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JohnA

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Posts posted by JohnA

  1. OK, good.  That's plausible, but since lots (most?) Inductors are custom wound, wouldn't changing the diameter or wire gauge be a better solution? 

     

    This came up while studying for my amateur General license and I just can't see giving up circuit real estate for 2 parallel inductors. 

  2. I know what happens when inductors are paralleled, but why would you ever do that? 

     

    Same for series? 

     

    This is asked in the realm of relatively low power electronic circuits in radio transmitters/receivers, like 20 to 1000 watts.  But it could apply to crossovers. 

     

  3. Salve, Frakka! 

     

    I will recommend a good film and foil capacitor.  Solen in France seems to make 2 lines of film and foil capacitors.  You should be able to get them easily.  I normally do not care for the sound of metalized film capacitors, they sound brittle, or have a metallic edge to their sound, but they are inexpensive.  Film and foil capacitors have become more expensive over the last 5, or so, years, but they are worth the cost. 

     

    Your dust looks just like my dust!!  😆

  4.  

    On 3/2/2024 at 9:53 PM, Jeff Matthews said:

    Does anyone use a laptop as a source by connecting the headphone jack to RCA cables into a preamplifier?

     

    If so, is the sound quality good?

     

    Edit:  Do I even need a preamp if the laptop will be the only source?

     

    I do it in my music room.  You'll want a preamp.  Adjusting volume and tone with a laptop is slow and frustrating.  I feed a Mackie 402 mixer from my laptop with 1/8" headphone to phono cables.  The Mackie feeds various mics and the laptop to my Yamaha receiver.  It drives KG2s or Heresy IVs and sometimes a subwoofer.  My audio path is all analog; the D/A voodoo is all in the laptop.  The sound quality from CDs is very good.  Try it, I think you'll be pleased. 

     

    Some of you would be appalled at the gear The Chief uses to demo speakers in the lab, including Jubilees. 

    • Like 2
  5. Look at the rear labels for all of the pieces and add up the max VA or max watts.  Watts = Volts x Amps.  So, your xfmr's 600 VA rating is essentially 600 watts (OK, not quite because the voltage sine wave is/can be out of sync with the current wave.)  Leave some room for start up in-rush current and turn on one thing at a time.  I think you'll be close to max capacity. 

     

    FYI, fuses will pass 2x their rating for a short time before opening and maybe oversized.  They are primarily for fire protection, thus not a good measure of load or capacity. 

  6. If you can use balanced cables, why not go buy a pair of XLR mic cables and connect the pre to the power amps properly.  Two cables running around the wall for 2 weeks can't be that bad. 

     

    However, if you use the in-wall speaker wires, use both positive and negative for each power amp and don't use one for a common ground.  Don't kludge it up worse with wyes.   

    • Like 1
  7. On 2/13/2024 at 1:57 AM, Flevoman said:

    Probably this question will yield answers that are diametrically opposed. But I still hope it can lead me to a choice.😇

     

    My situation is as follows.
    My AL5 speakers were set up against the long wall in the width direction. My audio set neatly positioned between the speakers and connected with speaker cables (Audioquest 5).
    For several reasons (including an acoustic issue), I have now set up my speakers lengthwise as a test.
    This resulted in some very positive improvements to the sound. Therefore, I am strongly considering leaving this setup like this, but it will require a drastic investment, such as purchasing different furniture and speaker cables. Because to make this work, I can no longer place my audio set between the speakers and am forced to leave it in the old position, requiring speaker cables of 8m length now.

     

    My problem is that I have no idea if increasing from 3m length to 8m length will result in audible quality loss.
    The only way to test this is to try it myself, but it will be a quite expensive test since I cannot return the cables if it turns out to be disappointing.

    What is your experience, does 8m length cause a loss in the audio signal?
    And if this shouldn't be a problem, what values should I consider when choosing the cable? For example, is 2.1mm per conductor sufficient?

     

    I do think 2.1mm (12 American Wire Gauge) wire will be enough. 

     

    What amps and preamp are you using?  Some people once thought long, especially balanced (3 wire microphone cables) and short speaker wires were the ultimate.  Can you put your power amps on or behind your La Scala's and run long cables to them? 

     

    I use 3 pair twisted, then braided CAT 5e cables for speaker wire.  They amount to about 2.3mm (10.5 AWG) wire.  The insulation and all that braiding results in a low resistance, capacitance and inductance speaker cable.  They are about 5 meters long.  I could not hear a difference between old 12 AWG Monster cable and my homemade wires.  But they look good! 

    20200812_191836.thumb.jpg.8f12c6663efe1a7135852c80f9bbdd2f.jpg

    I also failed a double-blind test at Klipsch HQ in Indy with similar cables many years ago.  Klipsch said their braided CAT 5 was -3 dB at 300 kHz! 

     

    My bottom line is that when the resistance is low enough and inductance and capacitance are not significant, you have a good speaker cable.  Buy a large diameter stranded wire and don't worry. 

     

    • Like 4
  8. I think they are a flawed design, because the size of the baffle limits the largest wavelength they can reproduce.  Then, you get into the Blose reflected sound "stuff", stealing focus.  Maggie's have a certain sound about them, but bass isn't it. 

     

    Better to use the rear wave/pressure to augment low bass output. 

  9. You are better off with an unmolested pair.  If you know what you're doing, some upgrades are good and effective.  If you upgrade because you read it on the internet, of because a website sell it, you've probably made a mistake. 

    • Like 2
  10. Here do you live? 

     

    Listen to lots of speakers.  I like my H IVs and will recommend them.  You should find my comments after getting them on the Forums.  Of note, the music seems to come out of the face of the H IVs complete and as though it comes from a single point.  Be sure the listen to the Forte IVs, too. 

     

    Before you buy you'll want to talk to Paducah Home Theater. 

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