About me
I guess I'm officially an old fart, born in 1955, got a BS in Mechanical Engineering in 1992 from Texas Tech. I've spent my professional career designing concrete batch plants (everything from structures, bins, gates, screw & belt conveyors, and pneumatics, to 115 VAC control systems and 460 VAC power systems).
(http://www.gallagher.com/ebay.htm)
I love this picture. My roots are firmly in the early 70s. The first time I saw it, I was instantly at home. The big speakers and the electronics were familiar and comfy feeling, good memories of good sounds. Every album visible in this picture shaped my tastes (along with a big dose of Jethro Tull).
I built my first two pairs of speaker systems back in 1972 for a high school project, and I've been infatuated with speaker building ever since.
I've found that digital source material is just about all that I look at or listen to, with the exception of FM radio and some of my favorite records I have kept over the last 30 years. Most home theater receivers use digital preamp sections. These things work well, but I seldom feel that I have a firm grasp of what they're doing to the music. Also, more often than not, in receivers below the $500 range, you will find that they are noisy, or that the 700 watt (7 x 100 w, rms voltage) "power house" you're looking at has a 200 to 300 VA transformer. If the two front channels are working hard, there simply isn't enough current left from the power supply to handle large transients in the other channels.
With a well designed analog preamp, I know exactly what's happening when I change the treble, bass or balance. I know the limits of the equipment, and it's obvious when you push them past their limits. Power amps can be built with strong, properly filtered, power supplies that won't leave a system unable to reproduce large transients during loud bass-heavy passages.
Also, with a properly designed active crossover, simple, cheap, very clean amps can be used to drive tweeters and midranges, while more robust amplifiers can be incorporated for bass and mid-bass drivers. While I'm still building speaker systems with passive crossovers now, I will move to active 2.1, 3 and 4-way systems in the future for my serious efforts at high quality sound systems.
So, it almost seems like a contradiction; I find myself building the analog pre & power amps that will be playing the digital music and audio from the DVDs and BluRay discs that I now stream from my server to computers located at my bedroom, study, and living room sound systems. Then again, maybe it's not, as the analog side of the audio chain seems to be disregarded and neglected on a growing basis in new consumer products.
My reference system in my living room will be a purely analog system for serious listening (with an HTPC as its main signal source along with a turntable, tuner, casstete player and VCR). Just to maintain my comfort, I suppose remote control of volume and mute functions will be needed (oh well... add LED/RF remote control to the list of things to learn about).
It's about fun and learning for me, I'm enjoying the journey as much as anything.
Jay R. Taylor
02/21/2010