Thread: Valve preamp.
View Single Post
Old 27th Jun 2019, 9:18 am   #72
Radio Wrangler
Moderator
 
Radio Wrangler's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: Fife, Scotland, UK.
Posts: 22,798
Default Re: Valve preamp.

For a cutterhead to be moved with no limitation on its bandwidth is going to take infinite power.

Any closed-loop cutter is also going to need its loop to be stable and that means having controlled time-constants within the loop, leading to a controlled lowpass function as the closed-loop response.

A high frequency pole in the cutter is inevitable, the choice reduces to where the first one should be. 50kHz seems like planting it high enough that the effects in the audible range ought to be negligible.

Also, a pole in the cutting process is not quite equivalent to a pole in the playing process. There is noise ingress and distortion in-between the two processes. Again, with a pole off of the top of the audible range, it should be questioned whether the change in noise can be discerned.

Once you accept the prime credo of the audiophile, that there is no limit to the discernment of their hearing, then nothing can be considered negligible. Whether they can hear it or not is inconsequential. They are steered entirely by the belief that they can hear everything and this steers the flow of money from them.

Accepting that transducers made of meat have limitations is aliberating thing, you can employ components with non-zero tolerances, you don't need to follow theoretical curves with absolute precision. You can ask 'Does it really matter?'

Audiophiles are certain that engineers are cloth-eared
Engineers are certain that audiophiles are deluded

I can understand how, in the conflict, audiophiles feel more disparaged than engineers do.

I'm happy to be an engineer. Equations make great armour.

David
__________________
Can't afford the volcanic island yet, but the plans for my monorail and the goons' uniforms are done
Radio Wrangler is online now