capacitor voltage ratings and sound differences

[km6xz]

Nikonians.org 385,000 members, mostly paid subscriptions

[km6xz]

We live in a time when disinformation, baseless opinion and propaganda are so overwhelming that much of our energy is taken in trying to filter out the useless to find something of use. Facts grow slowly, built upon a framework of prior experience, observation and experiment but noise and garbage grows exponentially, and is on the verge of swamping all medium of transmission or the ability in one short lifespan from filtering signal from noise to accomplish that on any topic. Adding yet another source of noise does not result in more knowledge, just more ignorance.
His credibility is gone, so to be taken seriously in the future, it would require him to prove his points convincingly. Why go to the trouble of scouring the opinions in hopes of finding a useful bit of information until he does. He might be fine as a social companion or drinking buddy but hardly a credible source of information. Life it too short to bother with such people unless one lives in a tiny isolated village for there is a great interdependency of fates.
Given his style of thinking through the topic at hand, something he focuses his attention on as an important part of his life, what are the odds of on some other subject, that he is less connected to, he suddenly breaks that habit and thinks deeply, rationally and critically before forming an opinion?

[Tom Phillips]

New discussions about the sound merits of different capacitor types seem to continually pop up. I don’t think that the subject will every die. Part of human nature is the hope that there is some magical device, food, drug or incantation which will transform their life experience with no real effort on their part. Those people just want to believe and no level of explanation or logic will dissuade them. Therefore, I usually just bit my tongue and stay out of the discussion.

There was one time, however, that I heard the magic of a special part first hand. There was this guy who didn’t even know how to hold his guitar properly. He was so unconventional that he could only get two other guys to be in his band. He only used a wha-wha and one other effects pedal plugged into a big amp. The sounds he created were out of this world. Until I heard him in person I was sure that recording studio special effects made his signature sound. Then I noticed the secret device, the special part that had to be responsible for his special sound. It was the curly guitar cord! Must have been due to the changes in distributed capacitance caused by the stretching and spring back of that cord.

[Chuck H]

Indeed! Jimi just used whatever made a sound he liked. And, of course, didn't often recreate those sounds faithfully in his live performance. Though I've never seen it "live" there's enough footage to know that. But it didn't matter. He was too busy making music to care! In the studio there's time for such things. But a live show requires primarily 1) reliable gear capable of the required range of output and gain, and 2) consummate playing. Anything that smears either objective would be omitted from a live performance.

Here in my neck of the woods the Hendrix family is trying to raise money to complete and open Jimi Hendrix park in Seattle. Not a memorial park in the usual sense, but a memorial to Jimi. Not sure how much Jimi news travels abroad. We're inundated with it on local radio. There is a new Jimi Hendrix recording available! Well... Not "new". Previously unreleased. Also commissioned by the Hendrix family, so, not a record label trying to eat his dead bones and $h!t money. Since the Hendrix family is primarily responsible for the park I would guess that record sales translate as progress for the park.

JIMI HENDRIX'S PEOPLE, HELL & ANGELS COMING MARCH 5, 2013! | The Official Jimi Hendrix Site

Just a little FYI

I hated curly cords. And I, for one, am glad they're passé... I'd sign up for an old Fuzz Face though!

[frus]

We live in a time when disinformation, baseless opinion and propaganda are so overwhelming

http://harlina.files.wordpress.com/2...ley-orwell.gif

[Mick Bailey]

I have a customer who swears he can hear the difference between mains leads and spent £250 on one which was 'directionally oriented'. That's £250 on an IEC lead for a transistor amp.

Much worse is people who 'hear' the difference between fuses;

Abbingdon Music Research - Products - Gold Fuse

Just read the review.

Anyhow, if you took two identical capacitors form the same production batch and painted one a different colour, there will be a good many people who can hear the difference.

[km6xz]

http://harlina.files.wordpress.com/2...ley-orwell.gif

Exactly....!

[km6xz]

You are right, as every salesman knows, and bases his success or failure on, the power of suggestion.

Color and light, hot and cold influence perception in other senses which must work on another mechanism but just as predictable. For example:
In the studio it was possible to "steer" a singer's pitch by the temperature in the room, or lighting for example.

A well known producer came for a big project and objected to the main room monitors being too mid and low heavy and after double checking the calibrated mic graphs, I had the maintenance staff paint the matte black soffits a neutral cream color. I called the producer and said he was right, so "we recalibrated the electronic cross-overs". He was delighted that we brightened up the mid and top end and raved about the sound of the control room in interviews after the record was released. Of course we did nothing.

It is not only producers who are subject to suggestion or visual stimulus. We did a number of records for Clive Davis artists and he always wanted to make changes in the final mix, mostly minor eq. The producer on this one project was determined that no one mess with his mix which we all knew was great. So Clive requested a tape of the fix which we FedEx's to him. The producer was not anxious to argue with Davis because he was in line to record the label's top new artists in the next two records. So we sent him the tape, knowing he would object to the eq like he always did so he could get co-mixing or co-producing credits...as if he needed any more acclaim in the industry. Two days later we got a call saying he wanted the top end cut a bit, "too bright and edgy". So we quickly sent new dub of the exact same mix master but with a note saying he was right, and told him where boosts and cuts were done as per his instructions. The reply came that it was perfect and was going to pressing. He was confident that his "changes" made the difference in the record's success. Aretha Franklin "Who's Zooming Who". We did the same with him on Whitney Houston's first album done at the same time by the same producer(actually the album was split up between a couple different producers, each getting 4-5 songs to do), which also was a major hit.

A singer going flat could be brought up by either changing the eq to the cans to more mids or low mids or increasing the light level in the room, or dimming the light in the control room. The opposite worked with those drifting sharp. Color of the light had predictable effects also.
So I am completely sure that some people swear that without those golden fuses, their system is unlistenable. But the $450 IEC cable is the cheap one. One company trying to get an endorsement had $3400 power cable and $3800/meter "interconnects". "Interconnects" are another term for battery cables or heavy gauge zip cord we usually call "speaker wires" by us mere mortals who can't hear the difference.

[Jazz P Bass]

Does anyone remember the 'green' magic marker on the edge of a CD?

[Steve Conner]

Well, we all know digital is just 0s and 1s. The green magic marker trick would change some of the 1s to 2s for twice the mojo.

I'm working on a hard disk-based playback system at home. The music is all stored as lossless FLAC files, there is nowhere to put the green marker.

[bob p]

http://harlina.files.wordpress.com/2...ley-orwell.gif

Loved that cartoon strip.

Not to nitpick, but did anyone else notice that the cartoon attributed to the infliction of pain to the Ministry of Peace? In the novel that was actually the responsibility of the Ministry of Love.

[frus]

well, you know... Peace & Love....

[Mike Sulzer]

You do have to be careful how you use fuses in an audio circuit. If it is run near its rated current, the increase in resistance is audible in some cases. For example, you can screw up the operating point of a pair of large triodes in a push pull circuit in an audio power amp if you fuse them individually in the cathode path. Nobody would leave the fuse in after the circuit works, but those things were expensive even decades ago, and who wants to risk burning one?

I have a customer who swears he can hear the difference between mains leads and spent £250 on one which was 'directionally oriented'. That's £250 on an IEC lead for a transistor amp.

Much worse is people who 'hear' the difference between fuses;

Abbingdon Music Research - Products - Gold Fuse

Just read the review.

Anyhow, if you took two identical capacitors form the same production batch and painted one a different colour, there will be a good many people who can hear the difference.

[Mike Sulzer]

Oh, and a gold fuse has at least as much class as a 50 year old bumble bee cap!

I have a customer who swears he can hear the difference between mains leads and spent £250 on one which was 'directionally oriented'. That's £250 on an IEC lead for a transistor amp.

Much worse is people who 'hear' the difference between fuses;

Abbingdon Music Research - Products - Gold Fuse

Just read the review.

Anyhow, if you took two identical capacitors form the same production batch and painted one a different colour, there will be a good many people who can hear the difference.

[Mick Bailey]

My top tip; Create a folder called 'Green Marker' and copy a file into it. Play it and compare it to the original. You'll be amazed how much better it sounds.