia, India, The Philippines, various countries in South America including
Brazil, also in Central America and Mexico). All have reported that the DVD plays very
well with no problems in their local DVD machines and TVs (even very old ones). Apparently
the digital-to-analog decoding of the video signal is handing the conversion from NTSC
very well.
We are currently using DVD as a mastering medium in some of
those countries that have only been able to use SVHS masters for in-house duplication (or
outside vendor duplication in some third world areas) of "corporate" videos. Our
determination is that we have found a universal playback medium. We are mastering DVDs
with 16-plus languages on them (2 video passes) and they are extremely well received. The
DVD format is simplifying our world.
...Tim Taggart,
Manager of International Audiovisual
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
I hooked up an amplifier rated at 250W x 3 to the pre-outs
of my receiver, rated at 90W x 2 or 70W x 5. I used the outboard amp for the main
left/right and the center-channel and the receiver's amplifiers for the rears. I was
expecting to get a higher volume level, especially in stereo, considering the much higher
power of the amplifier, but I am not. It's just about the same as receiver. Could you tell
me the possibilities?
...Arnel Calimbas
Higher amplifier power is not so much about louder sound
as about cleaner sound. Whatever the potential wattage of the amplifier, it will be
loafing along at a couple of watts most of the time. The extra power comes into play when
a musical (or other) peak comes along: a bigger amp will be able to handle it without
distorting or clipping, while a lesser amp might not. The "loudness" has to do
with where you set the level control, and except at the extremes, large and small
amplifiers can perform equally.
...Ian G. Masters
I am feeding the digital output of my DVD player to my A/V
receiver. How will the higher quality DAC in the DVD player affect the digital output?
...Pris
It won't. By using the player's digital output, you are
bypassing its internal digital-to-analog converter (DAC) and using the one built into your
receiver. To use the (possibly) better DAC in the player, you have to feed its analog
outputs to the six line inputs of your receiver, assuming it has them.
...Ian G. Masters
I never knew what to do with those audio jacks on VCRs. Can
you tell me how to take advantage of them? Can I get hi-fi sound with just a TV?
..."Dark Shadows"
From the fact that you're asking the question, I assume
you have your equipment connected the "traditional" way: cable or antenna to
VCR's RF input, VCR's RF output to TV set's antenna input via a short chunk of 75-ohm
cable. This arrangement does let you do the minimum: taping shows off air, watching those
tapes, and watching another channel while you are making a tape. But it involves the worst
compromises in terms of quality, especially audio quality.
The VCR has to modulate the video output of the tape or
the VCR's tuner on a radio-frequency (RF) carrier so that the TV set's tuner can handle
it. This not only involves considerable compromise in picture quality, but the audio
quality is minimal. . . and mono. Even if the source is stereo and your TV can handle it,
you'll get mono. So if you have a hi-fi VCR, you'll get none of the benefit of the
technology.
The simplest solution is simply to connect the RCA outs on
your VCR (both audio and video) to the corresponding inputs on the TV. This will give you
an immediate improvement in picture quality, and will use whatever audio quality your set
provides. It may not strictly be hi-fi, although some sets have surprisingly good sound,
but it can at least take advantage of stereo signals.
Better still is to feed the RCA audio outputs to an
external audio system, which will give you the best sound. Even a two-channel stereo will
provide a vast improvement, although an A/V receiver with Dolby Pro Logic decoding would
be better. You can either feed the direct video from the VCR to the TV set, or route it
through the receiver, which would let you switch both audio and video with the same click
on the remote control. You can leave the existing RF connections in place, so you can
still watch one program while taping another, as long as you remember to switch back to
the TV set's video input for normal viewing.
...Ian G. Masters
In the past few years, home-theater systems have dominated
the audio market. Are they real options to the classic audio systems with just two
loudspeakers or, for the best audio sound, should we keep the old-style system?
...Armando Guimar‹es
While many audiophiles cling to their devotion to exotic
two-channel systems for music -- and the best of them do probably represent the highest
possible level of audio quality -- there are many extremely fine examples of multichannel
home-theater setups that handle music recordings beautifully, and the extra impact of the
surround sound (even that derived more or less unintentionally from two-channel
recordings) might well outweigh any slight sonic drawbacks. An increasing number of
experts believe that multichannel sound is the future of music recording, the two-channel
standard being more or less a historical accident. That being the case, multi-speaker
systems will only improve over time, but the best are pretty good right now.
...Ian G. Masters
I recently bought an A/V receiver with output power rated
at 90Wpc. I am looking to buy a new set of home theater speakers but I am getting
conflicting answers from the sales people and from some of the articles on the web. Do I
have to buy speakers that are rated higher or lower than 90W?
...Jacob Mathew,
Qatar
It would be nice to be able to advise you just to match
up the numbers. Their existence implies that that's all you need to do, but unfortunately
that's a crock. Frankly, the speaker ratings are meaningless at best, and misleading at
worst. No two manufacturers measure them the same way, and there are no standards to
determine what factors are important. A 90Wpc A/V receiver should be able to drive
practically any combination of home-theater speakers you choose, as long as there are no
impedance problems, and as long as you are not trying to blow the walls out of your
listening room. If you're worried, get your dealer to let you try out the speakers you are
considering with a receiver rated the same as yours. If you get satisfying sound that
doesn't seem to be straining, go with it.
...Ian G. Masters
I know that nobody has really done a test on blank cassette
tapes in years, due to all the digital recording devices out now, but I still like to
record onto tape once in a while. I was wondering which company makes the best blank
cassette, TDK or Maxell.
...Keith Hugo
Both make superb tapes, as do the other "name"
brands. But one may be closer to being compatible with your cassette deck than another --
tiny bias variations can make a huge difference. If your cassette deck lets you match it
to a tape -- and if you are a serious recordist, it should -- use that facility. You
should then hear virtually no difference between brands. If you can't do that, then buy
samples of a number of brands (and grades within the brands) and try them out. Stick with
the one that performs best.
...Ian G. Masters
I have a pair of 6" x 9" speakers on the rear
shelf of my car in wooden boxes (metal under the shelf prevented me from mounting them
there). I was wondering if the boxes would be better completely sealed or with a port in
the side to let air in and out?
...Luke,
Australia
That's impossible to predict. Speaker design -- even car
speaker design -- is a careful balance between drivers, enclosure size, enclosure
configuration (closed or ported, for example) and position. And even if you decide to go
with a port, it's more than just a hole in the box: there is almost always a duct leading
to the port, carefully calculated to alter the back wave so it emerges in phase with the
front wave, and thus reinforce it. Just putting a speaker in a box addresses none of those
concerns. If you could mount the speakers in the rear deck, all of that would be
irrelevant, but since you can't, I'd replace your speakers with one of the many varieties
that come already mounted in matched enclosures, which need only to be attached to the
shelf.
...Ian G. Masters
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