Articles You Feel Should be Shared

Siegfried Linkwitz is one of the great contributors to audio science. His directions always made sense and it is very hard to argue with his basic premises. I think he may have been miss stated. A speaker has to have the same dispersion pattern at all frequencies. A criteria Magnepans and certain ESLs meet better than any other kind of speaker. I'm not entirely sure but I think it would be possible to design a horn system that way. This is probably the reason the K horn is so compelling in spite of it's phase and timing errors. Linkwitz's experimentation with dipole sub woofers was an attempt to create the dispersion pattern of his dipole speakers. 
Anyway, some great articles and Youtubes here. 
What we listen to are illusions, illusions of musicians playing real instruments and singing. Illusions are plastic and depend on the perception of the individual which is at once complicated by other motives and emotions but as has been demonstrated under the right conditions surprisingly uniform. I think most of our differences are based on opinions formed under the wrong conditions.

@mijostyn,

'What we listen to are illusions, illusions of musicians playing real instruments and singing.'


Good point. As time goes by we seem to be getting increasingly immersed in illusion trying to pass off as reality.

From the printed page to our smartphone screens, TV sets and workstations - it's all an illusion of a relationship becoming increasingly removed. Covid 19 has only made it worse.

Thankfully with audio we do have a fixed fundamental point of reference, the recording itself. All that any playback system can do is to attempt to play back the original recorded signal as faithfully as possible. 

The biggest challenge falls with microphones and loudspeakers and their attempts to capture and mimick naturally occurring sound radiation patterns.

We cannot, and should never blame playback systems for not being able to deliver what was never captured in the first place.

As for individual interpretation, well that's another issue altogether - one of biological capability and psychological interpretation. One that, although currently beyond our means to measure adequately, is not one needed to determine playback fidelity.

The job of the playback system is accurate playback.

What the listener then does with the signal after it leaves the loudspeaker is only an individual personal matter.


@millercarbon, 

We're not in the creation business are we?

We're only on the consumption end, and as such we look to the industry to provide the best products they can. 

What do you suggest we should be listening to and learning from? 

Isn't it better to leave that to the professionals who have both the time and resources to do a better job than we ever could?

The Best Linn LP12 Set Up Guide Ever

Setting up your LP12:
Volume I - 3 by Peter Swain of Cymbiosis.


These 3 downloadable PDF guides from the Cymbiosis website should be mandatory reading for anyone thinking about buying into an LP12.

These are exceptionally well written with very clear instructions and are fabulously informative. Peter is unusually quite candid about his experiences too.

I thought I knew most everything about the LP12 set-up but after reading these it's obvious that I don't. If these had been available some 15 years ago my experiences with the deck might have been better. They would certainly have saved me some time but alas all I had was the official Linn set up manual.

The Linn is the perfect turntable for anyone with enough time (and confidence) to want to spend hours playing around with setting it up. 

Owners of older decks might be interested in some of Peter's suggestions regarding the use of newer parts - especially those in regard to maintaining that all importantly famous LP12 bounce.


https://www.cymbiosis.com/download/setting-up-your-lp12-volume-i/

not a read, but a watch... this caught my eye

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJGw8zwx-6g&t=676s

Parlogram Auctions

Here's an unusually informative YouTube channel I stumbled upon.

This one is based mainly around the Beatles on vinyl and goes into considerable detail. 

I always wondered why the original albums sounded different to some of the recent reissues.

Well it's explained here on a video of the 2014 mono vinyl box set that the fashion back in the 1960s was to cut most records "loud and hot".

That way they would sound good on almost anything at normal volume levels.
The downside might be increased distortion at high volume listening levels.

https://www.youtube.com/user/Parlogram