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The Contour System – Directional Wiring of Audio Parts

Hi guys!

The topic is about subjective homemade research of conductors directivity. I know most people don't believe in such phenomena so probably the story is not for them but for those who find it unbearable to listen to imperfect sound of chaotically directed wires and components.
As for me, I hear direction difference distinctly. The matter started from interconnect cables quite long ago, after a while I added to my research inner wiring of loudspeakers, then discover the importance of mains cables direction. After all I decided to find the directions of all the wires and components of my pretty vintage DIY tube mono SE amp and after everything had been done I drew a resulting schematic and wrote the article. It was in 2005, I have translated it in English only now. Hope you will find the article useful or just enjoy it.
Here is the Link: https://www.backtomusic.ru/audio-engineering/theory/contour-system.
anton_stepichev
ausaudio
90 posts
 
I agree 100%. Successful 78 recordings sound extremely realistic on the gramophone, and I feel that no electrical system can so accurately copy the effect of a live presence during a performance as a mechanical gramophone. In this paradoxical situation, again, our misunderstanding of the properties of electricity and human perception can be traced.

Or if you ever did the can with string thing as a kid, you can totally tell it is a real person and not a recording on the other end. The old telephone calls were like that too. Not this cell phone BS we have today.  


Well, how does one even respond to something like this?  Sort of shoots the whole thread in the foot.

Hate to break it to you, but phone lines have started to be digitized in the early 70s, and by 80, 40+ years ago, your phone call almost definitely passed through an ADC and DAC. 

anton_stepichev OP
150 posts
 
@ausaudio
Hate to break it to you, but phone lines have started to be digitized in the early 70s, and by 80, 40+ years ago, your phone call almost definitely passed through an ADC and DAC.


Ausaudio, maybe it was in the USA, but I'm from Russia. Our first digital telephone stations appeared in the 1990s, and then only in large cities. In St. Petersburg (5 million people) back in 2000, some stations did not understand the tone set, that is, they were still relay, purely analog.

But it's not about the dates, of course, but what I wrote, it's true. I had a favorite "audiophile" rotary dial Siemens phone with a carbon microphone, my friend had the same one, so I called him up and evaluated the changes in the liveliness and fullness of the sound of his system on the phone. Of course, it was not possible to evaluate everything, but in general it was clear what was what. Now with digital and even more so with mobile communication, this is simply impossible.
ausaudio
90 posts
 
Ausaudio, maybe it was in the USA, but I'm from Russia. Our first digital telephone stations appeared in the 1990s, and then only in large cities. In St. Petersburg (5 million people) back in 2000, some stations did not understand the tone set, that is, they were still relay, purely analog.



The person who posted that comment on telephones was from the USA.


You are doing nothing more than romanticizing a bygone era. Old analog PSTN was pretty awful, almost all aspects of it. Low sensitivity microphone, low bandwidth, very low signal to noise.  Modern communications, especially some of the Internet based voice platforms are so far ahead in voice quality a comparison is laughable.


You were evaluating the liveliness and "fullness" from 300Hz - 3000Hz.  Think about what you are implying.  You are honestly comparing that to what is typically 50Hz - 7KHz, often with much better SNR, if not even wider bandwidth? 
antigrunge2
1,424 posts
 
If people have qualms with the concept of directivity, I suggest they turn their fuses by 180 degrees. If they can‘t hear a difference, two options are available:

1. get better equipment
2. get better ears
Post removed 
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