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In last month's column, I began a discussion of the potential long-term, cumulative damage to student's hearing that could result from the high sound levels present at school dances. The […]

In my July 1994 column, I wrote about my adventures in trying to get the volume levels turned down at our town's middle-school student disco dances. It all started when […]

Regular readers of this column are probably aware of my strong interest in hearing preservation. Obviously, I'm swimming against the sonic tide, given the proliferation of killer car stereos, overdriven […]

When I last wrote about the hi-fi service business (electronics now, January, 1995), I noted that radio shack intended to set up a nationwide repair program covering almost all brands […]

Tom Nousaine is one of those dedicated audiophiles who have the time, interest, and know-how to scientifically investigate potential improvements in hi-fi performance. He didn't set out to be a […]

Last summer my wife schlepped me, our son, and our dog through an 1,850 mile drive/vacation in new Mexico. My wife and the dog enjoyed it very much. One of […]

I became aware of the latest audiophile love object in, of all places, the business pages of the New York times. It appeared under the Catchy Headline "Hot New Audio […]

Sex and the experienced listener For many years, I was an audiophile in a rather privileged position. if I were interested in, say, a newly advertised speaker system, I simply […]

I'm departing from my usual column format to share with you a gadget that I built to alleviate a personal problem I had with shielded connecting cables. The problem, of […]

In the early days of hi-fi, the instruction sheet that accompanied a new component was usually just that: a mimeographed (remember mimeographs?) page of bare basics. If you needed more, […]

As with many other boys, it all started for me when I was about 13 years old. Not sex, electronics. Hours of immersion in The Boy Electrician, Everybody's Radio Manual, […]

For most audiophiles, compression implies a slightly disreputable and little-understood back-room engineering practice. In truth, however, it is a necessary fact of life faced by recording and broadcast engineers, who […]

I think we can credit Darwin's natural-selection process for our sense of aural directionality. The ability of our remote ancestors to detect the precise direction from which a saber-toothed tiger […]

There's a kind of clipping that I, not my amplifier, have been engaged in for several years. I refer to my compulsion to cut out and put aside news items […]

Anyone who writes a column is faced with an ongoing temptation. As the information pours in, the urge to pontificate and prognosticate becomes almost uncontrollable. The illusion of special insight […]

I've been wondering about my preoccupation with old equipment. I have a small accumulation of "antique" test instruments and technical books, and only self-restraint (and my wife) keeps me from […]

As I indicated last month, I didn't find much of interest at the recent Audio Engineering Convention (AES in New York City. But that is more a reflection of my […]

The editor of The Absolute Sound, who signs himself "HP," has finally responded (in his Summer 1993 issue) to my repeated cage rattlings. In a fit of dudgeon, he quotes […]

For many serious music listeners, the advent of digital reproduction raised a troubling question: Can their present low- or medium-powered amplifiers cope with the 90-dB dynamic range inherent in CD […]

If I had read that Senator Jesse Helms had suddenly become an avid supporter of the Equal Rights Amendment, I could not have been more startled than I was by […]

Small speaker systems-including those in the new subwoofer/satellite combos--can sound almost as good as large ones. A knowledgeable designer, although constrained by parts costs and box size, will nevertheless be […]

If you've been shopping for speaker systems, or reading the hi-fi directories and magazines in preparation for doing so, you should by now be fairly confused. Welcome to the club! […]

Everything that I said last month about tweeter power ratings also applies, to some degree, to midranges and woofers. Except, unlike theh situation with tweeters, the heat dissipation problem of […]

Tests conducted on two audiophile societies showed that, with the use of the ABX switch, differences in sound quality can be detected even without long term listening. The ABX comparator is a device that allows double blind listening without a second or third party performing the random switching.

The polarity of the radio speakers causes a phase shift phenomenon called the acoustic phase which affects the sound reproduction both in modern program materials and in simplified select settings. It is wise to check the polarity to achieve accurate reproduction from radio equipment.

Audiophiles believe that audio critics have a bias against high end stereo equipment. On the other hand, audio critics think that audiophiles hear sounds that have no physical basis. A listening experiment with audiophiles and ordinary people as subjects should be conducted to find out the truth.

The 91st convention of the Audio Engineers Society focused on the problems of high-fidelity reproduction. The problems in designing loudspeakers were also discussed.

Audio amplifiers are devices that convert AC from power outlets to DC to match the voltage and current needs of the audio equipment they power. Tips on how to improve the power supply performance and efficiency of amplifiers are provided.

The audio industry uses several marketing ploys to raise profit margins and inhibit comparison shopping. Custom labels, house brands, original equipment manufacturers and fair traded components are discussed.