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Intellectually lazy?

You are putting words in my mouth here!

Nobody here ever said you can build an amplifier with zero distortion. Can't even sim it either. But to design and build approaching zero distortion is hardly "intellectually lazy". Douglass Self has chapters dealing with reducing distortion. For example he demonstrates where you tie in the feedback take-off point on the PC board or wiring layout has a measurable effect on distortion. Not where circuit wise, but where along the trace or wire length. We are talking a quarter inch difference here. Now it's minuscule and certainly not audible. But nevertheless it's one more step closer to perfection. Now are you saying his work along with that of Bob Cordell is "intellectually lazy"?

And why do you continue to ignore my references to video and RF amplification? Please don't say this is just an audio forum. Because the same rules apply to all electrical signal amplification. You think ultra low distortion is a fools errand? When did you last user your cell phone? I read a paper out of Motorola years ago, around 1994, about the problems with inter-modulation in cell tower receivers. Remember the modulation is based on phase shifting technology*.The solution was to get the inter-mod performance, which in RF terms is basically the same as audio amp distortion, down to sub fractional levels. Otherwise they could not get nearly the amount of traffic on the system we demand today.

So as you can see just because a 15% SET may sound good to the LISTENER hardly means the electronics industry should ignore the pursuit of lower distortion in analog amplification systems.

As you also like to appeal to authority rather than form your own hypothesis, below is an appeal to authority of my own. Ethan Winter describes how when audiophiles are shown hard electrical engineering facts, they most often resort to insults rather than try and understand the subject matter. You feel it's arrogant some EE's think (in your opinion) that they know every possible type of audio distortion. Well you are not an EE. While as a CE you should have some basic course work but that hardly exposed the levels of electrical engineering at play in designing out fractions of distortion within audio amplifiers. So how do you know what modern EE's know or don't know about signal amplification distortion? That too me sounds pretty arrogant, making claims about the acquired knowledge of a field you are not either educated or experienced in.

*gee imagine that, the horrible phase shift problems the audiophile magazine writers complain about actually has an opposite very useful purpose in some applications! Welcome to electrical engineering vs high end audio!



Edits: 09/18/17 09/18/17 09/18/17 09/18/17

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  • Intellectually lazy? - gusser 11:08:11 09/18/17 (0)


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