My interest in audio and hi-fi goes back a fair way. In my high-school years, my Dad showed me how to solder an op-amp and a few diodes and resistors onto a breadboard, to create a "fuzz box." With a cheap electric guitar plugged into one end and a cheap guitar amplifier on the other, it made an absolutely horrendous noise, and I absolutely loved it! It was glorious and I was hooked. I shortly thereafter learnt enough to build a pair of two-way loudspeakers and an "ETI-3000" integrated amplifier - a kit design published by an Australian magazine. All this was, of course, somewhat of a distraction from more serious pursuits, like classical piano practice and studying for exams. I subsequently undertook two degrees in Electrical Engineering as a result, with an emphasis on musical sound synthesis. Since then I have pursued my interest in audio and hi-fi in various ways, jumping around between commercial equipment, explorations into vintage gear, and the occasional bout of DIY fanaticism.
The miniDSP “stack,” consisting of three boards called miniDSP, miniDIGI, and miniAMP, is an interesting little platform for the audio experimenter, offering digital and analog inputs and outputs, comprehensive crossover and digital equalization functionality, and four channels of amplification. John Reekie takes a look at this offering, and walks us through assembly of the stack.
John Reekie completes his three-part series on the four-way open-baffle loudspeaker, with comprehensive measurements of the behaviour of monopole and dipole subwoofers in his listening room.
The Audio by Van Alstine UltraValve amplifier is the latest step in the evolution of the ST-70 from Audio by Van Alstine. Frank Van Alstine shares some of his insights with us.
The new 2-in 8-out “2×8″ DSP card from miniDSP is ideal for active speakers. John Reekie walks us through its functions, using his 4-way open-baffle prototype speaker as an example.
“These diminutive units have won me over as a practical and affordable solution for all kinds of applications in an audio system,” writes John Reekie of the miniDSP 2×4 crossover/eq. This article continues his tutorial series on the miniDSP, with measurement and refinement of his 4-way open-baffle speaker.
As instigator and editor-in-chief of HifiZine, I’m occasionally reminded that I’m obliged to set the direction for this venture. Here are my thoughts on this first combined HifiZine / Affordable$$Audio issue.
This article, the second in a series of tutorials on the miniDSP, demonstrates how to use the miniDSP as a crossover/eq for a 4-way loudspeaker. The speaker is an open-baffle loudspeaker, a configuration that has been gaining popularity in DIY circles in recent years.
On the eve of the 7th edition of the extremely popular Annual Rocky Mountain Audio Fest (RMAF), Show Director Marjorie Baumert agreed to field a few questions from us about the upcoming event.
With the imminent availability of the BDP-1 digital player from Bryston Limited, Bryston VP James Tanner responds to some questions from us about this new unit.
This is a tutorial on using the miniDSP 2×4 “DSP in a box” for equalizing a subwoofer and integrating it into a two-channel audio system.