I don’t want gross harmonic distortion, but don’t abuse or lose the precious harmonics in the virgin recording either. No way to measure that, though, right?Sure you can. The thing is, no amp is going to lose harmonic information in the audio range. They will all *add* harmonic information though and because distortion obscures detail, it will subjectively appear that some amps are better at getting the 'harmonic structure' (overtones) right than others. |
EMI may well cause secondary and unwanted effects in amplifiers. One source is the speaker cables that are not only information bearers for analog audio signals. They are also RF antennas. The problem is that amplifiers may not have sufficient RF attenuation for RF related EMI fed into the amplifier via the speaker cables. As most amplifiers have an internal feedback signal from speaker output, RF noise can be injected into the negative feedback loop of the amplifier. This may well cause secondary effects for example within the micro-dynamics. |
+1 atmasphere Amplifier design guru Nelson Pass tinkers with harmonics sometimes adding more to his amp designs to get a pleasing sound. Numbers only get you so far - it’s the sound that sells. High end audio design is both science and art. |
High end audio design is both science and art.Yes. The trick is to design for the ear rather than the spec sheet. They are not the same :) The spec sheet emphasizes low distortion, But it turns out that the ear will be less sensitive to distortion if the overall distortion has a certain signature: a predominate 2nd and/or 3rd harmonic in sufficient quantity to mask the higher orders. If this is the case then it will be very hard to tell the difference between 0.5%THD and 0.005THD. If the lower orders are not in sufficient amplitudes, the higher orders (even if the amp has only 0.005% THD) will cause the amp to sound bright and harsh. You have to know this simple fact when designing amps, if you want to make an amp that sounds like music rather than electronics. |
