goodsoundclub Podcast

Been thinking about it, but maybe I will be able to condense my thoughts into a post or a series of them but at the same time I am enjoying the medium I am presenting most of them in.

Quick update, no episode this week. We decided to take it up a notch and are getting some equipment to better the "show".
Really excited to take it up a few levels in quality.

Another more convenient announcement
We are now on Spotify podcasts and Apple Podcasts. No longer just Youtube and Soundcloud. Like, subscribe, follow, all of that on your favorite streaming service. Maybe an MQA version in the future if that is ever a thing.

 

Now that would be interesting! You can sneak some test tones into the podcast for people to analyze.

 

From chapter 7 titled “Properties of Music” Olson talks about the physical properties and psychological properties of sound, as well as “further delineation from a musical standpoint which involves four fundamental sensory capacities, namely, the sense of tone quality, the sense of consonance, the sense of volume, and the sense of rhythm.” He describes all in greater detail…

There’s gold in them there hills. Ive read most of this book and I dont comprehend most of it. If you’d cover and reduce to simpler terms on your podcast then that would be appreciated.

Let me try to post just one more interesting tidbit from this one book.:

Spoiler

 

Episode numero 5 is live everywhere you can find podcasts. We talk about gear hoarding, Tom's speaker quest and sound comfort vs. clarity.



https://soundcloud.com/user-572651963/5-sound-comfort-vs-clarity?si=30ae43494b19410587d510818761ded6

https://open.spotify.com/episode/2ofTbO3KH7k32yTmuPFNEG?si=p6v-I7uyTHOA54X6nedWMg

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/5-sound-comfort-vs-clarity/id1607217571?i=1000550376285

 

Here is the 2 music choices of sina had this week


and of course mine
Gilberto Gil - Quilombo, O El Dorado Negro

 

To be clear the Hahn interpretation and recording is quite awful and is only linked for comparison to the excellent Pietsch recording, which is the actual recommendation!

 

Its not hard to believe that a child with less life experience would put less subtle emotional textures into her art.

I want to hear more about Sina’s hoarding addiction. I love that show Hoarders. If you're new to the series, then I recommend only watching episodes with Dr Green.

Comfort vs Clarity. You want both. A rig for "hifi" recordings, and one for the rest ("lofi", podcasts, youtube, etc). If I want to listen to a new-to-me album (or whatever recording I know to have poor sound quality, ie. RHCP Californication) I will listen with a headphone or speaker that's on the comfort side with low resolution (technicalities) and dark frequency response. If I want to listen to something I know as a good quality recording (say for instance most things tied to David Bryne) then I'll listen with my hifi rig (which also tends dark tonally but that's a preference thing). Hope that made sense. And going from there is what you talked about in episode 1... what's convenient and brings most value/joy.

 

@Gazny Forgot to ask when will you post your LS3/5a style speaker review? Only thing I know about those speakers is that they are old, somehow special, and popular among audiophiles thus expensive. And generally when I see a traditional looking two-way bookshelf I think …. BORING. I am interested in hearing what you think of what Sina had you buy instead.

 

Enjoying this podcast! Had a question: @k4rstar you mentioned a specific kind of OB speaker you liked in Ep. 4. Was it anything like this: https://www.decware.com/newsite/ZOB.html which combines an OB single driver with a resonant chamber below?

If not, could you say more about it?

 

Thanks!

I went back to what I said in ep 4 and I guess I fumbled my words a bit.

This is what I meant by an acoustic resistance cabinet:


This particular design can have the slits closed to form a sealed enclosure which will give better results in some rooms at expense of extension:



Commercial applications of such a design are very limited. In the 1950s and 60s, Goodmans of England had a series of cabinet plans based on their ARU (acoustic resistance unit) panels. These are quite rare to find stateside and are usually snapped up by asian collectors when they come on auction.



Such an acoustic design is much better for a transformer-coupled tube amp, especially one without feedback, than a standard ported phase inverter (bass reflex).

Moving on to other acoustic designs suitable for tube amps, there are basically 3 and a 1/2.

1. Open-backed box where the rear of the enclosure is either completely open or has a wall with holes roughly equivalent in area to the area of the speaker diffuser. All radio and console enclosures from the 1930s to mid 1960s followed this acoustic design.



Only speakers with a low Quality factor are suitable, and the lower the speaker is expected to play, the lower its Q factor should be, especially when driven with triode amplifiers without negative feedback. With the advent of transistorization in the early 60s, the power handling of drivers had to increase, the suspensions became stiffer, the Q factor raised sharply. Sealed and ported boxes became the vogue.

2. Infinite baffle. The use of open baffles without side walls as in your Decware is completely unsuitable for stereo, in my opinion. The rear phase of the speakers will co-mingle and cause a schizophrenic sound image. Some people like this apparently, given the popularity of such designs in DIY communities. I hate it.

An 'open' baffle has to be huge for two reasons: 1) to make real bass 2) to 'shield' the rear phase of the left speaker from mingling from the right, and subsequently, from the listener. If the room is suitable, you can use the corners for this purpose. This was common in German cinemas and control systems in the 50s and 60s.

DIY example, used for testing speakers and acoustic filters:


3. Horns. I don't have to explain this one, other than to say I have fallen out of favor with them. After owning a 1970s pair of La Scala's which are one of the best turnkey horn systems you can buy today (and infinitely better than many expensive DIY Altec systems I have had to suffer through), I decided horns are only ok 45% of the time, but a good direct radiating speaker is ok 120% of the time, for me. That being said, I greatly prefer front-loaded horns and folded horns (Klipsch) to back-loaded horns (Fostex, Voxativ, et al). At least not the skinny ones. A fridge-sized one would be cool, but then it's fridge sized. The La Scala or KHorn bass bin will still completely dab on it.



3.5. A combination of 1 & a standard phase inverter for the low frequencies. This is almost what the Decware design is going for, but it fails because the baffle wings are too small and there is no second speaker to help with the LF.



The mid/high transducers sit in an open-backed enclosure (with side walls). The LF transducer can sit in an acoustic resistance, sealed or ported enclosure. Whatever is most suitable for the woofer and amplifier.

There is also a type of ported enclosure which has been completely lost to time, one where the inverted phase of the woofer is released orthogonally with the front wave, eliminating the smear of traditional bass reflex enclosures and simultaneously increasing sensitivity. I had collected a handful of primary sources about this type of enclosure but unfortunately lost the links, except for this photo below which describes it in Russian.



I hope that answers your question. =)

 

That's one of the best ways to build a speaker (the other being a sealed transmission line, like the B&W Nautilus) IMHO. The only limitation it has is the speaker drivers, because 99% of stuff is build with a bass reflex cabinet in mind, and for the acoustic resistance/aperiodic vent cabinet drivers with a higher qts are needed (similar to a sealed cabinet). The best bet for this is Audiotechnology (most flexible company out there, but not high sensitivity drivers) or 100% custom drivers ($$€€).

 

What's wrong, you don't like the steely "accuracy" of a robot playing notes?

Your right whereas Hahn plays, Pietsch sings, making this piece come alive as something more than a exercise. Last night I skipped around streaming other recent recordings (Qobuz) and Pietsch's interpretation was the best, though others could be recommended as well.

That said with HP's the Pietsch recording/mix was more congested than most of the others.

edit: here is a reviewer and oboist who loves Hahn's playing on this piece...different strokes and all that I guess:

https://www.analogplanet.com/content/hillary-hahns-paris

 

Sina:
Big Thief - Red Moon
I gotta check out this whole Big Thief album out, digging this song

Tom:

Frank Zappa Muffin Man Live 1977 HD
never seen someone play a solo and shake hands with people, truly an incredible performance

 

Episode 6 is live! (music recs above) As a contrast to previous episodes we go in depth about some new equipment that's come into our hands and I get nerdy about some audio projects I've been working on.

Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/episode/0rwexSU2IyXipIzbkHkt8R?si=H1bXP2Z_TjyF-36oh9_Hxg

Apple Podcasts:
https://apple.co/3JOl4nD

Youtube:

 

Some supplemental photos for this week's episode

the 1956 Telefunken radio that got me into mono sound:


the 1936 RCA radio cabinet for my big mono speaker:


the 1938 Telefunken + Siemens speakers that will be going inside it:


my mono 2A3 amp to power it all:

 

Are we witnessing the reincarnation of UncleStu?

 

Re: ep6

That 2a3 amps sounds really unique. Another plus to the input transformer besides the gain is that it's considered the best way to eliminate ground loops from the signal path for a single-ended (RCA) connection

 

wow, 7 already?
Sina: Porridge Radio - Back To The Radio

Tom: Denzel Curry - Zatoichi ft. slowthai


Have yall found any new to you music this week?

 

Lucky episode #7. We discuss the importance of setting goals when building an audio system and the influence of external opinions on the decision making process. Music for this week linked in the post above.

https://soundcloud.com/user-572651963/7-audio-goals-external-opinions
https://open.spotify.com/episode/2zfqzK2si89Xpf5vQBJ8qY?si=mrLMnaZdRraVtdpDhcq9xQ
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/7-audio-goals-external-opinions/id1607217571?i=1000552492993

 

New Episode out, In this special episode I am joined by Smodtactical, founder of the ever popular Sonic Visions Discord.
We discuss growing in the audio hobby and fostering a supporting community, gear meeting our expectations, and respecting the hd650
As always, Avaliable on youtube,soundcloud,Spotify, and Apple Podcasts


Tom:Nilüfer Yanya - stabilise (Official Video)


Smod:Rebecca Jean Elliott - Love Is Here to Stay