Milbert Amplifiers, Most Musical Amplifiers

Feb 2012	Fantastic interview with Maurice Cotterell regarding cutting edge aspects of electromagnetic energy - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRa8yAjdyUo Tags: maurice cotterell, gravity, electromagnetic energy, hutchison effect, spirit
Feb 2012	"No musical trend has ever survived unless you can dress up to it. All the important musical trends were accompanied by clothing trends to go along with the music." - Frank Zappa, 3:00 into video Tags: frank zappa
Aug 2011	The weaponization of sound: TED Talk video with an inventor of silent sound spread spectrum type technology. Sound that doesn't emanate from the speaker surface but materializes from high-frequency beat patterns in the air along along a LASER-straight, focused beam that does not fade with the inverse square law or suffer air-related distortions. Pinpoint sound destinations. True binaural playback at great distances. Turn up above about 80dB and the air itself begins to distort the sound being transmitted, in fashion of doppler modification. Tags: ssss, quad s, silent sound, weaponized sound, sound cannon, beat beam, binaural, military
Jun 2011	Integrated circuit engineers have the luxury of taking for granted that the incremental cost of a transistor is essentially zero, and this has led to the high-device-count circuits that are common today. Of course, this situation is a relatively recent development; during most of the history of electronics, the economics of circuit design were the inverse of what they are today. It really wasn't all that long ago when an engineer was forced by the relatively high cost of active devices to try to get blood (or at least rectification) from a stone. And it is indeed remarkable just how much performance radio pioneers were able to squeeze out of just a handful of components. For example, we'll see how American radio genius Edwin Armstrong devised circuits in the early 1920's that trade log of gain for bandwidth, contrary to the conventional wisdom that gain and bandwidth should trade off more or less directly. And we'll see that at the same time Armstrong was developing those circuits, self-taught Soviet radio engineer Oleg Losev was experimenting with blue LEDs and constructing completely solid-state radios that functioned up to 5MHz, a quarter century before the transistor was invented. These fascinating stories are rarely told because they tend to fall into the cracks between history and engineering curricula. Somebody ought to tell these stories, though, since in so doing, many commonly-asked questions get answered automatically. This highly nonlinear history of radio touches brie?y on just some of the main stories, and provides pointers to the literature for those who want to probe further. A Nonlinear History of Radio (local archive PDF) Tags: maxwell, hertz, tesla, radio, energy, high frequency, wide bandwidth, marconi, electromagnetics, electrodynamics, branley, vacuum tubes, electronics, wireless, rf, wave propagation
Mar 2011	More scientific evidence supports the need for accurate wideband amplification in subjectively "good sound": Reproduction of high frequencies measurably and dramatically stimulates increased brain activity, and "...[listeners] felt the sound containing [high frequencies] to be more pleasant than the same sound lacking [high frequencies and ultrasonics]. These results suggest the existence of a previously unrecognized response to complex sound containing particular types of high frequencies above the audible range. We term this phenomenon the 'hypersonic effect.'" Biological Effects of High Frequency Sound. Tags: high frequency, wide bandwidth, good sound, musical ecstasy, high frequency = brain activity and perceived quality
Feb 2011	Nonlinear Distortions in Capacitors by Menno ven der Veen: "We have discovered a major cause of nonlinear distortion in capacitors and we have shown that this effect can create significant -and thus audible- distortions in sound signals...this effect can introduce high levels of intermodulation distortion and thus lead to audible differences between capacitors." This research directly relates to output stage bias schemes. Tags: articles, capacitors, nonlinear distortions, piezo effects, mechanical stress, menno van der veen
Jan 2011	Low Level Details in Output Transformers research paper from Menno van der Veen, 122nd AES in Vienna, Austria, May 2007 ( PDF, archive ) -- Summarily paraphrased: Failing to accurately transfer fine details at low levels, traditional audio output transformers nonlinearly mask the naturalness and purity of music played through them. Tags: articles, audio output transformers, audible details, magnetic permeability, micro detail, threshold of audbility, menno van der veen
Jan 2011	12AX7 tube equivalents and other information. Tags: articles, 12ax7, tubes, pre-amp tubes, small signal tubes, tube data, tube equivalents, tube substitution, tube types, tube makers
Dec 2010	Added Misc. Articles section with several interesting links, Mains Hum link and Ground Loop link Tags: misc articles, mains hum, ground loop, brain entrainment
Dec 2010	Added Universal Audio Output Transformer Menno Van der Veen presented at 118th AES a paper detailing a universal audio output transformer system that "includes all possible variations in topologies. The system contains 90 variations (at least) and some of them have never been constructed until now." With technical discussion, the paper provides further evidence of how audio output transformers inescapably present limitations and compromises. Compare this with patented ZOTL Technology in GAGA, which does actually provide picture-perfect response without compromise. Tags: transformers, tube amps, articles, gaga, zotl
Dec 2010	Added Auditory Perception of Nonlinear Distortion PDF Tags: aes, psychoacoustics, articles
Dec 2010	What is a decibel? Extensive information presented by University of South Wales. Tags: decibel, articles, technical
Dec 2010	Updated GAGA and Technology info, re Malcolm Moore. Tags: gaga, zotl
Dec 2010	Updated Math and Geometry of Music: Linking Sight and Sound by Daniel Arthur "Ancient alphabets were constructed by using visual symbols to represent sounds. Ancient sacred architecture was constructed to send and receive those sounds to and from the gods. Because of that, ancient languages, like Egyptian, Hebrew and Greek were more poetic and musical than our own, with each letter symbol actually representing a specific tone, not just a generic phoneme. ...[Greek texts] can be translated not only into other languages but into musical notes and their related shapes. Likewise, the text of the Hebrew Psalms can be translated directly into the languages of Music and Geometry, which are lost during translation into non-musical alphabets, such as English." Tags: articles, general, cymatics, acoustics, math, phonetics, languages, sounds, vocal
Nov 2010	Added Matterhorn -- It can generate a constant 15 Hz sine wave tone at 140 dB for 24 hours a day, seven days a week with extremely low harmonic distortion. The subwoofer has a flat frequency response from 15 to 80 Hz, and is down 3 dB at 12 Hz. ...[at a convention] the Matterhorn was barred from making any loud demonstrations of its power because of concerns about damaging the building of the Orange County Convention Center. Instead, using only a single 20 amp electrical circuit for safety, visitors were allowed to step inside the horn of the subwoofer for an "acoustic massage" as the fractionally powered Matterhorn reproduced low level 10-15 Hz waves. Tags: articles, general, subwoofers, acoustics, elf, brown note, car audio
Oct 2010	Added Forgotten In Time: The Ancient Solfeggio Frequencies Tags: Articles, general