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referencing vs plug & play

This last couple of months more of you have been getting ahold of me, it's cool don't stop. I enjoy working on your systems and especially enjoy some listening together. Something though is coming up often and it's making me wonder if somewhere along the way someone has dropped the ball when it comes to comparing components. In talking with a few of you I've learned that a lot of you are dropping components into your systems and comparing without dialing your system into the new set of conditions. Back in the early days of referencing, before plug & play, when we made changes to a system we treated the system as if everything was starting from scratch. We knew that if making a component swap took place that we were going to need to make the rest of the audio chain suitable to accommodate the new signal path. "make a change anywhere in the flow and you've made a new flow"

When the plug & play audio clubs started popping up my friends looked at me as if these folks were off their rockers. I just figured they were doing something interesting but weren't really serious about club night, more than a chance to mingle. It's kind of the same thought as a trade show. You don't really take them serious, but it gives a chance to meet and greet. Saying this, I'm starting to think possibly I was wrong and plug & play has become the norm over actually referencing systems. My mind tells me this is nuts, right, but I'm hearing more and more that HEA folks are actually simply dropping components in mid chain and that's it. So I have to ask.

You do realize plug & play is different from referencing a system change don't you?

please be respectful to each other, thanks

Michael Green

128x128michaelgreenaudio
glupson
7,842 posts
 
michaelgreen,

Thanks for the explanation. I really would have not guessed that. Now, I just have to reread it a few times to grasp everything, but I have a starting point.
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geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
23,365 posts
 
I hate to judge before all the facts are in but referencing appears to be strikingly similar to what I’ve been preaching for a long time. And that is the use of a fool proof technique for determining speaker locations using the XLO Test CD or any Test CD with an Out of Phase Track (for such a purpose). But the trick - and the similarity to referencing - is this - after every new room treatment, every component change, every new power cord or cable, every new CD treatment, or any new tweak, the speakers should be checked for position again. Recalibration is another way to say it. Of course, break-in should be accounted for in the recalibration. Rome was not built in a day. These things take time. It’s not supposed to be plug and play, gentle readers.

”My voice should sound like it’s coming at you from all around the room. My voice should not be coming from any particular direction. The more non directional the sound is when the system is out of phase the more focused the sound will be when it’s in phase.”
millercarbon's avatar
millercarbon
12,531 posts
 
michaelgreenaudio has never explained what referencing he is talking about. A reference is a standard. We got the story about people driving around the country with tapes. Nothing about what exactly referencing is in regards to systems. The rest of us have to stay on Topic, so as not to have our posts removed. So Michaelgreenaudio please explain. What do you mean by referencing??? Reference literally means to refer to something. To go and look. A standard reference is a source of information. The Physicians Desk Reference. Websters Dictionary. Etc. See? So what is the standard to which YOU refer??? 
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