From: Patent Tactics, George Brock-Nannestad
Hello all,
Ken Fritz wrote (on audiometry for the 60+-es)
> Steven,
>
> I did exactly that 5 years ago. The audiologist's report was; at
> 1khz down 10db. right ear down 35 db between 2k and 6 khz. left ear
> down 45 in the same range. hearing peaked at - 20 db at 10 khz and
> nothing above 11.5 khz.
>
> A year ago I did it again; low and hi measurements about the same
> but right ear down 55 db in middle range and left ear 65 db down.
>
> I've worked in a factory environment all my working years where
> fork lifts, drills, air compressors etc. took their toll. Just a few
> months before the last test I bought a Crane Song parametric eq to
> fine tune a pair of small peaks in the audio spectrum. After seeing
> the results of the hearing test, I sold it figuring, what's the use,
> so now I just enjoy the music just the way it is.
----- do not assume that your ability to hear small time shifts between
frequency components has gone, just because your amplitude sensitive has.
Equalizers affect phase, i.e. time delay as well as amplitude.
Professional sound people generally dislike hearing tests. They fear that
they are out of business if they admit to aged hearing.
A small aside on hearing aids: your ears can be damaged by sounds you cannot
hear. Amplifying 60 dB in a range where your hearing is is low will damage
you even more, so they should only be worn when you really need to hear well.
Kind regards,
George
>
> Ken Fritz
> On Jul 20, 2010, at 1:19 AM, Steven C. Barr wrote:
>
> > From: "Ken Fritz" <[log in to unmask]>
> >> Friends,
> >> I feel that over the last few days a few posts have drifted
> >> into the gear that we listen to and how good of a job it does to
> >> deliver the best it can.
> >> Power companies use aluminum main wire to connect groups of
> >> neighbors to the same pole transformer; it's cheaper than
> >> copper. Home builders do the same from the main circuit box by
> >> using 14 ga. copper wire and 15 amp duplex receptacles that have
> >> PUSH IN terminations because they are fast. Bust one open and
> >> you'll see that the electrical connection is made by a copper
> >> leaf the size of your fingernail.
> >> I have friends in our audio group that have spent big bucks
> >> on garden hose size cables that are plugged into what? I may be
> >> boring you so to the point.
> >> All my amps are from Krell, pure class and most outweigh me.
> >> The power cords are 10/3 and are connected to 220 volt outlets
> >> with Hubble twist locks. I have my own pole transformer that feed
> >> the six 200 amp services to our home. I don't need power cords
> >> from the cable barons, interconnects that are cryogenically
> >> treated and magnetic acoutrements that clamp on your wires to
> >> make the sound bloom. I use Belden Mogami cable, Neutric
> >> connectors and common sense to keep me out of the audiophool
> >> camp and comfortably within the audiophile community.
> >> If you have an electrical service unable to deliver fast
> >> bursts of electrical power you may need, you use amplifiers that
> >> are reservoirs of power, class a designs. They store the power
> >> from a smaller source, run hot and are inefficient but deliver
> >> what it takes when called for. They aren't cheap but deliver more
> >> for your money than mega buck power cords.
> >> As Dennis Miller says, " It's only my opinion, I may be
> >> wrong." Thoughts from a from a 68 year old audiophile.
> > And this brings up another important point! At the age of 68, you
> > have probably lost a lot of your high-frequency hearing (which
> > medical science hasn't yet figured out how to restore...!). You
> > should visit a hearing specialist, who can do tests to establish
> > what the "frequency response" of your ears actually is...you may
> > be spending money to improve your sound system well beyond
> > the range you can actually hear...?!
> >
> > In my own case, I suffer not only from age (67.6), but also from
> > two serious head injuries, both of which cost me some hearing
> > as well as much of my upper-end "bandwidth." There is a simple
> > way to find out; can you hear the horizontal oscillator of your
> > TV set? It runs around 17KHz. Years ago, I could hear that...but
> > no longer...!
> >
> > Steven C. Barr
> >> On Jul 19, 2010, at 9:16 PM, Steven C. Barr wrote:
> >>> From: "MD MOBILE" <[log in to unmask]>
> >>>> Steven, it's an interesting point you raised about voltage
> >>>> regulation...and one that, ironically, could provide a
> >>>> legitimate opportunity for the Mon__ter Cable MadMen.
> >>>> Improving power-supply regulation IS a legitimate goal. It's
> >>>> one place where you usually can make a difference in the sound
> >>>> of a power amplifier. The goal is to keep power-supply voltage
> >>>> as constant as possible even at high audio output.
> >>>> It certainly isn't achieved by $700 line cords. But some
> >>>> entrepreneurs might be selling "capacitor banks" that could be
> >>>> added to existing systems. A lot of folks do this 'home-brew'
> >>>> and a number of refurbishers routinely add capacitors when
> >>>> rebuilding older systems.
> >>>>
> >>> Note that ALL "consumer-grade" audio equipment will require the
> >>> "line
> >>> voltage" AC to be transformed into DC (which CAN be regulated...?!).
> >>> Vacuum-tube gear requires various DC voltages...most notably the
> >>> "B+" plate supply of several hundred DC (positive) volts; "solid
> >>> state" equipment needs lower DC voltages. The quality of the output
> >>> will depend on the stability of the DC voltages, as well as how well
> >>> any AC component is filtered out...!
> >>>
> >>> Steven C. Barr
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