Exclusive to our Substack subscribers, we host a weekly Q&A every Monday. Our team of veteran writers, reviewers, and editors hand select a few to answer every Friday. Perhaps you’re having trouble with a specific amplifier, or desire a deeper understanding of transmission line speakers, from the general to the specific, post your questions here and come back on Friday to see them answered!
What is the best way to integrate a subwoofer into a 2 Channel system ? Is it better to have two subs ?
Should you connect the sub through speaker wire or with interconnects out ? Are smaller subs faster than large units ? Why don't manufacturers of bookshelf speakers, make matching subs that would upgrade the sound later when more funds are available. The subs could be designed to act as the stands as well.
The two overall approaches to turntables are, at the very least, confusing.
On one side, you have the Rega "ultralight" approach. Everything's stripped back. Nothing to resonate. As stiff as possible. And, from what I can tell from MF's recent test, a successful approach. (It's hard to know whether any deficiencies he found were due to the turntable, the arm, the cartridge, etc.)
On the other side, high mass turntables where it seems it's never massive enough. 5-foot-high towers of giant platters; 300K+ sand-filled energy sinks; special racks needed to support their weight.
It is easy to understand how you reach limits on the former. The latter, it seems, has no real limit: soon, a spindle will be placed at the north pole with the mass of the earth rotating below it, somehow stabilized at 33.3RPM, energy sinking to the molten core as we fly off the surface.
The pursuit of "The Absolute Sound" is clearly a road with no end, a pinnacle that is forever just out of reach. But...isn't there a real limit to the benefits of a high mass approach? Has anyone actually measured the energy that's being "sunk" into the platter/plinth from the groove? Or is it more trying to optimize the resonance generated from the platter to produce a pleasing ring? And why does it produce a different result than low mass...and is it really the "mass" that accounts for the difference?
What is the best way to integrate a subwoofer into a 2 Channel system ? Is it better to have two subs ?
Should you connect the sub through speaker wire or with interconnects out ? Are smaller subs faster than large units ? Why don't manufacturers of bookshelf speakers, make matching subs that would upgrade the sound later when more funds are available. The subs could be designed to act as the stands as well.
The two overall approaches to turntables are, at the very least, confusing.
On one side, you have the Rega "ultralight" approach. Everything's stripped back. Nothing to resonate. As stiff as possible. And, from what I can tell from MF's recent test, a successful approach. (It's hard to know whether any deficiencies he found were due to the turntable, the arm, the cartridge, etc.)
On the other side, high mass turntables where it seems it's never massive enough. 5-foot-high towers of giant platters; 300K+ sand-filled energy sinks; special racks needed to support their weight.
It is easy to understand how you reach limits on the former. The latter, it seems, has no real limit: soon, a spindle will be placed at the north pole with the mass of the earth rotating below it, somehow stabilized at 33.3RPM, energy sinking to the molten core as we fly off the surface.
The pursuit of "The Absolute Sound" is clearly a road with no end, a pinnacle that is forever just out of reach. But...isn't there a real limit to the benefits of a high mass approach? Has anyone actually measured the energy that's being "sunk" into the platter/plinth from the groove? Or is it more trying to optimize the resonance generated from the platter to produce a pleasing ring? And why does it produce a different result than low mass...and is it really the "mass" that accounts for the difference?