[Bret L]

Ferstler has never done any DIY projects. Nor is there any evidence
that he could.

David Rich is another matter. In the old "Audio Critic" he would g
through commercial designs and essentially critique their component
engineering, always suggesting a better IC or other part for each
stage. Why he didn't simply design one "de novo" and publish a PCB
layout for us proles is my question, and one he never deigned to
answer.

[Boon[_2_]]

On Jan 14, 1:49*am, Bret L wrote:
*Ferstler has never done any DIY projects. Nor is there any evidence
that he could.

*David Rich is another matter. In the old "Audio Critic" he would g
through commercial designs and essentially critique their component
engineering, always suggesting a better IC or other part for each
stage. Why he didn't simply design one "de novo" and publish a PCB
layout for us proles is my question, and one he never deigned to
answer.

Everything Ferstler did in regards to DBTs and DIYs were done under
the careful supervision of Roy Allison. Under scrutiny, it was
revealed that Howard did the DBT incorrectly anyway. That's the reason
why Howard was relegated to subwoofer and surround sound processor
reviews in his later years...when you spend most of the review
regurgitating the owner's manual, it's relatively hard to screw it up.

[Ferstler]

On Jan 14, 11:56*am, Boon wrote:
On Jan 14, 1:49*am, Bret L wrote:

*Ferstler has never done any DIY projects. Nor is there any evidence
that he could.

*David Rich is another matter. In the old "Audio Critic" he would g
through commercial designs and essentially critique their component
engineering, always suggesting a better IC or other part for each
stage. Why he didn't simply design one "de novo" and publish a PCB
layout for us proles is my question, and one he never deigned to
answer.

Everything Ferstler did in regards to DBTs and DIYs were done under
the careful supervision of Roy Allison. Under scrutiny, it was
revealed that Howard did the DBT incorrectly anyway. That's the reason
why Howard was relegated to subwoofer and surround sound processor
reviews in his later years...when you spend most of the review
regurgitating the owner's manual, it's relatively hard to screw it up.

I decided to take a look here on a whim, and instead of you guys just
giving it a rest you decided to do a fast slandering job on me. Since
there may be people here who are not up to date on how you guys
operate, I have decided to interject the information below.

Roy Allison never did "supervise" my DBT work. I have only met him
three times in my life, and we never even lived close to each other.
Sure, I wrote him regularly (and still do), but most of the time we
just chatted about topics unrelated to audio, let alone about any of
my reviewing projects. I will say that no audio writer or engineer
worth a flip would do serious comparing work by any means other than
the DBT protocol.

The response-curve readout technique I used with speaker A/B comparing
was developed by me independently from anybody else. First, a stereo
pair of speakers are arranged AB/AB style in my main listening room (a
3400 cubic foot area that has the speakers 11 to 15 feet away,
depending upon manufacturer suggestions, from the listening and
measuring axis) to keep their soundstages the same width. The
procedure itself consists of first level matching the speakers using
an RTA to get their outputs to overlap as exactly as possible, using a
broad-bandwidth, pink-noise source.

Level matching with speakers, as with any other components being
compared, is critical, and to do that I use an AudioControl SA3051 in
its 20-second averaging mode do a cumulative readout as I slowly move
the microphone over a 1 x 1 x 5 foot area near seated ear height at
the listening couch as the broad-bandwidth pink-noise source is
played. I have done it that way, in that room for many years, thereby
giving me a consistant reference standard for loudspeaker performance,
and the idea is to get a proper room curve that approximates a power
response readout. David Moran, who uses a dbx RTA to the same kind of
comparisons, but with somewhat different microphone movements, has
indicated to at least one chat group that my results parallel his when
the same speakers are involved. I use this technique to both set
levels for A/B comparisons and to give me response curves to reproduce
and discuss in my speaker reviews.

Once the levels are properly set for the comparison work, I go on to
do standard comparisons, using a variety of classical, romantic-era,
and baroque sources. I even use rock and jazz at times, and with most
of my speaker reviews I tell the reader just what recordings are
involved, even going to far as to print the recording stock numbers.

Anybody who has ever read any of my product reviews (that probably
does not include you) will acknowledge that my reports (be they about
speakers or be they about anything else) are anything but
regurgitations of the owner's manuals. Sure, I note manufacturer specs
and comments (any good reviewer should go over those in a review), but
I then do a decent analysis of the performance of whatever component I
am dealing with.

When doing my DBT work with amps, wires, and players I either used a
switcher and reference amp that allowed me to get the levels precisely
matched before doing sighted comparisons, or else I used an ABX
Comparator that Tom Nousaine loaned to me for several months. The
device had an on-board digital volt meter and signal generator that
allowed for very precise level matching, one channel at a time, and it
also forced the participant to do the comparing blind. The results I
got with the device were consistant with what I discovered during my
sighted and level-matched comparisons. Using the ABX device finally
convinced me that doing amp, wire, and player reviews was just not
something I cared to fool with any more. There simply was not anything
one could say about their sound, because they had no sound. I did
stick with reviewing receivers and processors for a while, because
those at least had surround technology that could be analyzed.

The resutls with my ABX comparisons were that any good amp, provided
it is not pushed hard against its clipping level, will sound the same
as any other good amp. Good amps are common enough for most
intelligent people to make purchases based upon price and maximum
power needs. Other results were that any good lamp cord 16 AWG or
larger, will sound as good as any exotic versions, unless the
manufacturer of the exotic has managed to screw up their performance
by installing shunt capacitors or some other inane modifications to
make them sound different from (read, less accurate than) good-old
wires. Ditto for interconnects. As for players, well, any good CD or
DVD player will sound identical to just about any other, with the
primary exceptions being exotic models that have been modified by
their borderline corrupt manufacturers to sound different from (read,
less accurate than) the norm.

Finally, just in case you or anybody else here really does want to
read some of my published reviews, go to:

http://findarticles.com/p/search/?tb=art&qt="Howard%2C+Ferstler"

The only problem with the reprints is that the program will not
reproduce my measurement curves, but you should not care, anyway,
because you could not tell an honest review from a dishonest one if
your life depended upon it.

PS: I have known David Rich for years (we have even done joint reviews
together), and while he and I disagree about how speakers should
perform (reverberant-field bias vs direct-field bias), we agree
precisely when it comes to amps, wires, audio gimmicks, and players.

Howard Ferstler

[Boon[_2_]]

On Jan 14, 4:05*pm, Ferstler wrote:
On Jan 14, 11:56*am, Boon wrote:





On Jan 14, 1:49*am, Bret L wrote:

*Ferstler has never done any DIY projects. Nor is there any evidence
that he could.

*David Rich is another matter. In the old "Audio Critic" he would g
through commercial designs and essentially critique their component
engineering, always suggesting a better IC or other part for each
stage. Why he didn't simply design one "de novo" and publish a PCB
layout for us proles is my question, and one he never deigned to
answer.

Everything Ferstler did in regards to DBTs and DIYs were done under
the careful supervision of Roy Allison. Under scrutiny, it was
revealed that Howard did the DBT incorrectly anyway. That's the reason
why Howard was relegated to subwoofer and surround sound processor
reviews in his later years...when you spend most of the review
regurgitating the owner's manual, it's relatively hard to screw it up.

I decided to take a look here on a whim

....and the rest is tired bull**** that no one will bother reading. You
know, Harold, just like your subwoofer reviews.

[Ferstler]

On Jan 14, 5:13*pm, Boon wrote:
On Jan 14, 4:05*pm, Ferstler wrote:





On Jan 14, 11:56*am, Boon wrote:

On Jan 14, 1:49*am, Bret L wrote:

*Ferstler has never done any DIY projects. Nor is there any evidence
that he could.

*David Rich is another matter. In the old "Audio Critic" he would g
through commercial designs and essentially critique their component
engineering, always suggesting a better IC or other part for each
stage. Why he didn't simply design one "de novo" and publish a PCB
layout for us proles is my question, and one he never deigned to
answer.

Everything Ferstler did in regards to DBTs and DIYs were done under
the careful supervision of Roy Allison. Under scrutiny, it was
revealed that Howard did the DBT incorrectly anyway. That's the reason
why Howard was relegated to subwoofer and surround sound processor
reviews in his later years...when you spend most of the review
regurgitating the owner's manual, it's relatively hard to screw it up..

I decided to take a look here on a whim

...and the rest is tired bull**** that no one will bother reading. You
know, Harold, just like your subwoofer reviews.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

This site is basically occupied by a group of dysfunctional goons.

Enjoy your life, pinhead.

Howard Ferstler

[Boon[_2_]]

On Jan 14, 5:24*pm, Ferstler wrote:
On Jan 14, 5:13*pm, Boon wrote:





On Jan 14, 4:05*pm, Ferstler wrote:

On Jan 14, 11:56*am, Boon wrote:

On Jan 14, 1:49*am, Bret L wrote:

*Ferstler has never done any DIY projects. Nor is there any evidence
that he could.

*David Rich is another matter. In the old "Audio Critic" he would g
through commercial designs and essentially critique their component
engineering, always suggesting a better IC or other part for each
stage. Why he didn't simply design one "de novo" and publish a PCB
layout for us proles is my question, and one he never deigned to
answer.

Everything Ferstler did in regards to DBTs and DIYs were done under
the careful supervision of Roy Allison. Under scrutiny, it was
revealed that Howard did the DBT incorrectly anyway. That's the reason
why Howard was relegated to subwoofer and surround sound processor
reviews in his later years...when you spend most of the review
regurgitating the owner's manual, it's relatively hard to screw it up.

I decided to take a look here on a whim

...and the rest is tired bull**** that no one will bother reading. You
know, Harold, just like your subwoofer reviews.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

This site is basically occupied by a group of dysfunctional goons.

Enjoy your life, pinhead.

Why do you keep making these simple-minded exits? Have the creative
juices dried up? Do you have nothing more to live for than the hope
that someone on the Internet still remembers you?

Do something with your life, Harold. As long as you draw breath, it's
not too late. Stop lamenting the passing of your supposed hobby--audio
as you think it should exist--and move on. These sporadic appearances
of yours are the very definition of pathetic.

[Ferstler]

On Jan 14, 2:49*am, Bret L wrote:
*Ferstler has never done any DIY projects. Nor is there any evidence
that he could.

*David Rich is another matter. In the old "Audio Critic" he would g
through commercial designs and essentially critique their component
engineering, always suggesting a better IC or other part for each
stage. Why he didn't simply design one "de novo" and publish a PCB
layout for us proles is my question, and one he never deigned to
answer.

Well, blast, I cannot let this one pass, even though my better
judgement says otherwise.

Not too long ago I sold off the Dunlavy Cantatas in my smaller system
(they were just too large for my wife's taste) and replaced them with
some home-built jobs. I used Allison tweeters and Tang Band mids in
vertical MTTM arrays with each system, and with a small Allison woofer
on the bottom of the slender, four-foot-tall cabinets. I designed the
crossover network myself (all second order, with polypropylene caps in
the tweeter and midrange high-pass networks, bipolars elsewhere,
chokes purchased from Parts Express, and with independent polyswitch
fuses installed to protect each driver array). All of the woodworking
and electrical assembly was done by me out in my workshop.

After they were done, I compared them to the Cantatas (level matched,
following guidelines I outlined in my recent AudioXpress article) and
they sounded quite similar, with the new systems being a bit more
spacious, thanks to the Allison tweeters and Tang Band mids and the
nature of the Dunlavy directional output design. I then hauled them
into my main system's listening room area and did a level-matched
comparison between them and my Allison IC-20 models. During some of
the A/B sequences, using mostly baroque and classical source materials
(music most of you people would not be able to comprehend), I could
hear no differences between my units and the Allison units at all.

Prior to that, I built a custom center speaker for that main system to
complement the IC-20s. A short tower model, it uses Allison mids and
tweeters in a vertical MTTM array, with a single Allison 10-inch
woofer at the bottom. It basically is one half of an IC-20 in a
somewhat rectangular cabinet, but with the front panel sloped
backwards four degrees to allow its shorter height (40 inches) to
still keep the direct field focussed at seated ear height, and with a
crossover network modified from two basic Allison designs to
accommodate the different driver and cabinet layout. Like the other
systems, this unit made use of polypropylene caps and 18 AWG wire
chokes (the network is not quite fully second order, with the woofer
high pass being first order), and also made use of separate polyswitch
fuses for each driver array, and even the woofer. The system sounds
identical to an IC-20.

A few months back I refurbished all four of the Allison Model Four
systems used as surround speakers in my main system. I did a
documentation report on the project for the Classic Speaker pages, and
even wrote an article on the work for an on-line woodworking chat
group. The caps were replaced with polypropylene jobs, polyswitches
were installed, and the tweeter high pass network was converted from
first to second order to better protect the drivers from overload.

Not too long ago, I refurbished the crossover networks in the 19-year-
old IC-20 models, replacing all of the stock caps with polypropylene
jobs, even the big one in the woofer network. The job required a major
revamping of the network mount and lots of soldering work. The
speakers had been working fine, but I wanted to make sure that cap
deterioration would not take place in the near future.

Three weeks ago I built two new surround speakers for my smaller
system from scratch, thereby freeing up two Allison Model Four systems
that had been handling that task. As usual, I used polypropylene caps,
new 18 AWG chokes, and polyswitches. The Allison's are physically too
large for that kind of duty, and after I replace their old stock caps
with polypropylene jobs and install polyfuses to protect the tweeters
I plan on putting them up for sale.

So, guess what, I can design and build (and refurbish) speakers, and
the ones I have built sound quite good.

I have no intention of doing any kind of DIY articled about the work,
simply because I am done with audio journalism, period.

Howard Ferstler

[Trevor Wilson[_3_]]

"The people who regularly hang out here need to get a life."

Howard Ferstler

[Boon[_2_]]

On Jan 14, 4:09*pm, "Trevor Wilson" wrote:
"The people who regularly hang out here need to get a life."

Howard Ferstler

These last few posts of Harold's are the most productive thing he's
done since he filed his last book at the university library.

[Ferstler]

On Jan 14, 5:09*pm, "Trevor Wilson" wrote:
"The people who regularly hang out here need to get a life."

Howard Ferstler

Good point. Adios.

Howard Ferstler

[Bret L]

On Jan 14, 3:31 pm, Ferstler wrote:
On Jan 14, 2:49 am, Bret L wrote:

Ferstler has never done any DIY projects. Nor is there any evidence
that he could.

David Rich is another matter. In the old "Audio Critic" he would g
through commercial designs and essentially critique their component
engineering, always suggesting a better IC or other part for each
stage. Why he didn't simply design one "de novo" and publish a PCB
layout for us proles is my question, and one he never deigned to
answer.

Well, blast, I cannot let this one pass, even though my better
judgement says otherwise.

Not too long ago I sold off the Dunlavy Cantatas in my smaller system
(they were just too large for my wife's taste) and replaced them with
some home-built jobs. I used Allison tweeters and Tang Band mids in
vertical MTTM arrays with each system, and with a small Allison woofer
on the bottom of the slender, four-foot-tall cabinets. I designed the
crossover network myself (all second order, with polypropylene caps in
the tweeter and midrange high-pass networks, bipolars elsewhere,
chokes purchased from Parts Express, and with independent polyswitch
fuses installed to protect each driver array). All of the woodworking
and electrical assembly was done by me out in my workshop.

After they were done, I compared them to the Cantatas (level matched,
following guidelines I outlined in my recent AudioXpress article) and
they sounded quite similar, with the new systems being a bit more
spacious, thanks to the Allison tweeters and Tang Band mids and the
nature of the Dunlavy directional output design. I then hauled them
into my main system's listening room area and did a level-matched
comparison between them and my Allison IC-20 models. During some of
the A/B sequences, using mostly baroque and classical source materials
(music most of you people would not be able to comprehend), I could
hear no differences between my units and the Allison units at all.


Yes, but you can't buy Allison tweeters, anymore can you? And how
efficient is this system?

[Ferstler]

On Jan 15, 12:08*am, Bret L wrote:
On Jan 14, 3:31 pm, Ferstler wrote:





On Jan 14, 2:49 am, Bret L wrote:

*Ferstler has never done any DIY projects. Nor is there any evidence
that he could.

*David Rich is another matter. In the old "Audio Critic" he would g
through commercial designs and essentially critique their component
engineering, always suggesting a better IC or other part for each
stage. Why he didn't simply design one "de novo" and publish a PCB
layout for us proles is my question, and one he never deigned to
answer.

Well, blast, I cannot let this one pass, even though my better
judgement says otherwise.

Not too long ago I sold off the Dunlavy Cantatas in my smaller system
(they were just too large for my wife's taste) and replaced them with
some home-built jobs. I used Allison tweeters and Tang Band mids in
vertical MTTM arrays with each system, and with a small Allison woofer
on the bottom of the slender, four-foot-tall cabinets. I designed the
crossover network myself (all second order, with polypropylene caps in
the tweeter and midrange high-pass networks, bipolars elsewhere,
chokes purchased from Parts Express, and with independent polyswitch
fuses installed to protect each driver array). All of the woodworking
and electrical assembly was done by me out in my workshop.

After they were done, I compared them to the Cantatas (level matched,
following guidelines I outlined in my recent AudioXpress article) and
they sounded quite similar, with the new systems being a bit more
spacious, thanks to the Allison tweeters and Tang Band mids and the
nature of the Dunlavy directional output design. I then hauled them
into my main system's listening room area and did a level-matched
comparison between them and my Allison IC-20 models. During some of
the A/B sequences, using mostly baroque and classical source materials
(music most of you people would not be able to comprehend), I could
hear no differences between my units and the Allison units at all.

*Yes, but you can't buy Allison tweeters, anymore can you? And how
efficient is this system?- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

I will answer you, because you post a valid question and seem
considerably more sane and honest than most of the other site members.

I have a stockpile of Allison drivers, but, yes, many old Allison fans
continue to scramble for spare parts. Fortunately, the drivers seem to
hold up very well, excepting the urethane foam woofer surrounds, which
deteriorate in a typical manner. I have replaced a lot of those
(several companies offer replacement kits), both on my own drivers and
on those belonging to friends. Fortunately, spare parts to refurbish
crossover networks are readily available, and, really, about the only
things there that might poop out would be the capacitors..

The smaller, main-channel systems I built have an 88 dB sensitivity
rating (2.83 volts applied, at a one-meter distance). That is about
the same as the bulk of the Allison speaker lineup (this varies, with
the company's 4-ohm models being 90 dB), as well as a lot of other
brands. The center speaker I built for my main system has an 87 dB
sensitivity rating, which is identical to that of the left and right
main Allison IC-20 units in the same installation.

Allison speakers have a reputation (like the old, classic AR line) of
being power hungry. However, you can get more than enough output with
a typical 100 wpc receiver. While I used to power all three front
systems with 250 watts apiece, I now use a receiver with 130 for each,
and get plenty of volume, even with movies. Of course, having an 18-
inch Velodyne subwoofer on hand to handle the bottom end takes
considerable pressure off of the satellite amps.

Howard Ferstler

[MiNe 109]

In article
,
Ferstler wrote:

I will answer you, because you post a valid question and seem
considerably more sane and honest than most of the other site members.

You're new here, aren't you?

Stephen

[Boon[_2_]]

On Jan 15, 2:36*pm, Ferstler wrote:

I will answer you, because you post a valid question and seem
considerably more sane and honest than most of the other site members.

Um, Harold...Bret is a blatant white supremacist who has been spamming
this NG for quite some time with his "nationalist" propaganda. If you
think that's sane and honest, then you've sunk even lower than anyone
imagined.

On the other hand, he also tends to offer opinions of stereo gear
(i.e. Harbeth, Koetsu) that he has never heard, and then lies about
having heard them at nameless audio salons. That makes you two audio
frauds quite the matched pair.

[Ferstler]

On Jan 15, 4:49*pm, Boon wrote:
On Jan 15, 2:36*pm, Ferstler wrote:



I will answer you, because you post a valid question and seem
considerably more sane and honest than most of the other site members.

Um, Harold...Bret is a blatant white supremacist who has been spamming
this NG for quite some time with his *"nationalist" propaganda. If you
think that's sane and honest, then you've sunk even lower than anyone
imagined.

On the other hand, he also tends to offer opinions of stereo gear
(i.e. Harbeth, Koetsu) that he has never heard, and then lies about
having heard them at nameless audio salons. That makes you two audio
frauds quite the matched pair.

Well, I certainly have no use for white supremacists (being a rather
extreme Obama supporter, myself, and a borderline socialist when it
comes to topics like medical and energy issues), but since I have been
away for some time and have not bothered to even read any of the posts
here that do not relate either to audio or to me, since some here seem
to be obsessed with trashing me, I am not aware of Bret's social or
political views. Frankly, it seems rather odd to me that a usenet
group configured rec.audio.opinion would tolerate a multitude of posts
that are not related to audio. I might as well post something off
topic, anyway, and will note that I am certainly not an anti-
nationalist, myself, although I am painfully aware that the USA,
relative to the rest of the world, is in decline, and will continue to
decline. Well, given global warming, pollution, and overpopulation
issues, the whole planet is in decline. I am glad I do not have to
worry about my non-existent children or grandchildren.

I generally base my opinions of audio gear upon what I have actually
heard (especially components that I have auditioned in my own
listening rooms), although if seriously competent people like
Nousaine, Pierce, Toole, or Rich put for strong opinions about gear I
have not heard I will usually take what they say seriously.

I continue to lament the fact that so many of you here consider me a
fraud, particularly because so many of you have opinions based upon
hearsay and not actually upon having read my books and review and
commentary articles. Say, that situation kind of parallels what you
say about Bret and his non-experience with certain audio components.

Interestingly, the rancor here has often reached such a level that
arguments are based simply upon not liking somebody just because they
are supposed to not be liked. A kne-jerk approach is the norm. Actual
issues relating to audio (dbt analyses, speaker comparing, surround
technologies, design concepts, speaker/room behavior, etc.) are
forgotten and the whole thing boils down to basic animosities in a
kind of Hatfields vs McCoys style that has almost nothing to do with
audio.

This situation is almost painful to acknowledge, and is one reason I
am simply not going to be drawn back into the backbiting series of
insult swapping dialogs this site is notorious for.

Howard Ferstler

[Bret L]

I will answer you, because you post a valid question and seem
considerably more sane and honest than most of the other site members.

Um, Harold...Bret is a blatant white supremacist who has been spamming
this NG for quite some time with his *"nationalist" propaganda. If you
think that's sane and honest, then you've sunk even lower than anyone
imagined.

On the other hand, he also tends to offer opinions of stereo gear
(i.e. Harbeth, Koetsu) that he has never heard, and then lies about
having heard them at nameless audio salons. That makes you two audio
frauds quite the matched pair.

You know, V'n'l's'n'h, part of your problem is pure snobbery. Just
because I live smack dab in the heart of flyover country you think I
must not have access to such as Harbeth and Koetsu. Well, I live in
the south end of a county packed full of doctors and lawyers and
corporate executives and high roller sales types...(most) all of whom
are yuppieish ****tards to compete with Orange and Westchester. There
are historical reasons for this, try Googling the names "Pendergast"
and "J.C.Nichols".

Kansas City is a minor league town to be sure, on the whole, but like
Nashville it has a bunch of New Affluence and a core of old banker
money types. Since the end of Pendergast (Google also "That Goddamned
Neck Tie Salesman", a fellow named Harry S (no period-just the letter
S) Truman.) some of them went back to Missouri, but most are in a
little patch just outside both Missouri and outside the reach of
Kansas City, KS. It's big enough to effectively keep one house of the
state legislature in check , and does just exactly what it-that is,
the real estate developers, doctors, and lawyers-want it to do.

But another part is sheer deviousness. You know that I am a white
nationalist, NOT a white supremacist, and that I started posting tasty
tidbits liberals don't like in response to liberal political harping
and spamming. I was perfectly happy to discuss audio, provided it was
audio and not look-at-my-expensive-name-brand-substitute-penis we were
discussing.

You know, your behavior here is what cost you the ToneAudio gig, and
you haven't learned. Atkinson posts here, which I certainly wouldn't
in his position, but he generally knows better to get in public
****ing matches with wascally wascists.