Holographic imaging

Mapman,

The Doppler effect in amplifiers is not actually a different problem than the one "solved" by NFB. It is the root of the problem that NFB cannot fix by design.

NFB is a servo system that only works for steady state sine waves. Not for complex music.

Even if you use massive amounts of NFB - you cannot remove Doppler. It is the wrong tool.

Regards,

Roger

Bill,

I feel your pain. If I were the competition I would be concerned too.

Try to have a nice day.

Regards,

Roger

Musicnoise,

Thank you for understanding at least part of the science behind Doppler interference in an audio system. Of course none of the above is "moving" (ignoring the speaker cones for now).
However, the electronics used to amplify the audio signal can alter the speed and therefore the pitch of what you hear. Since the effect is based on the relative distance between the sound object and the observer - it is not necessary to move any of the sound objects - just the observer. You and your system are the observer. Now since I don't expect that you are moving toward or away from your speakers, that leaves the delivery speed of your system.

Once you accept the fact that you can alter the speed of your system electronically and therefore emulate the physically induced Doppler effect - then everything will fall into place.

How can you induce Doppler electronically? The easiest way is to do this is by adjusting the playback speed on a tape deck while you are listening to music. An increase in playback speed (velocity) will cause an increase in pitch.

Moving toward a sound object PHYSICALLY will do the same thing. So you can see that it is possible to cause an effect (electronically) that we normally associate with the physical world.

I know your saying to yourself "but I'm not listening to a tape deck with poor speed control - I'm listening to my very stable digital front end."

Here is the problem – the analog amplifier circuitry in your system contains very small variations in speed (velocity) as the audio signal travels through your entire system and exits via you speakers. How can you change the speed of a signal as it is being amplified? All you need to do is alter the gain by a tiny amount and you have altered the speed.

Take for example you are listening to a recording of a live concert. You adjust your volume control for a “normal” listing level. You feel like you are in about the 10th row back. Now you decide to turn up the volume and you feel like you are in the front row (closer). If you then turn down the volume much lower so you feel like you are 20 rows back.

By adjusting the gain of your system – you have zoomed in and out of the scene. You have electronically moved the stage closer and farther away from you. Now, here is the most important aspect of this example to grasp – what I described was an action taken by you in your living room (setting the volume) to simulate the 3 relative listening positions at the concert hall. Now picture the actual physical repeat of this example. In other words you ARE at the concert hall. You are sitting in the 10th row and listening to real musicians play through the medium of air. There is no change in pitch / no Doppler. Now you get up and walk toward the stage to sit down in the front row. Again you listen from the front row (louder) but again with no change in pitch / Doppler. Everything seems normal and stable so what is the point?

Here is what you missed. It is not the location you listen from that changes the pitch. It is the movement you made between the locations that introduced Doppler. In other words when you walked toward the stage – the pitch of all the instruments was increased. If you were to walk toward the back of the hall to sit in row 20 you would experience the lowering of the total pitch of the music.

To tie this into what happens in your living room – the act of walking toward the stage IS the same as you turning up you volume (as it is being adjusted). Once you stop adjusting the volume – you are again stable and free from Doppler.

In case you think this is BS – here is a way to prove it in you own system.

Get a reference CD of pure tones and select a 1Khz tone to play in your system. Set you volume control to some “medium” level. Now turn the manual volume control up and down rapidly (wiggle).

What do you hear? Besides the obvious change in loudness – yes the FREQUENCY goes up and down.
Your 1000 hertz tone can drift up to 1100 hertz and down to 900 hertz depending on the speed and depth of the physical changes to your volume control. (Turning it up and down slowly will give almost no perceived change in pitch)

How is it possible to alter the frequency just by changing the gain? It is because the gain represents the efficiency of the delivery system and is directly related to the velocity of the traveling signal. Increasing the gain will accelerate the velocity and decreasing the gain will de-accelerate the velocity.

This all boils down to the involuntary changes in gain that occur in your system when you are not making adjustments (yourself). These microscopic changes in gain happen all the time while you are listening and your brain translates (correctly) that the relative distance between you and the sound objects is drifting and unstable. This wobbling distance is actual Doppler. As a result your “scene” is out of focus and bloated. This produces harmonic distortion on a scale that is far below the radar of all modern test equipment. However your brain has no problem picking up on this effect. It immediately recognizes that “this is not real”. In order to convince the brain that “this is real” – you most stop the Doppler effect from happening during the amplifying process.

BTW – the natural side effect of stopping the Doppler is holographic imaging.

Regards,

Roger

>> 09-25-08: Atmasphere Tbg, sorry, but, **there is no doppler effect in an amplifier**! If a designer of a 'holographic processor' tells you something like that, turn around and run as hard as you can!

Atmasphere, with all due respect.

I know I have mentioned this until I'm blue in the face - but here it goes again for clarity.

A - There IS Doppler in amplifiers - just not to the best of your knowledge.

B - H-CAT is not a processer,generator,gimmick, or something that "alters" the original recording and therefore creates distortion. It on the other hand is the only method of amplifying that deals with the real problem of where distortion comes from. Doppler distortion is the SEED of harmonic distortion. Harmonic distortion is the result of Doppler distortion that has been allowed to get out of control. If you can detect and correct Doppler errors in real time - you cannot generate harmonics.

Regards,

Roger

Tvad,

You missed the point entirely. If you read my post again you will see that it is not where you sit - the Doppler only occurs during the relocation process. IOW when you travel from the front of the hall to the back (walking). Once you sit down - your going to hear the same pitch as the guy in the first row but delayed by X distance.

You would agree that the act of moving away from a sound source makes the frequency/pitch appear lower?

Roger

Unsound, Tvad,

You’re right the concert hall was not meant to imply a change in perspective by switching seats. Just that it was convenient to illustrate changes in distance from the sound object and how it does impact the pitch as your movement occurs. And yes it would be below the threshold of human perception to actually hear a change in pitch as you are walking from front to back or vice versa. But the principal still applies. The 3 locations, front row, 10th row and 20th row represent relative settings in gain which if you were to “jump” between them would in fact throw off the perceived pitch.

Atmasphere,

Thank you for your response. The speed of the amplifier you refer to (slew rate) only addresses the “vertical” speed of the amplifier circuit. What I am referring to with velocity is the lateral or horizontal speed of the circuit. IOW my interest is in the manner that a given input signal travels from input to output and more importantly is it (the velocity) constant.

Regards,

Roger

>> The electrical signal traveling through the amplifier cannot have a doppler shift with respect to the receiver because the person is not a receiver for the electrical wave. The person only becomes the receiver when the signal is the sound wave. Whatever happens inside the amplifier has nothing to do with doppler shift.<<

Musicnoise,

I understand your confusion in this matter. Let me try to put it a different way. We all use computers and are familiar with “ZIP’ files yes? For those who don’t know – it simply a way to compress a file using an algorithm which when de-compressed or unzipped will restore/recover the original file. If you write a letter to someone and “zip” it up – email it to your friend and he “unzips” it on his PC he will have a virtual copy of the original file. The analogy is a stretch but stay with me.

If you use an editor program and make small changes to the zip file (while it is in the zipped format) and then unzip it. What would you get? Well depending on how much you tampered with it – you may have some misspelled words, an extra character or some other deviation from the original letter.

The point is that even though the “output” letter was properly decoded by the unzip program, the letter displays the results of damage done to it while it was in another format.

If you record a voice speaking into a microphone – the acoustic energy striking the mic is converted to the “electrical world”. This electrical format is the handled as you would expect in a long journey until finally it is converted back to acoustic energy by your loudspeakers. If however you tamper with the signal in while it is still in the electrical format - what you will hear (after conversion) by your loudspeakers is the acoustic equivalent of the damage done to the recording. In this case it is the Doppler you describe as only made possible by some physical motion in the acoustic world.

It is possible for an event that is occurring inside an amplifier to have this very effect on the outside world. In this case the person becomes the receiver of sound waves that contain the extra sonic effects that are the direct result of a signal passing through an unstable electrical world. The encode/decode algorithms at a finite level do not match.

Regards,

Roger

Atmasphere,

Yes I am familiar with Propagation Delay and all the classic textbook terms that pertain to amplifiers.
None of which was helpful in troubleshooting the real issues facing a relatively simple task of making a small signal larger.

I built my first TUBE amplifier in 1969 :)

Yes - I intend to answer your questions

Roger

Atmasphere,

The misunderstanding is (and this is my fault) when I refer to the speed of the amplifier – I meant its velocity. IOW the speed that a signal travels through a circuit. Propagation delay refers to the amount of time the signal spends in the circuit and while it is directly related to the speed of the traveling signal – it can only indicate the AVERAGE speed since the comparison is base on the time it took a signal to enter and exit the circuit. What happens in-between is not monitored - it is assumed.

This is the area of interest to me.

As far your question..
“For a given change in gain, say 20 db, how much change in pitch will be measured?”

This is the same misunderstanding that Detlof has with his statement…
“I know however, and that for certain, that in a well set up rig, volume and pitch do not have anything to do with each other.”

Please read slowly --- It is not the volume setting you are listing at that affects the pitch. It is the CHANGE in volume that affects the pitch. Let me reverse that statement. The pitch will change as you increase or decrease the volume. Once you take you hand off the volume control, the pitch is the same no matter where you left to volume.

Hope this helps :)

Roger

Musicnoise,

Please accept my apologies. I certainly thought you were aware that I am the designer of H-CAT.
There are many references within this thread that may have indicated this earlier.
When this topic of holographic imaging started – I was very interested to read about the variety of opinions and experiences of audiophiles. After all, to me this was something that I have studied for many years. The results of my work I am willing to share with those who are interested.

Regards,

Roger

“So- its only when volume is *changed* that pitch is affected? So as long as we don't change the volume, there's no worries.”

Atmasphere,
Now we are getting somewhere – here is the other shoe dropping.
You don’t have to manually change the volume (yourself) – your amplifier is changing the gain on the fly.
It is the unstable nature of the instantaneous gain that is constantly altering the velocity and therefore pitch.
The tiny changes in pitch also represent the shifting of the perceived location of that sound object on the stage.

Roger

“My instrument tuner can't detect a difference either!”

Atmasphere,

I think I’m realizing why it is so difficult to absorb what I’m claiming.
Not to make things worse but I should mention that my work with amplifiers has taken place at microscopic levels. I have studied the behavior of circuits as they operate or are set into motion.
Since this is far below the radar of test equipment – it is done in a theoretical realm
The changes in gain that I have tried to give as examples are gross exaggerations done in order to make a point that you can recognize at a large scale. In fact the changes in gain that I deal with are typically 1/100th of a db. or less. You will never see this with a spectrum analyzer or o’scope. The tiny changes in gain however will definitely manifest themselves as obvious to the listener when your brain detects the unstable placement of a given sound object in the deployed sound field.

Roger

"09-26-08: Tvad
The realm of that which cannot be measured."

Yes - but it can be heard.

Roger

Shadorne,

You are on the right track. The reason you can’t see it with a THD analyzer is because it is way too subtle to show up. If somehow you alter the gain/velocity by a factor of 2:1 double the velocity! Then your 1khz signal will shift up to 2khz. A full octave away! That is represented by the spike you see on a spectrum analyzer at the 2khz mark. The length of time it spends at this accelerated velocity will determine the size of the spike.

Now imagine a much smaller shift in velocity like 1:1.005
This will cause a 1khz tone to shift up to 1005 hz At this level it is a mere twinkle in the eye of “harmonic distortion” but is distortion nonetheless. In fact the worse case example (2:1 above) actually had to pass through 1005 hz to get to 2 khz. This is because it is analog and continuous and therefore cannot be in 2 places at once. (Translation) Energy measured at 2khz is missing from the fundamental frequency (1khz) for the length of time it has been shifted. The same is true for the shifted 1005 hz energy.

Roger

Tvad,

How can you criticize someone for taking the fight against distortion to the next level?
I am merely taking the known accepted principles of the modern THD analyzer down a few notches more in terms of detection. Its not my fault that the analyzers are not sensitive enough to show you what is going on. The only reason it is a theory is because I have been forced to work around the inadequacies of the present day analyzer.

I’m sure at least half the people reading this thread know exactly what I’m talking about. Remember the arguments about how SS equipment should sound better than tubes because of the holy THD measurements where so much lower? You tube guys know that that was BS. Why? Because there was something being missed by the analyzers that was “unseen” and did not jive with the tube amp measurements which were typically higher.

I'm not talking about odd/even harmonics either. THD analyzers could not hear transparency, inner detail, staging etc.

You cannot use the simple logic that if you can’t measure it – it isn’t there.
Your own textbooks can verify my explanation of Doppler distortion if you simply apply what I am saying at a small scale to a higher scale so it fits into your world of measurements.

What is it about an amplifier that makes it produce harmonic distortion?

Anyone?

Unsound,

Bingo!

Yes - exactly.

Roger

Unsound,

I'm assuming your reference to "that the knob on your gear" is the Wavefront Timing Control (now on the remote).

The internal Doppler detection and correction happens in real time and in a pure analog mode. These detectors handle the dynamic changes in velocity (on the fly) while the WTC handles the static velocity correction that is the result of all upstream and downstream electronics.

There is of course a limit to the extent it can recover the source dimensional venue. It cannot “fix” a bad recording.

Atmasphere,

I’m sorry the first sentence should have been separated from the second sentence.
And I did not say that a spike was too subtle to show up. I was saying that the reason that the Doppler shift would not show up is because it is not nearly as strong a shift or event to cause enough energy to slide up the spectrum and show up as a spike. In all likelihood it resides so close to the fundamental (spike) as to be hidden by it. A 1khz spike with a smaller 1005 hz (spike) would be difficult to discern.

Roger

Atmasphere,

Ok – here we go – lets start with your first comment. I will try to use straight simple answers.

“09-26-08: Atmasphere
Roger, 1/100th of a db? Really? So if the change in pitch cannot be detected by **musical instrument** tuning devices (which are quite sensitive, much more so that any frequency counter I've seen), it follows that it cannot also be heard by the human ear, but you say it can. How do you square your apparently contradictory statement?”

Do you realize what you have just concluded?
If you can’t measure it – you can’t hear it.
Any audiophile worth his salt will tell you that measurements and sound don’t always add up.
You say that if it cannot be detected by [equipment] then… “it follows that it cannot also be heard by the human ear”

Do you really believe that?
You would rank the human ear made by God in the same category as man-made test equipment?

NEXT -
”The **amplifier** is changing gain? What is the mechanism for that?”

It’s called distortion. Simple non-linearity’s that cause the amplification factor to deviate from a constant ideal value.

1) How have you measured this effect to prove or disprove your hypothesis and add what outcomes does it suggest?

I don’t.

2)Given that a change in the speed of the amplifier has produce no measurable result, how were you able to test your hypothesis?

I listen.

3)For a given change in gain, say 20 db, over a period of 1/2 second how much change in pitch will be measured?

Can’t measure it remember. But I do use a simple binary logic.
Smeared = bad
Clear = good

4)How do you measure Doppler effect in an amplifier?

Sorry - Still can’t measure it.

5)What is the unit of measure?

Fractions of a degree / fractions of a db.

6)What test equipment do you use for this?

Nobody makes equipment to test this.

7)How much DE is reduced by your circuit?

Significant amounts – verifiable via listening.

8)IME again, I have found that the measurable propagation delay in an amplifier circuit does not change with the input level. How do you square this with your hypothesis?

Actually with a fixed or constant input level applied the propagation delay will vary as signal goes through its 360 range. What your are reading with your test equipment is a worthless average.

9)Does your hypothesis support exceptions or does it predict that the experience of perspective is universal?

Changes in perspective were not my intention regarding the concert hall analogy – just the relative distance from the stage based on the 3 seating positions and the necessity to move between them to alter the pitch.

10)Since when listening I am usually seated, why exactly should I care if there is Doppler effect if I move?

You will not hear / notice Doppler by simply moving around in your living room unless you are running VERY fast. Again the reference to the concert hall was to illustrate changes in gain you would implement via your volume control (rapidly) the physical equivalent would be a very brief “jump" from seat to seat at which time you would hear a change in pitch. (Doppler).

11)In a real life situation, would you not also experience Doppler?

We experience it all the time.

12)It seems to me that you would want to preserve the Doppler effects of real life music. true/false?

True – the same as you would want to preserve harmonic overtones that originate from the instruments.
--

Hope this has been of some value to you.

Regards,

Roger

Shadorne,

Your statement, "Lets assume that a 200 Hz bass note is modulating the 1000 Hz note."
Followed by my line – “This will cause a 1khz tone to shift up to 1005 hz”
Makes no sense – I was referring to an instantaneous shift in velocity of 1:1.005

Roger

"The speed of sound in air is always varies depending on air pressure, elevation, temperature and humidity."

Atmasphere,

Yes this is true and I beleive I tried to indicate as much with my addition of "(Ignoring long term changes in temperature, humidity etc.)"

I'm assuming that the elevation, temperature etc. is fairly constant in your listening room.

Roger

Atmasphere,

Sorry It's been a long day and I do have a life.
I will try to get back to you soon.

Regards,

Roger

"09-28-08: Unsound
Convincing, no?"

Unsound, I am not surprised. This whole discussion is meaningless of you evaluate amplifiers based on talk and specs. We could just narrow it down to my amplifier is 0.002 % and yours is 0.02 % and therefore mine is 10 times better. Of course it does not work this way or we would all be buying our gear from catalogs.

I have never nor will I ever design a “black box” gadget that will intentionally tamper with the true embedded phase relationships for the purpose of faking the apparent depth, stage or placement of objects within a given “scene”.

I know that I am unconventional when it comes to designing audio gear. After all conventional thinking will always give you conventional results. I think it is also safe to say that I am the only designer in the audio market that has taken such a radical approach to new amplification techniques. I know that I am the only one who has gone after the ROOT cause for distortion. IOW fixing the problem at the SOURCE not after it has already been allowed to exit the circuit. Oh, did I mention that I have been after this for nearly 2 decades? And, much like Edison I can show you 900 circuits that didn’t work. I have lived in 4 homes in the past 20 years and every one had a laboratory. Call me stubborn – but I knew before I got anywhere close to finding the culprit that it was there all along.

Newsflash – like it or not Doppler **is** responsible for ALL distortion byproducts in amplifiers.
Someday I will have more patience to take you through the process an inch at a time.

If you don’t think an amplifier can electronically change the “pitch” of a signal – how do you account for 2khz energy leaving a circuit fed by 1khz signal?

I guess what I’m saying is you build ‘em your way and I’ll build ‘em my way. Ultimately it is in the ear of the beholder. Let the free market decide.

Roger

Shadorne,

I stand corrected. I should not have described the shift in velocity as instantaneous. That would be a near digital event. I was thinking of an instant in time where the velocity has shifted slightly higher – causing the 1000 hz to appear as 1005 hz. I am certainly aware that all deviations from true linearity are generally “smooth” transitions. (A kind of bend or warp in the shape of the sine wave.)

This brings me back to my earlier attempt to describe a 2khz measurement from a 1khz fundamental. The shape of the sine wave will have to have at least a portion of its rise or fall time doubled in speed. That is a considerable “bend” in the shape to be “seen” by the THD analyzer as twice the frequency (harmonic).

If you can reduce the bending and warping to a fraction of that amount – you can limit the distortion to one of mere phase shift instead of frequency shift. Instead of the energy sliding up the spectrum to 2khz - it only moves slightly up the spectrum and is limited to a region at or around the fundamental frequency. (1005 hz)

If you can detect the START of this deviation AS IT HAPPENS and correct it on the fly – it will never have a chance to inflict damage on the final acoustic output. Dealing with this issue while it was reduced to phase errors instead of frequency errors is why the system I developed is a Doppler control system. The entire complex musical event is phase locked to the fundamental (primary) image. As a result it has a massive stabilizing effect on the perceived location of sound objects and is totally transparent.

Roger

Mapman,

Sorry - I didn’t mean to imply that you (and others) have crap for a system Its just stunning to hear what people would accept and legitimize as ok to add to your system when these are the biggest offenders of purity. My design is focused on achieving the highest purity and resolution by simply removing distortion.
It adds absolutely zero to the original source.

I have never talked down to anyone’s designs. I even respect Ralph and his work. I have taken a different approach and a different path. Along the way I have only met with more conformation that I was headed in the right direction.

Roger

“And if the designer can't adequately explain his design and it's the audience's dullness that is responsible, well - what did he expect to find here anyways, a bunch of astrophysicists (rocket scientists)? “

Newbee,

You know sometimes it may be detrimental to be an actual rocket scientist and trying to solve a problem.
Edison handed off the task of figuring out the volume of air space inside his new spherical light bulb to someone who would work at great length with all the formulas and mathematics necessary to determine the answer. After a while Edison simply picked up the light bulb and turned it upside-down in a container of water. The amount of displaced water was equal to the volume of air space. Problem solved. Wow – was this man a genius? No just using common sense.

Remember gravity was here way before Isaac Newton pointed it out in the 1600’s (even though Newton's postulate of an invisible force able to act over vast distances led to him being criticized for introducing "occult agencies" into science.) Luckily it all worked out.

Atmasphere,

I promise I will try to address you questions in a manor that will be satisfactory to you.

Roger

09-28-08: Tvad -
“As in the case of the H-Cat's "Doppler Correcting" circuitry, the lack of measurements has always been a sticking point.”

Tvad,

Can you tell me the difference between a standard fuse and an Isoclean fuse? (besides more than $30)
The answer is – one sounds good the other sounds fantastic. It is a sonic or acoustic recognition of superior performance. But how can this be? You surely cannot measure any difference electrically.

How about AVM (Anti Vibration Magic) paint? Simply applying it to transformers and wires and other components makes a HUGE difference sonically. How can this be? Nobody can measure it so you must be wasting your money. But behold – a not so subtle transformation of an existing audio component into something very special. Is it real or imagined? Actually it is real.

The reason these things work is because they operate at microscopic levels. IOW they take care of the really small issues that can have huge sonic effects on the outcome. Much like the microscopic phase errors that I have observed in amplifiers that cannot be measured but have a profound impact on the acoustic performance.

My work has been in the area of the microscopic to nanoscopic regions of amplifiers. This is why it is called Holographic (Cloning) Amplifier Technology. I deal with the structural integrity (shape) if a signal at levels that can go to 100 db below the noise floor. The Wavefront Timing Control is designed to make adjustments in velocity using circuitry that operates in parts per billion.

These are things that your average designer has not “tinkered with” nor do they have a clue as to where to begin.

09-28-08: Audiofeil
“The market decided on Edsel, New Coke, Betamax, etc.”

Audiofeil,
Were these all the brands that you have carried?

Happy listening!

Tvad,

Thank you for a civil response. I honestly don’t know what the answer is regarding the issue of having to provide proof that something works other than just listening to the results. The fact is that I have been able to accomplish a great deal of work that has been done virtually in the dark (thanks to the inability of test equipment to point to the problem).
I can attribute this only to my decision years ago to follow a theory I came up with that associated what I was hearing to what I understood to be the actions of the amplifier circuit I was listening to.

The subtle misplacement of objects (in my sonic image) seemed to be caused by very slight alterations in phase but enough to matter when “projected” over a large area (stage). I seemed to have locked on to this concept that this was the mechanism for a lack of pinpoint focus that would be able to discern the difference between background singers as separate individuals. Their exact placement in the “projection” was totally reliant on the ability of the amplifier to pass the signal including the tiniest phase information needed to reconstruct the vector-based acoustic image. The simple act of triangulating the apparent location of objects would easily be scattered by a circuit that was not velocity stabilized. You would hear a general location for a given object but you could not pinpoint it as you would in real life.

The difference between listening to a real performance in front of you and an electronically reproduced performance is the medium. One is AIR and the other is AIR stored in an electrical format. As I have tried to explain – if you tamper with the electrical format before you convert it back to acoustic output. You have essentially tampered with the “stored” air medium. In this case any change in electrical velocity is proportional to changes in the “stored” air velocity. You therefore get the sensation that the sound objects in the reconstructed “projection” are moving slightly toward or away from you. This is recognized by the listener as “out of focus” or “bloated” but the proper technical term is Doppler interference.

Roger

“I bought a used Carver C-9 generator last week because it was the only thing I really missed after going to tubes.”

”The only additional processing I use these days is DBX for dynamic range enhancement on occasion. When I use it, I believe its generally due to dynamic range deficiencies in the recording compared to live sound rather than anything missing with my equipment.”

Your kidding right?

Here I am being crucified for allegedly creating an enhancement circuit to generate some kind of fake image. And you guys a sitting back with a living room full of crap and have the audacity to point a finger at my lifes work and say ah ha! Its just a black box with a resister wrapped in aluminum foil! We got him now!

I’m beginning to think that the only sane people reading this thread are the ones who don’t post but are nonetheless entertained by the squabbling.

All I tried to do is share some insight with fellow music lovers but its obvious that you will never be able to accept the “fix” for Doppler interference if you can’t accept that the problem is Doppler to start with.

If there is even a chance that I ‘m correct in what I have tried to share with you, think about the ramifications.
To the audiophile - its good news. To the competition – it’s a sad day in Mudville.

All the best,

Roger

Rleff,

It is pure analog.

Roger

I would like to make one more point if I can and then I think I will pretty much give up. I am not trying force my opinion or concepts on anyone. I do think that If there was perhaps a more proper way to “explain” it that we would all be on the same page. Take this example –

You are in a room filled with people at a party. You are having a conversation with someone right in front of you. Now you decide to listen in on another conversation (eavesdrop) that is taking place off to the side of you and is several feet away. Without turning your head -you pick up on everything they are saying and all during this time you have missed anything said to you by the person right in front of you. As soon as you turn your “attention” back to your partner – you can no longer eavesdrop on the other conversation. Why is that? And how
is it that you can turn your “attention” without turning your head?

Here is how this works. Your ears are fed by streaming acoustic energy that has many properties but there are really only two critical properties. One represents the raw acoustic data such as the changes in air pressure that represent the “sound” made by an object. The second is the differential phase caused by the separate arrival times of this raw data to your two ears. Of course if you are looking directly at the sound object – the arrival times will be identical (null). If you turn your head to the right then your left ear is slightly closer to the sound object and therefore the raw data arrives there first. The difference in arrival times will provide the brain with a specific idea (like a global positioning system) as to the physical location of that sound source. None of this should come as news to anyone that understands the basics of how we hear.

Here are two ways to hear the “other” conversation. One would be to turn your head toward the direction of the physical location until you are looking directly at them. At which time your head and your attention is fixed on them. It is also a time that your brain has chosen to lock onto raw data that has the same arrival times. If it does not have the same arrival times then the brain will reject or filter out differential arrival times thus ignoring other sounds as not important or of interest.

The second way of hearing the “other” conversation is to keep your head straight ahead as if you were still involved in your primary conversation – but allowing your brain to “scan” for raw data that is arriving at increasingly longer differential times until what you hear is of interest. At this point you are willingly latching onto this specific delay in arrival times as important and rejecting arrival times from other sources including right in front of you. You have become internally phase locked to an outside physical location.

Even if you briefly turn your head directly toward them and back to straight ahead. – your brain will easily compensate for the rotation of your head keeping the phase lock in place.

The moment your partner snaps your attention back to him your lock on the differential times is broken and you default back to the same arrival times. The other conversation is now suppressed by the brains ability to filter and select what it hears.

It can be seen from this that the ear/brain system is a highly sophisticated mechanism for discerning the physical location of a sound object when you include the massive ability to detect phase/time relationships that are on a scale so small as to be unbelievable.

There is one very important factor that has everything to do with this human gift. And it is something we rely on heavily. Sound travels at Mach one through the medium of air. It is a constant. It does not vary. This is the one ingredient or component of the larger formula used by the brain to accurately pinpoint a sound object. If you tamper with the velocity of the medium you can confuse the brain about what it thinks is the precise location of an object. In fact the brain is smarter than that and can recognize the instability of the medium to maintain a fixed velocity and immediately “knows” this is fake. In real life the speed or velocity of sound is virtually written in stone. (Ignoring long term changes in temperature, humidity etc.)

My circuitry is designed to provide a velocity-stabilized amplifier that is more in tune with the type of stability you expect to find in air. The closer you come to the stability of Mach One – the more your brain accepts the notion that your are in the same room with these people. IOW if you can feed your brain the raw data at Mach One – the listener will have the same acoustic sensation as someone who was actually present during the initial recording. H-CAT is a method of metering the output velocity so as to allow the brain to work in a familiar stable environment. The brain begins to trust what it hears as first hand and not a poor attempt to recreate a sound event riddled with phase errors.

The bottom line is that your audio system must play to your brain – not your test equipment.

Roger

Duke,

If I may clarify…

You have an artist playing a guitar in a studio – the sound vibrations from the stings are traveling away from the guitar toward the microphone through the medium of AIR. The velocity of travel is for this segment is Mach One.

Fast forward way ahead to your listening room. The sound vibrations manifested by your loudspeaker travel from the speaker across your listening room to your ears. This segment is also traveling at Mach One.

In-between the two AIR segments is a segment of electronics including storage that is presented in series to form a three-part chain of events. Don’t forget that what is stored in the recording is the sound of the guitar as heard through the medium of AIR. If there are any minor changes to the velocity/phase of the electrical segment – they will be manifested in the final sound of the system and assumed to be part of the recording.

For example if you add digital delay or reverb to the electrical segment – the net result is a feeling by the listener that the guitar is “obviously” in a big hall. (when in fact it was done in a quiet studio).

The real point to this is accepting the fact that any modification to the electrical segment gives the listener an impression about the RECORDING – not the system. After all if you purposely tamper with the electronic segment to “create” an artificial feeling about the recording – say like Carver – then why wouldn’t the reverse be true as well? Meaning that your impression about the recording can be altered by inadvertent and unintentional problems with phase in the electrical segment including velocity errors that give the impression of motion when there was none. The artificial motion impressed upon the guitar can be as simple as bloating, out of focus or larger than life physical size. The removal of these minor phase errors reduces the motion and stabilizes the pin point location back to what you would expect if you were there.

Roger

Ok folks,

Nevermind. I'm out of here.

Roger