Thanx for the compliment(s) about my system, unfortunately it's not true. And I'm not from the USA, but from the other side of that orther little pool: I'm from Holland....
What do you think of my 25 laws of audio
The Laws of High Quality Audio.
1. The bigger the sound system the better.
2. The more powerful the sound system the better.
3. There is no such thing as a sound system that is too big.
4. There is no such thing as a sound system that is too powerful.
5. You will always find that no matter how big you build the system it is never quite big enough.
6. You will always find that no matter how much power you have there never seems to be quite enough.
7. No matter how deep and powerful the bass sounds, it will always seem to be not quite deep enough and not quite powerful enough.
8. No matter how clear and detailed the treble sounds, you will always feel that it could be improved.
9. Achieving audio perfection is absolutely impossible no matter how much money you spend.
10. No matter how much money you spend you will always feel that the system is not quite as good as it could be.
11. If you think that your system sounds perfect then there must be something seriously wrong with it or something seriously wrong with you.
12. All your friends think that your system sounds much better than you do.
13. The longer you listen to your own system the worse it seems to sound.
14. Any dissatisfaction with a new system, no matter how slight, will always become greater as time goes on.
15. Any new pieces of equipment added to the system will always sound excellent initially but nowhere near as good when you get used to them.
16. Regularly listening to poor equipment for extended periods is good because it seems to make good equipment sound much better.
17. Regularly listening to good equipment for extended periods seems to make poor equipment sound absolutely dreadful and probably worse than it really is.
18. Any person’s opinion on the sound quality of a system is completely worthless because someone else will have a different opinion.
19. Any alterations you make to the system to improve it, no matter how extensive, will never improve it to the extent you wanted it to.
20. No matter how good your system sounds, there will always be someone else with a system that sounds better.
21. You will always detect a difference between the sound qualities of two identical systems and never know why they sound different.
22. Any attempt to match different makes of equipment together will never work out quite as you originally intended.
23. Improving any individual part of the system will always make some other part of the system seem worse than it was before.
24. If you build a big listening room you will be very pleased with the result, but when you get used to it you will convince yourself that the room needs to be bigger.
25. An infinitely huge attempt to achieve perfection would at best only produce a system that was infinitesimally close to perfection, but still not perfect.
1. The bigger the sound system the better.
2. The more powerful the sound system the better.
3. There is no such thing as a sound system that is too big.
4. There is no such thing as a sound system that is too powerful.
5. You will always find that no matter how big you build the system it is never quite big enough.
6. You will always find that no matter how much power you have there never seems to be quite enough.
7. No matter how deep and powerful the bass sounds, it will always seem to be not quite deep enough and not quite powerful enough.
8. No matter how clear and detailed the treble sounds, you will always feel that it could be improved.
9. Achieving audio perfection is absolutely impossible no matter how much money you spend.
10. No matter how much money you spend you will always feel that the system is not quite as good as it could be.
11. If you think that your system sounds perfect then there must be something seriously wrong with it or something seriously wrong with you.
12. All your friends think that your system sounds much better than you do.
13. The longer you listen to your own system the worse it seems to sound.
14. Any dissatisfaction with a new system, no matter how slight, will always become greater as time goes on.
15. Any new pieces of equipment added to the system will always sound excellent initially but nowhere near as good when you get used to them.
16. Regularly listening to poor equipment for extended periods is good because it seems to make good equipment sound much better.
17. Regularly listening to good equipment for extended periods seems to make poor equipment sound absolutely dreadful and probably worse than it really is.
18. Any person’s opinion on the sound quality of a system is completely worthless because someone else will have a different opinion.
19. Any alterations you make to the system to improve it, no matter how extensive, will never improve it to the extent you wanted it to.
20. No matter how good your system sounds, there will always be someone else with a system that sounds better.
21. You will always detect a difference between the sound qualities of two identical systems and never know why they sound different.
22. Any attempt to match different makes of equipment together will never work out quite as you originally intended.
23. Improving any individual part of the system will always make some other part of the system seem worse than it was before.
24. If you build a big listening room you will be very pleased with the result, but when you get used to it you will convince yourself that the room needs to be bigger.
25. An infinitely huge attempt to achieve perfection would at best only produce a system that was infinitesimally close to perfection, but still not perfect.
55 responses Add your response
Hi Satch, Thanks for your interesting reply. Well I don't think that my sound system is anywhere near audio nirvana and probably never will be. I suspect that your system is much nearer than mine. Being an engineer I am very much aware that the design of anything is a compromise and if the end result is pleasing then fair enough. I suppose for audio law number 26 I could say that if all Hi Fi systems were perfect then they would all sound the same when operated in the same environment. Regarding location, I assume you are in the USA. I am in Bristol in the south west of the UK, a right miserable place indeed. I must make an effort to visit the USA sometime. Trouble is that I wouldn't want to come back home. The USA's brilliant pop artist "Madonna" lives about 30 miles away from here. Why on earth did she want to live here for? If I had her money I would use it to get the hell out of here! |
I know Chief, it's just funny that your approach to audio and mine are totally different, yet we reach for the same aim. My setup consists of a tube preamp and a 2 x 25 watts class A poweramp, with which I'm extremely happy. I don't know which system will take one closer to audio nirvana.... Just a shame you don't live close, it qould be interesting to compare those systems. Oh, and this financial thing.... that's very familiar!! :) |
Hi Satch, I have been trying to build a studio sound quality system which is capable of PA volume levels. This is not easy to achieve. Loud systems that sound horrible are easy to build. High quality systems that can only give low volume are fairly easy to engineer. High quality and high volume without spoiling the sound quality is a seriously difficult engineering challenge. Tannoy and JBL have been addressing this engineering challenge with impressive results. High quality sound with smooth extended frequency response at high volume is quite some experience. The most painful part of this experience is finding the money to finance such a system. Best Wishes |
Welcome to AGon flounces. Want to go one-on-one in world experience? I've got 18,000 new Delta miles in the past 30 days, 58,000 so far this year, am a double million miler, and I still check in with my friends here almost daily to see what they're saying. Mindblowing is being new to the scene and making dumb comments. Wait around for a while before deciding to judge us again OK? |
Jmc, your memory is indeed faulty. Although XXIII on Moses’ original Tablets, farting was only a sin if done using a blowtorch while building a Golden Calf (which already was a “Top Ten” no-no), so XXIII became expendable. Elevator flatulence has been a perfectly acceptable custom in many cultures. I believe it was also mentioned in Otis’ patent application. 8>( |
Well, actually Gunbei, it did start out as 25 commandments. Moses couldn't carry all the tablets, so he just brought the top ten. From my religious philosophy classes in high school, I do recall that farting in an elevator was number 23. It's been several years, so I'm not positive about that though. :-) |
Yes, a big room makes a huge difference even to a moderate system. I think that trying to produce realistic sound in an average British house is an absolute waste of effort. The houses are just too small. Modern British houses are getting smaller and smaller. Eventually it will be difficult to fit humans inside them, never mind Hi Fi equipment. |
The USA has absolutely amazing and fantastic engineering. Here are the examples to prove it. Saturn five, landing on the moon, space shuttle, space station. All absolutely amazing and superb achievements of engineering and science. I have nothing other than total admiration for the USA. All americans I have met in the UK have been really friendly, great fun, and generous. |
The Tannoy's have an exponential compression HF horn that is concentrically mounted behind the bass drive cone and fires through the dust dome of the bass cone. The HF compression diaphragm is mounted at the rear of the drive unit magnet and is spaced back from the bass cone by one half wavelength at the crossover frequency of 1 Khz. The HF compression driver is connected out of phase to the bass cone due to it's half wavelength displacement. All frequencies therefore leave the drive unit in phase and as a point source due to its dual concentric design. The HF compression driver also has a phase compensating multiple throat for reduced distortion and wide dispersion. Tannoy dual concentric speakers are used in 80% of the worlds recording studios. The coaxial/concentric design does make them sound rather special and lovely. Don't take my word for it, try a pair and see what you think. I am certain you will not be disappointed. The flagship model has the whole 15" drive unit mounted in a giant 500 litre compound horn loaded cabinet. Sadly these are ÂŁ15,000 per pair. |
Dear 76doublebass: Dat's wat I talking bout Mon! Big ass JBL's with Steel Pulse pulsating out "Chant a Psalm" or "Steppin Out" Now dat be a righteous riddem Mon! Chiefmeggawatty: wish I had your system back in college when we threw reggae dance parties. Anyone from Rochester NY in the early 80's remember Scorgies and bands like the Itals or Bahama Mama? some SPL's! |
Chiefmegawatty "Well I have been pissed off for many years because I was born a British person.After all of the USA bashing coming out of the EU, you're statement is quite refreshing! But remember that EVERY country or society has its positive and negative points. If you like engineering and science, try a PAC-rim country or India. Our "educational" system is turning out a generation of morons, who will be unable to compete in the global science and engineering fields in the near future! God Save The Queen! And may God bless us all! Cheerio! |
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I live in Bristol, UK and I have been building up a big system slowly as the money allows. I am using a line-up of eight Tannoy 15" Dual Concentric speakers in big cabinets driven by a stack of 500W power mosfet power amplifiers. The sound is rich, lush and powerful with superb imaging and extraordinary bass extension and impact. The bass can cause modulation of your own voice and de-focuses your eye sight, I am not joking. If you think I am mad, then I think you are right. The original idea was to try to build a system of studio sound quality which is capable of high sound pressure levels. I find very loud, very deep bass quite some experience which I would recommend to anyone to try. Best way to describe it is like a "shudder" that makes you feel kind of strange and makes your trousers flap against your legs. Normal/average Hi Fi doesn't seem to produce this kind of sound unfortunately. |
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Well if you want big and powerful I use to own professional 4343 JBL Monitors 4 ways weighted in at about 200 pounds each,could vibrate a 3 story window facing on an apartment complex,and rocked hard for folks out in a middle of a football field used as a parade ground.Those were the days alright. I am having a hard time hearing now I wonder why! I had to sell them in the early 80's because I was loosing my hearing.What was that you said? Huh Huh? |
Chiefmegawatty: With a toungue and cheek sense of humor, you have summed-up the totally nuerotic behavior of this hobby! Bravo! By the shear fact that some readers are remotely taking you serious, is further testimony to their own form of nuerosis. Sad part of it is, there is more truth to your statements than many of us would care to admit to. Excuse me now, for I must go and listen to my $29.95 Emerson boom box for awhile, so I can appreciate the countless hours/dollars I have spent on my megamusicsystem. Tim |
If you really believe 1-6 you need to move to Trinidad @ Tobago, as any soundsystem has, at the minimum, 15" woofers and it only goes up from there, the biggest I saw was an entire Semi-trailer sized soundsystem outside the bar at Maracas bay. P.S. oh and I am very satisfied with both power and volume with my Eagle 4 hooked up to my modded JBL L-200s. |
Chiefmegawatty, my man, you seem like a dude who is interested in Real Ultimate Power. Which is totally sweet, and by totally sweet I mean AWESOME!!! Ninjas are sooooooooo freaking sweet! They'll flip out and kill you, and not think twice about it. :-) John |
Your list is pretty funny. After 16 and 17 : a trip into the woods for two days or more will delight you with the quality of your system on your return. And I like number 20 : no matter how happy I am, there is always someone happier than me. And conversely. When I compare, I get into all sorts of trouble ! |
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