General Rants'n'Raves (PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE POSTING)

Welcome to our "General Rants'n'Raves" section. As the name suggests, this is the place for sharing your Strong Opinions on all things hi-fi. Your Strong Opinions may be positive or negative, enthusiastic or apathetic. We only ask that you express yourself in a mature, thoughtful, respectful, and productive manner.

Subsonic Garbage on CDs - Anyone Notice?

I've noticed several CDs that cause large subsonic woofer excursions. One clear example is Stevie Wonder "A Time to Love". This CD has a lot of real bass, but it also has this subsonic ringing throughout the CD.

Looks by eye to be close to 1 Hz. My guess is that something in the recording chain had a regenerative ear below the audio band. This means that it is close to being an oscillator at that frequency but without enough gain to sustain oscillation. Then every bass note that comes along, kicks the system and makes it ring at that very low frequency.

A Trojan Horse in Washington The Working Group

A Trojan Horse in Washington The Working Group

"Tax proposed to fund Public TV, radio," read the newspaper headline. The Working Group for Public Broadcasting, described as a "private study group," was proposing to free public broadcasting "from improper political and commercial influences" by replacing its $228 million in congressional appropriations and $70 million or so in corporate funding with $600 million to be raised from a new sales tax on electronic equipment. The article went on to say that the proposal was being sent to the congressional panels concerned with communications (<I>ie</I>, the commerce committees), where it could become the basis for a new Public Broadcasting Act.

A Trojan Horse in Washington The Open Letter

A Trojan Horse in Washington The Open Letter

"Tax proposed to fund Public TV, radio," read the newspaper headline. The Working Group for Public Broadcasting, described as a "private study group," was proposing to free public broadcasting "from improper political and commercial influences" by replacing its $228 million in congressional appropriations and $70 million or so in corporate funding with $600 million to be raised from a new sales tax on electronic equipment. The article went on to say that the proposal was being sent to the congressional panels concerned with communications (<I>ie</I>, the commerce committees), where it could become the basis for a new Public Broadcasting Act.

A Trojan Horse in Washington

A Trojan Horse in Washington

"Tax proposed to fund Public TV, radio," read the newspaper headline. The Working Group for Public Broadcasting, described as a "private study group," was proposing to free public broadcasting "from improper political and commercial influences" by replacing its $228 million in congressional appropriations and $70 million or so in corporate funding with $600 million to be raised from a new sales tax on electronic equipment. The article went on to say that the proposal was being sent to the congressional panels concerned with communications (<I>ie</I>, the commerce committees), where it could become the basis for a new Public Broadcasting Act.

Buildind surround sound with Thiel CS1.5

Hi,

I have a pair of Thiel CS1.5 speakers, they have been great and I love them. I hate to get rid of them but I want to make a surrond sound system. Can someone recommend a good surroud sound setup using my Thiel's and without breaking the bank. I know I need a center channel but what kind should I get, do I really need a subwoofer and rear speakers, these are the questios I have.

Sony new SACD player

The "pre-review" of the Sony XA5400se was good, but has also added a bit to the confusion that exists in the web.
1. There is much discussion about using this as a transport via its HDMI. Hard to think who wants to pay 1500$ for a transport, but if this is the case, then please be precise and methodic on what kind of digital data can be exported via HDMI (with what DRM) and what via the other digital outputs (does CD output mean 16 bit?).

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