The Complete Guide to High-End Audio |
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Editorial Review / Publisher's Information:
Product Description
This newly revised directory brings readers up to speed on the latest in cutting-edge audio equipment. Included are updates on multichannel music reproduction, surround sound, DVD-Audio, and Super Audio CD. Extensive tips on how to listen critically and judge audio-equipment quality, how to optimize the performance of an existing system, and how to best allocate an audio budget are included. Practical techniques for improving the acoustics of existing stereos and listening rooms are also featured.
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Customer Reviews:
• Decent Book
26 May, 2009
Bad reviews of this book seem to critique it as a science or reference book, which it isn't. I have some of those types of books focused specifically on hifi and acoustics. They're useful but not much fun to read. This book is genuinely enjoyable to read and still educational. I'm no hard core audiophile and don't presume to hear all the "esoteric" nuances that audiophiles seem to hear (or imagine they do). But Harley comes up with real definitions for things like "air", "bloom" and "grainy". And some topics he absolutely nails. For example, for years I've tried to understand how to use Small/Thiel parameters to model an isobaric subwoofer. He answered my questions in one sentence. That's impressive.
This is just a fun book. At 600ish pages I'm amazed at how fast I'm absorbing it.
- Amazon Customer Review
• Excellent Introduction To High End Audio
07 May, 2009
This book is a great introduction and reference to high quality audio (music and home theater acoustic and equipment). As other reviewers note, this book is not without flaws, but the positives outweigh the negatives. I first read it years ago (probably an earlier edition) and now I bought it as a reference as I am upgrading my home theater system.
First, you should realize that high end audio is a cottage industry riddled with marketing BS and subjective reviews, rarely based on solid science and engineering. There are a lot of overprices products, some of them flawed. It is not easy sorting through the mess, which is where this book helps.
The author explains what high end audio is about, mostly with an emphasis on 2-channel stereo (which is indeed what audiophiles seem to fixate upon the most). There are good sections on home theater and multi-channel playback. Ultimately, however, the focus is on stereo and separate high end components, rather than one-piece receivers and home theater, but most of the principles described in the book apply to those system and can make you a more informed consumer.
For a novice, the book explains the roles and useful characteristics of different portions of the audio chain, such as preamplifiers, controllers, amplifiers, speakers, room acoustics, and what to look for. If you are a more advanced reader, the chapters at the end about how to read and interpret measurements are probably worth the price of the book.
To answer some of the criticisms of this book: if you really want to get deeply into room acoustics, amplifier and loudspeaker designs, there are better books, e.g. by Floyd Toole or Tomlinson Holman. Acoustics and audio component design are complex engineering fields where new breakthroughs happen occasionally, but myths and outdated practices live long, so it helps if you read more than just this book.
Bottom line: this is a nice, well-written book worth reading :)
- Amazon Customer Review
• Never Received Book!
27 February, 2010
I never recieved the book that I bought. i contacted and was told that they would send a replacement and I never recieved it either. So ZERO stars for this item and Paperleaf books.
- Amazon Customer Review
• Great, Highly-informative Introduction To High-end Audio
18 August, 2008
I wish I had read this book a few years ago when I started seriously attempting to have good sound at home. I have been reading lots of audio magazines and on-line sources, and if I had read this book earlier I would have gotten much more out of the time I spent. It makes me want to go back and re-read many articles.
Robert Harley not only covers high-end audio very well, but goes above and beyond by the excellent appendices which include a great introduction to the audio electronics physics principles. I read the book cover to cover and could barely put it down.
I cannot believe the negative reviews that some have posted--Mr. Harley clearly knows this area and it comes across throughout the book. One reviewer mentions "high-end silliness" regarding digital dither--well this is an area I do know well and there is nothing silly about it. I am a software engineer and have been using dither in image processing and sound processing for decades, and completely understand it. Mr. Harley did a good job pointing out the high-level idea, while referencing another book for the details (which the reviewer clearly did not find time to check out). Regarding speaker cables and interconnects--I just replaced my speaker cables recently and the difference in sound was dramatic. Anyone could hear that. In fact the (tube) amplifier bias needle on some of the output tubes, which had been fluctuating with the amp output before, is now stable. It seems clear that there is an objective difference here as well as the obvious subjective difference.
I am so happy to have a new understanding of the science (and art) of audio.
- Amazon Customer Review
• Other Sources Available
27 November, 2008
[Just for reference, I have a background in electronics, old-school hi-fi sales, professional sound system installation, and operating both a PA system business and a mobile DJ business... and my hearing as measured by audiologists still reaches most of the spectrum from 50-18khz and follows normal response (aka loudness) curves.]
>> If you want to understand the electrical and electronic "rules" and theories, there are several books you can borrow from a local library (or buy at an electronics supply store). Understanding voltage, amperage, power (v*a), capacitance, inductance, phasing, etc. is all basic to correctly installing any level of "advanced" audio equipment.
/* if you dont understand these terms or the acronyms in my review - you need to get some electronic and audio engineering texts...*/
There are some old-school "hi fi" books that cover the basics of speakers, acoustics, and room design, (most are less than $25).
If you seriously want to understand high-end audio Systems, I suggest investing in Audio Engineering books (most are $50 to $100+). These cover acoustics more comprehensively, how to "aim" speakers, apply acoustic treatment, what wire guage is needed for long speaker runs, how to design (or choose) a passive crossover, how to operate an active crossover, etc.
**These all get you to the basic level of knowledge needed to weed out the useful info from the "fluff" in high-end audio magazines and 'text books'. A basic example is that there is a significant difference in power loss (heard as loss in dynamic range) between 20AWG speaker wire and 14AWG cable. But most professional audio engineers/installers question the value of $1,000 per meter(yard) oxygen-free-copper wire as compared to using a doubled pair of 16awg or 14awg (a pair each for negative and positive for each speaker), for < $50/meter. A pair of thick extension cords turned into speaker wires may not be as cool looking as a multi-colored cable labeled "Mega-Cable" and having some funny looking noice-cancelation inductors and proprietary gold flashed connectors - but there are very few people on this earth who can *honestly* tell the difference in a "double blind test", unbiased by knowing what cable costs $8,000 and what costs $200 and came from a hardware store.
Likewise, many people with trained ears can hear the difference between tube and solid-state audio, and can SEE it on an oscilloscope as the rounded edges of a clipped waveform as compared to the square edge produced by a SS amp.
Again, proper speaker placement (height and room position) and acoustic treatment of the listening room has noticeable affects on sound quality.
And - large power amps (>200wpc RMS) have a more noticeable dynamic range before distortion occurs due to clipping, allowing more comfortable listening at higher SPLs (even if they are dangerous). but...a tube amp with only 20-30wpc can sound better than a SS amp with the correct speakers and correct musical source (i.e. not rap or metal). [ps. I love metal, some rap, and lots of other types of music!]
**All these effects are not only something you can Hear but they can be Measured and are based on Scientific principles developed over at least 100 years (some are old, some are circa 1940s-today).
BUT - claiming to hear a power conditioner providing more "soundstage", or claiming a $1,000 RCA interconnect has certain audible traits in the low frequency range is very questionable. Beware when an audio review reads like a WINE or CIGAR tasting. It is not referenceable to Anything! MORE IMPORTANTLY, unless the same audible characteristic is heard by more than one person, it is a Subjective evaluation based on personal taste and several psychological factors unique to that person and time.
Honestly, I like TAS, but many of the reviews make me laugh. For example an interconnect is claimed to "..have an expansive soundstage in which orchestral images always seem rooted and stable..." Come on!!-what the hell does that really mean!?!? A wire is not a dynamic component like a tonearm or speaker motor and unless it is being chewed on by the cat should not be affecting the audible "soundstage" perceived by the listener.
Will a $1,000 tonearm "sound" better than a $250 one? ...possibly slightly noticable, but will a $15,000 tonearm sound better than the $1,000 model....?
CONCLUSION: Use this book as a guide, but temper it with factual knowledge from Audio/Sound Engineering books (go to the local college if you dont want to buy them).
CAVEAT - if you have ruined your hearing with excessively loud music - of any genre, or by loud engines or industrial noise, you can't hear much beyond 100-12khz if you are lucky, and the frequency response of your ears is probably very ragged,(so save some money and stick to an iPOD or a $500 packaged system....)
ALSO - if you can afford high-end gear and like the prestige and sex appeal it has - Go for It and dont waste time on a book. Open the checkbook and buy what looks sexy and fits your budget. Most people with the money to buy this gear dont *really* have the ears that a professional musician, engineer, or producer has - they buy the stuff on snob appear and on "horsepower races" (mines better than yours).
True audiophiles with gifted ears value an old AR turntable and Dynaco-70 amp as much as a set of MBL speakers driven by a Conrad Johnson amp and Mark Levinson preamp... They can hear and enjoy the subtle sonic differences in how the different systems reproduce different music... (A basic concept that RH emphasizes in his books...)
- Amazon Customer Review
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