at Audio by Van Alstine
This is an informational post for folks doing DIY power amp work.
Over the past three-plus decades I've spent doing audio engineering, I've accumulated a small collection of dummy loads. For the uninitiated, a dummy load is a high-power resistor used to present a near perfect 8 or 4 or whatever ohm load to a power amp for testing. Something I learned the hard way just now is that they're not all the same.
I'm prompted to write this because of a video by GoldenSound titled Why you can't trust audio measurements I recently watched. The video highlights a number of issues regarding the reliability and applicability of audio specifications and their measurement. In so doing, it presents an opportunity to share some of my thoughts on the subject.
I was gifted a copy of the Keller Quartett's performance of Bach's Die Kunst der Fuge on ECM shortly after it came out in 1998. I gave it a serious spin several times before concluding that it was overly studied and somewhat bland, perhaps bordering on tedious. I filed it away, pulling it out occasionally only to admire the cover artwork.
Last week, while working on some potential circuit refinements (it never ends), I wanted to hear a recording that was relatively fresh. I more or less randomly selected this one and thus discovered that I was wholly and entirely wrong.
In this post, I'd like to discuss a design and marketing practice that's common in the audio industry that I feel ultimately hinders meaningful progress. I call this, "phenomenological audio."