Vol. II No. 10

I had an experience that illustrates the challenges involved with reproducing all-analog audio.

I listened to a number of LP’s, maybe 10 or 12, and only one of them sounded really good when I turned up the volume. At that time I had no explanation for this. I was left only with the observation that while none of the other LP’s sounded good, there was that one exception.

Well, the exception was Big Audio Dynamite’s 1st LP, which came out in 1985 or so. It occurred to me that this LP had probably been digitally processed. And so, in spite of all my advocacy for analog, it was the digitalized LP that had good sound.

The speakers in that listening session were experiments of mine made with a single JBL midrange driver of 5" or so mounted in 2½ ft. x 4 ft. pieces of 3/4" plywood. Why did the analog LPs sound bad?

What I believe is that because there is so much music in the grooves of the all-analog LP’s – music which, unlike the digitalized recording, is non-discontinuous – it is simply unable to vent itself through a single pair of drivers.

Consider again with me the likely experience of Herbert Von Karajan. He probably had very expensive speakers, which nevertheless had only 3 drivers per channel. His analog recordings were mix-downs of 24 tracks or more, containing input from probably dozens of microphones. All that music gets jammed up with only 3 drivers per channel. He then puts digital recordings on his system. Presto! Voila! No more traffic jam at the voice coils. The digital content is just a fraction of the all-analog. The harsh overtones, and possibly screeching and squawking as well, (if you really turn it up) have disappeared.