E.A.R.S. - Editorials, Articles, Realizations

Here is a quick and easy test to see how well a turntable and tonearm keep external vibrations from reaching the cartridge stylus and contaminating your music. For each step, listen for sound coming from your speakers. If you hear something, then you know how well your turntable and tonearm isolates, minimizes, or dampens vibration in each area.

The quality of the level doesn't matter: almost every level has some error. I used to install medical research centrifuges that spin at 80,000 rpm*, and at those speeds, perfectly level is critical.

I was testing an amp a few years ago to find out the clipping point. I used a test CD with sine waves and an o-scope connected across the speaker cables. I turned up the volume and watched for the sine wave to distort.

I wore shooting-type hearing protectors. Every time I saw the wave form distort, I heard - through the hearing protectors - a hard, grating, irritating sound. I noted the volume control setting.

Everyone likes a bargain. I do, too. Whenever I hear a buyer of expensive toys, such as audio components, say that they have to get a bigger discount because they have a tight budget and can't afford a couple of hundred bucks more, I have to laugh. Are they giving up food to buy a new preamp? Are their children going without shoes or schoolbooks because their new cables cost too much?

Here is how I dial in a sub. I do this procedure fairly often and it works very well. You can dial in a pair of subs in less than 10 minutes. It helps to have another person making the adjustments while you listen. We'll use the sub's level control and the sub's low pass filter (frequency) control.

1. Play something with good bass content. I use Michael Jackson's "Thriller" CD, and play Thriller.