I need an Education

rromeo923

I am a college graduate with a degree in Philosophy. I was originally a math major until Calculus 3 class at 7:00 am in the morning did me in. (I kinda didnt make it to class very often).

Anyway when I read the Polk audio forums I regularly find myself feeling stupid. I have very little understanding of crossovers, ohms, hertz (rental car?), inductors, impedance, tube bias etc, etc....

Where can I learn this type of information especially in regards to speakers and amps? Any good reading you can recommend??

drumminman

While I'm no expert, I've learned enough using Google to be able to copy what others have done - as long as clear instructions or pics are involved

Start by googling crossovers and take it from there!

mhardy6647

depends on how basic(ally) you need to start. For a primer on basic electonics, one cannot beat IMO the US Navy NEETS package. This is available in the public domain; e.g., at http://jricher.com/NEETS/ or http://www.tpub.com/neets/

For loudspeaker and crossover design, I like Ray Alden's books (available at www.partsexpress.com for example); there are also good books by David Weems... and Vance Dickason's Loudspeaker Design Cookbook remains a classic.

For general hifi stuff, Robert Harley's book(s) are pretty good. This link is merely illustrative and not an endorsement of the seller :-) http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Guide-High-End-Audio/dp/0964084945

If you are at all interested in vacuum tubes and amplifier technology that uses them, the best (free) resource on the planet is Pete Millett's site: www.tubebooks.org

A nice quick read on the basics of vacuum tube hifi may be dowlloaded from archive.anthemav.com/OldSitev1/pdf/taste.pdf

EDIT: oh, a nice series of "201" level articles on many aspects of sound reproduction technology may be found online at Elliot Sound Products: http://sound.westhost.com/index2.html


PS I can sympathize with you about Calc III at any time of the day! :-) My son is teaching Calc I and II this year to non-math majors as part of his PhD training in mathematics :-P Me? It's not pretty when I do math.

Esreuter

when I took my first step down the XO path, I was given this source and it helped me out a great deal, http://www.electronics-tutorials.ws/ gives a great idea of each component, how its made and what it does.

has info about circuits, how to read schematics, ect.

ESR:cheesygrin:

VR3

I am extremely mechanically inclined - I can pick up anything and with the appropriate tools can recreate or build anything.... so crossover mods was "easy" to figure out but the way I learned was just jump in and do it!

Nike "Just do it"

rdb2001

rromeo923 wrote: »

I am a college graduate with a degree in Philosophy. I was originally a math major until Calculus 3 class at 7:00 am in the morning did me in. (I kinda didnt make it to class very often).

Anyway when I read the Polk audio forums I regularly find myself feeling stupid. I have very little understanding of crossovers, ohms, hertz (rental car?), inductors, impedance, tube bias etc, etc....

Where can I learn this type of information especially in regards to speakers and amps? Any good reading you can recommend??

Good ole Cal 3. I was an engineering major and Had to take Cal 1-4. It got really hard when Differential Equations and Linear Algebra came. With our engineering degree came a minor in math and you were like 4-5 classes from having a double degree in math and engineering. Those were the days .

[Deleted User]

As a person who has benefited from Mr. Hardy's recommendations I always pay attention when he gives out book and website suggestions.

gimpod

mhardy6647 wrote: »

depends on how basic(ally) you need to start. For a primer on basic electonics, one cannot beat IMO the US Navy NEETS package. This is available in the public domain; e.g., at http://jricher.com/NEETS/ or http://www.tpub.com/neets/

For loudspeaker and crossover design, I like Ray Alden's books (available at www.partsexpress.com for example); there are also good books by David Weems... and Vance Dickason's Loudspeaker Design Cookbook remains a classic.

For general hifi stuff, Robert Harley's book(s) are pretty good. This link is merely illustrative and not an endorsement of the seller :-) http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Guide-High-End-Audio/dp/0964084945

If you are at all interested in vacuum tubes and amplifier technology that uses them, the best (free) resource on the planet is Pete Millett's site: www.tubebooks.org

A nice quick read on the basics of vacuum tube hifi may be dowlloaded from archive.anthemav.com/OldSitev1/pdf/taste.pdf

EDIT: oh, a nice series of "201" level articles on many aspects of sound reproduction technology may be found online at Elliot Sound Products: http://sound.westhost.com/index2.html

Looks like it's time to get my read on I can always use a refresher and who knows I may even learn something (That's the fun part:cool:)

Thanks for the links much appreciated.

rromeo923

Thanks for the suggestions! Time to get a learnin

davide256

mhardy6647 wrote: »

EDIT: oh, a nice series of "201" level articles on many aspects of sound reproduction technology may be found online at Elliot Sound Products: http://sound.westhost.com/index2.html

I love this link, I've been noticing for a while on audiogon that many who comment there are "audi mystics" and not applying unbiased science in their attempts to compare and identify a better audio product. The Lenard Audio link on this page for introduction to tubes tickled my funnybone in satirizing the "mystics" crowd

mlhm5

http://www.google.com/search?q=crossovers+site%3Awww.polkaudio.com&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

http://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=speaker+crossovers&hl=en&btnG=Search&as_sdt=1%2C22&as_sdtp=on

polkfarmboy

Those are some great links you posted mhardy and will make for a nice relaxing read over the weekend