Help with my University Research Project


If you are interested in helping to shape a formal research project (Miami University/Oxford) concerning the effects of wire and electronics on the reproduction of music, then please read further. If anything, you might find my research proposal interesting.

I was a Chemist for a major oil company for a few years and have since quit my job to return to school. I am an Audiophile/Jazz Guitarist and a scientist so much of the HiFi industry goes against my better judgment. However sometimes I cannot argue with my perceptions (they are all we have after all).

I have a friend who is a professor of Physics. His current area of research could be summed up with this statement:

"I am concerned with the mathematics describing the differences in human perception of sound"

While 99% of his work is done with paper and pencil, he does have some very excellent equipment. He is also a music lover (though not really into HiFi) so I have described the "state of the union" with respect to the HiFi industry (he was very intrigued). We have discussed conducting research into this topic:

1. If person (A) sings middle-C, and then person (B) sings the same exact note they will sound different. The pitch is correct but the "tone" distinguishes the two. The reason is that when someone sings middle-C for instant, they are not singing only at the middle-C frequency. Instead what we hear is a combination of many different waves. All of them partially cancelling, partially amplifying one another. In essence there is a distortion around the note. (1st,2nd,3rd harmonics blah blah, lots of math) When a machine records these voices it does not perfectly reproduce the original subtle combination of waves. This is the reason that recordings do not compete with live performances.

Some cables and electronics (tube amps in particular) are inserting a distortion (some more than others) that alters the signal (this is not debatable). Sometimes, as is the case with good tube amps/really goo SS amps, there seems to be a more "real" presence to the music. This could also explain the reasoning behind the theory of "system synergy". By that I mean the matching of components/cables so as to present a more balanced musical presentation. We are postulating that the distortion, with certain component/cable combinations, results in the,(excuse this word), recovery of lost waves. This does not mean that the resulting signal is exactly the same, or that there is not some unwanted stuff in there. We merely suggest that it is the missing waves(distortion) that give music its "real" quality.

Keep in mind that the first step into any research project is to determine what has already been done. So the next several weeks will be devoted toward the reading of countless science journals.

I would like to hear you thoughts about my project, but more specifically, I would like to get a consensus on the attributes of certain component/cable or component/component combinations. For instance, Krell model *?* and XLO model *?* cables produce a *?* sound. I hope to determine a few generally accepted extremes with which to base my experiments on.

Thanks
trthomp
My suggestion is to contact some of the cable manufacturers that are known to be friendly and accessible, i.e. Ray Kimber. Other than that, about all I can say is good luck.
You would think that there would be some way of measuring the spectrum of a recording played back through different equipment/cables and determining if the differences correlated to differences in percieved quality of sound.
Thanks for the input so far. The way I plan to do the experiment is as follows:

First I will get some musicians from the conservatory to perform a 3 or 4 minute work. I will record this at 24/192 and use it as the ref. I will then play it back through various configurations of cables/components and monitor it with what is basically a modified Spectral analyzer. I will then try to see if a pattern becomes apparent. I will not be considering speakers as that would make everything too complex (I would have to worry about placement and room acoustics etc)

I will be playing the file from the computer - out to the components/cables - and back into the same computer. After I have become aware of each componets/cables sonic characteristics (assuming there will be some...) I will then conduct a double blind study with some of the local "golden ears" as well as various students. I will use the same speakers but change the components or cables hopefully reproducing the effect I recorded in the lab.

Then we can be on the way to creating a rating system so that people can match their components properly... then the industry will quickly adopt our system and the world will be perfect...

I hope everyone picks up on the sarcasm in that last paragraph "because I was laying it on pretty thick" - David Spade
This is very interesting. May I suggest you have *TWO* control ref recordings: the other one being on analogue tape. Surely you can enlist rec studio/ rec labels' help, rather than invest your time in mastering recording techniques... Technical staff at EMI, Naim, et alia closer to home, should be happy to help in such a project.

Some ideas regarding electronics.
Try choosing ref brands based on their purported "sonic" characteristics. Even though the higher-end one goes, the more "controlled" this "signature" is, there is *something* there.
Many (most) brands are often referred to in this way by many audiophiles: words like "clear", "resolution", "dynamics", "smooth" etc, are used to describe the "sound" of the machines. Often, the combination of different pieces from various manufacturers + the conductors linking the equip, is also explained in the same manner: a "mellow, warm" amp, partnered with a "dynamic", "hi-resolution" pre, linked together with a matching cable that is "fast and detailed, esp. in the upper register...".
You may therefore, wish to consider starting with amp combos from the *same* company, esp. in SS gear.

Enough rambling. Do post news; I for one, would be very interested in the proceedings.
Good luck!
I like the idea very much. There have been numerous posts on the lack of scientific data supporting cable differences. John Dunlavy claims he has done much of this research, but not from your perspective--merely from a measurements perspective (would be interesting to correlate the two--if indeed there is correlation). Please let us know the results.