Tom, do you mean harmonious, sweet sounding,tuneful, forming a pleasing or consistent whole?

All the best Mick. 

Mick

 I meant that a speaker is designed to reproduce the signal fed into it - neutral.  If the cabinet has a sound characteristic then it will colour the sound; in general if a cabinet has a ring note when hit then it will have a resonant note at this frequency + harmonics and will over do a particular note and the harmonics - you will get more colouration.   A speaker cabinet - theoretically - should be dense to absorb the sound coming out the back of the speaker as this is in anti-phase with the sound you want, and must not colour the sound coming out the speaker so should be amorphous and non-crystaline - which means it does not ring.

 This is a generalisation and theoretical.  Speakers are designed to a cost - like all components - and generally you pay more and get a better more neutral speaker.  The cabinet is designed along with the cross-over and speaker fitting + mounting to work together.  A concrete speaker is a theoretical answer, but may not be the practical answer.

 Oh - and the dictionary definition is what I meant.  Material is called amorphous structurally if it is not crystalline  and ill-organised.  Ie concrete is a mixture with no order.

Regards

Tom

Tom, I am glad thats cleared up.

All the best Tom,   Mick. 

Bill, hope you are OK have not heard from you in a while.

All the best Mick.

Hi Mick,

Thanks for asking mate....I'm ok but my system is not in the best of health - or at least the front end part of it isn't.

Depressing but it's giving me a chance to explore the "obsolete format" (CD !!!) )

(See today's BBC news announcement from Linn)

All the best............................Bill.

. 

Hello Bill, well CD was supposed to be far superior than vinyl, now music servers according to Linn are far superior than Cd, but true music lovers are still sticking to Vinyl and say they prefer the sound, now all this is confusing to me, you hear that downloads are not as good as Cd if the bit rate is not high enough (if it's to compressed). I think manufacturers will take the (bigger profit) way out. I myself will take a lot of convincing, so will Linn stop producing Cd's, if they do they will be saving big time on their production bills, they can sell to customers via the web site downloads. I can't help It I'm so cynical, especially in the big bad world of Hi-Fi, it's a lot like double-glazing!.

Bill is the front end Vinyl?

All the best Mick. 

Hi Mick,

Your cynicism is not misplaced...it does indeed look like yet another shameless marketing ploy. No one can deny Linn's implementation of their engineering goals though as the LP12 & CD12 have been undeniably successful both commercially and in the audio sense. Perhaps there could be an element of payback ? (At the time of it's introduction, CD proponents tried pretty hard to bring about the demise of Analog - Linn's bread & butter at the time so there is a powerful irony here !   )  In the end however Digital itself has not died - it has merely been refined and updated (well..depending on what resolution you choose !)

One of the things that put me off HDD "juke-boxes" in the past was Manufacturers paranoia surrounding piracy i.e you could load data into the HDD easily enough but getting equal digital quality out was another matter as they were more focussed on preventing illegal copying than the Users musical pleasure or the safeguarding of data which you'd paid for. The same applied to computers (remember the Sony BMG root-kit scandal of a few years ago in which a US Court ruled that Sony were guilty of installing virus-like software on their music CDs? That nearly brought Sony's empire crashing down around their ears....)

If you haven't guessed already, vinyl is still my preference for very practical and sonic reasons and has proved hard to displace. Many years ago I habitually paid for my MCPS (Mechanical Copyright Protection Society) License every year, which gave the holder the right to make personal copies of media via magnetic tape, from which the Performers received Royalties in fair recognition. The copies were never quite as good as the original but it was comforting to know that you could wear out a tape in preference to your favourite LP! Can't say I feel quite as secure about purchased digital media though !!!!???? 

Ironically I've long since stopped using magnetic tape and am happy to endlessly play the vinyl.

Kind regards...............................Bill.

Bill, I understand where your coming from (I think) but what is HDD (juke box?), everything else has gone into the brain with no problem I think, Bill it's only the last three years that I took a tentative step back into Hi-Fi, It was around 1965-67 that I had my first little set-up   (Vinyl of course) with two little bookshelf speakers, I think they were American but, I can't be shure after such a long time the amp if I remember correctly was a Leak the deck was a Garrard 401? I think. I only had a few records, but two of them that stand out in my mind is the eighteen twelve overture and Jacques Loussier Brandenburg Concerto in D Major, once I had fiddled about with the weight of the cartridge the sound was superb, but that was left by the wayside when my life took a different route, since then I have had 37 adresses, with each move a little was left behind until in the end I just moved with my suitcase, but at my present adress I have been here 18 years, It's the longest since living with my parents (18.5years). So I was somewhat dissapointed with the sound of Cd considering the cost of the set up, so upgrade I did, I don't know how much I will have spent at the end of the day, I've even got my eye on another upgrade, my partner Linda keeps looking at me with this blank expression (oh dear) never mind ay.

sorry for the ramble I just had to get it of my chest.

All the best Mick.

Hi Mick,

Fond memories! (By the way, the HDD referred to the Hard Disk Drive in DVD recorders and computers? These have a memory capacity of 160Gb or 250Gb so can accommodate quite a few tunes !   ) Original Garrards are still prized items among the audio commmunity along with a few other classic models, so fine choice!

The 1812 (especially the version/s with real cannon) is the ideal piece of music for blowing woofers In fact the last exhibition I was at, a less experienced member of the Team managed to do precisely that with a pair of Verity Audio Parsifals playing one of the most classic renditions of the 1812.  I was impressed with the "Formula 1" style recovery job the guys managed to do overnight in time for the start of the final day !!!

To be perfectly fair to CD, it is now a refined medium, as vinyl is, and the fact that well transferred examples can compete quite well with any other digital media means that it won't be disappearing off the scene quite yet. Additionally, it's worth noting the number of new models of CD player which appear on the market each year (esoteric and by no means cheap examples either!) Whether these outperform more basic players is a decision best left to the enthusiasts!

All the best   ...........................Bill.

Bill and John, talking about the 1812 overture, the one I bought recently by James De Preist, Oregon Symphony, was made possible by a grant from WTD industries, Inc. Again American produced and far superior to our recordings. And talking of blowing woofers it does have real cannon by the Black Rose Artillery, the innitial explosion of the guns is not to much to worry about but the exhaust from the black powder charge realy makes them zing!, anyhow so far so good no noticable damage. Well as this is the start of advent for Christmas I will show you a poem by my partner Linda who writes for the Black Country Bugle, a local Black Country weekly, most of the dialect is (yo ay am ya) hope you understand it, here it is. It's called Ode to the fust Santa,

About 2,000 years ago

When Jesus came to earth

God ad a great idea

Ter celebrate His birth.

Instead of sendin presents

To your New-born heavenly brother

why don't we have a system

where we send them to each other

The truth was all that frankincense

was gettin up God's nose

An all that gold was wasted

couse He day need no new clothes

He said I'll hire someone

To take the presents round

I'll call the season Christmas

And kindness will abound

He called his worker Santa

In fact his name was Fred

God said you'll wear a beard of white

And a suit of brightest red

The interview it went alright

But Fred, he ad a question

He'd thought about it all night long

It give im indigestion

I checked this on the internet

so I know i've gorrit right

This present distribution

Ull tek longer than a night

Not countin sum religions

Like Muslim or Hindu

Nor Jewish kids nor Buddhist

Cause they doh beleive in You

That leaves 300 million

 It'll be a tidy run

An just a day ter do it in

The job just cor be dun

I've gorra park me sleigh up

Get down there pretty frisky

Put all the presents neath the tree

An maybe grab a whisky

An all I've got is reindeer

The flyin type admitted

But eight of em wo be enough

This fact Yo ave omitted

Well God sot there a smirkin

He said don't be so dense

How far were you back in the queue

When I dished out the sense

You're just a mere human

You'd do ten streets at best

You simply offer up a prayer

And I'll do all the rest

Well, the day before he started

Fred thought he'd ave a drink

But one led to another

Till he could'nt stond nor think

An just when he was vulnerable

His senses fell apart

The devil paid a visit

And put pride within his heart

He said yo doh need help from God

Yo'll do it on yer own

The silly chap beleived all this

And then he staggered ome

At last the time was ready

The bloke gorrin his  sleigh

His pride was overwhelmin'

So did he pray? he day

With all them presents piled up high

Computers, dolls and guns

It med the payload of the sleigh

600,000 tons

Ter pull that weight yo'd need ter reach

600 miles p.s.

In .001 seconds

The result wor arf a mess

Ter travel at that speed

Creates enormous air resistance

It vapourised the reindeer

And blew Santa from existance

The beasts, the sleigh and Santa

Were instantly combusted

Leavin people lookin blank

And suitably disgusted

So if one night yo look up

I've got this funny inklin

Them bits of shiny things up there

Might not be stars a twinklin

By Linda Matthews.

All the best everyone Mick.

Blimey Mick....your keyboard must be on fire!

I think we should invite Tamara's comment on this - among her many talents, she is a poetry expert.

It's excellent stuff and with an explosive finale (!) (.....- are you sure Linda's real name is not Pam Ayres !!! )

Sorry to mention magnetic tape again - latest craze perhaps (????) :-

http://www.popmatters.com/pm/feature/116282-reconsidering-the-revival-of-cassette-tape-culture/

Have a good festive holiday ..................Bill.

Good Idea Bill, Well Tamara what do you reckon?. Bill about the cassette web site, very fluid and literate but I got fed up about ten lines down, just could not go any further, I must be getting lazy, mind you, I have filled six garden waste wheelie bins today ready for collection tomorow, so am somewhat knackered!!. Anyhow Bill thanks for the response. Had a little trouble with the computer this week It's been; slow slow quick quick slow, I don't know whether It's been doing the tango or the whaltz. By the way John where are you?

All the very best Mick.

Long time Mick, talking of cassettes you remind me of an experience I had many years ago. Driving to work one day and listening to a cassette recording of Dire Straits I felt deeply involved and passionately moved by the sound. I could not wait to get home and hear the original CD on my home system, Marantz player, NAD amplifier and Quad 63s. Alas no emotion, no involvement and no passion. so I wonder did the cassette create distortion that somehow appealed or was it the in car speakers that did it.

My only conclusion is that fidelity does not equal emotion and the quest for better equipment is no garentee of a better experiance.

Maybe this is the reason we keep being offered foo solutions to nonexistant problems as in most cases sound reproduction is far better than it ever was in the past, but despite forty years of development many still prefer the sound of a Garrard 301, SME arm, Shure cartridge, Williamson amp and Warfdale sand filled baffle speakers.

Whilst I agree that setup is certainly impressive I don't think it a match to CD, class T amp and modern speakers though, just my opinion. I may be wrong but over that forty years we have seen many significant changes in the world, far more devestating than Hi Fi, terroism, war, health and safety rules that create havoc to buisiness, fear of authority and everyone else, the thousands of financial conns out there, the phone call scams, not to mention all the insurance scams.

Maybe I just being nieve but I don't remember any such worries forty years ago, was that the luxury of being twenty something?

Sorry another ramble. John...

Well 'tis the season of goodwill, so goodwill to all.

All the best Mick. 

Here's one, remember Philips Black Box, supposed to be Hi-Fi quality, never saw one myself though?

     Mick.

Long time to catch up, and I thought it was the Pye black box, probably like the Bose radios of to-day hardly Hi Fi but better than many.

A few tape recorder names to mind from the past, Collaro, Truvox, Brennel, Ferrograph, Grundig, Tandberg, Stellavox. Even WEM - not so much a recorder as an echo unit.

When I think of all the famous names that we all knew back in the 60s, all made in this country and proud of it to now with what brands we have being mostly re-badged Chinese products, I do dispare.

Remember Thorn EMI a great innovator of colour TV tubes, Decca and their Hi Fi products and all the other household names we remember, not a Japanese one among them.

I must be getting old now, John...

Some more names in the history of Hi Fi:

Quad, Leak, Radford, Rogers, Willkiamson, Armstrong, Acos, Wharfdale, Goodmans, Tannoy, Mordant Short, not to mention the great writers of the time, Briggs, Macenzie etc. nor some of the American companies, Altec Lansing, Fisher, Macintosh and many more.

Now mention Hi Fi and people are comparing Sony, Panasonic, Pioneer, Samsung, Mitsubitshi, Yamaha names never heard of in the 60s, so what created this change of perception. Strange as it may seem I think packaging had a part to play, and finish, and then dealer mark up. The Japanese did seem to understand world markets, produce instructions in every language, pack everything so well that it could travel anywhere, then sell it at really good prices.

But now we have the Chinese take over, reproducing some of the best names with their consent, I wonder what will be next, a new breed of Indian Hi Fi to beat all, or could it be a Russian onslawt, after all they were the first into space, interesting times.

Now I am really getting old, John...

PS in all fairness there are many more countries in the running but they never seem to make it big time, maybe simply they are not out to impress. Strange that Italy does not have a greater share as with their flair for design I'm sure they could make inroads. 

John, you're right it was pye black box, sorry I hav'nt replied in the last six months things have been very fraught, but we carry on.

All the best Mick.

John, talking about Hi-Fi names being made in Japan, they have a very high end product market of their own, as do America, Australia, New Zealand, France, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and quite suprisingly Greece. When you delve into the internet of these companys in these countries you find they make some truly remarkable products, as do ATC,  designed and built in this country. I think these countries and companies have product awareness throughout the world but cater for a more discerning costomer. But there is some very well made stuff coming out of China at the moment, I think where they excel is in thier cabinet making. Still all things come at a price, and most times that price is to much for me.

All the best Mick.