Study material or reference material

[chander]

Hi all,

Being a clueless Audio Enthusiast, I am always searching for some good resources to understand the technical aspect of this passion, in easy to understand or well elaborated articles, guides and videos. I am a complete idiot when it comes to a lot of the technical terms here on this very forum. I am sure there are a few other like me here who come for guidance (maybe not as clueless as me - but still those who need guidance) to get a grasp complicated concepts that for most experienced and technically inclined members is easy to understand.

I request here that if you come across something - that explains a concept in audio in an easy to understand way (think complete beginners) - it will be amazing if you could share them here for those who can gain from it.

An example would be - the simplest explanation I have ever come across for - Understanding the co-relation between, speaker efficiency, SPL, listening distance and power requirements - is posted here. I will keep posting things here as I find them, if any of you find articles that get the beginners started - it will be great!

 

[sud98]

One of the really good books esp. on acoustics is this Master Handbook of Acoustics.

Master Handbook of Acoustics, Sixth Edition: Buy Master Handbook of Acoustics, Sixth Edition by Everest F. Alton at Low Price in India | Flipkart.com

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It teaches from very basics to advanced levels. Most gurus refer to this book as their bible. So worth reading if you are interested in the same.

 

[somjk]

I was also a clueless newbie when i joined this wonderful forum a few months back ...Of all the online resources, i found this to be the most simple and comprehensive enough for anybody to understand, good resource just to start off with... and i think it also mentions some of the above mentioned bibles as well

Learn the Language of Good Sound

Better understand the difference a hi-fi system can make

www.crutchfield.com

 

[chander]

@sud98 Ordered the Kindle version thanks!
@somjk Thank you! Will read thru.

Anyone has got a basic guide on Tube amps, different types and understanding what they do. Beginner level to get a grasp? Right now all I know is the look beautiful and sound a certain way (I have heard a few).

A couple others - regarding the portable audio - though not exactly "simple" but understandable with a few google searches. Big thanks to @stevieboy for sharing these.

Headphone & Amp Impedance

INTRO: The output Impedance of headphone sources is one of the most common reasons the same headphones can sound different depending on wha...

nwavguy.blogspot.com

Match-making For Headphone Lovers Pt.3: Impedance | The Ear

Richard Barclay concludes his explorations in the deep waters of headphone tech with an investigation into what really counts in a headphone amplifier. As a

www.the-ear.net

 

[Vineethkumar01]

If you are interested in technical aspects behind building speakers (even if not interested in building, going through design considerations undertaken in a build is often helpful in understanding more about this subject)
This website has a good step by step approach from basics:
1) http://site.diy-loudspeakers.com/guidelines

2) This is another great website from the master himself: http://www.linkwitzlab.com/speakers.htm

3) Our own FM tcpip maintains a website here: https://tech.dhandanought.org/,
which is a treasure trove of useful information about speaker building. It also has references, pointers to good books etc in different related areas. Unfortunately, the website is down sometimes, may be we can request him/bring this issue to his attention

4) This guy has video courses (at nominal costs) & articles which covers different steps involved in speaker building:

Courses

audiojudgement.com

These are some resources I know of other than directly pointing to 'loudspeaker design cookbook' by Vance dickason.
Also, what I have often found in learning more about this subject is rather than trying to start from the best, most easily understandable, and absolute reference material on the subject, it is better if we start somewhere, learn, experiment, unlearn some of what we learnt (may be if it has become old compared to current state of the art approaches), and learn again and enjoy a lot while doing all this..

Thanks
Vineeth

 

[chander]

All resources are good resources - my aim is to first understand the "stepping stones" in great depth, but all links you guys are posting might help someone who is a bit more advanced.

 

[sud]

I had the similar quest to explore reference material . Just finished " The Complete Guide to High-End Audio Fifth Edition by Robert Harley . I found it quite simple , lucid in explaining technical and useful ; would recommend.

 

[chander]

Oversimplified - Class A, AB & D amplification types - I feel stupid posting this video however - the idea is simple.

Simplest Impedance Explained -

 

[stevieboy]

The best video to understand how a tube amp and its internal parts works. Do go through his channel for other gems like how a triode works vs a pentode or a tetrode and the advantages and disadvantages of each type.

Regards

 

[chander]

Thanks @stevieboy - took me a long time to understand most of it. However this is pretty much the definitive guide to "understanding tube amp". Here's the second part. Not beginner savvy but a couple of watches with a lot of googling can really help.

A beautiful explanation on Understanding Class A - by our FM @IndianEars -

Class A vs Class A vs Class AB

Just for a perspective... a True 200 Watt Class A stereo amp will consumer 1600 Watts of power Continuously, even with no music playing. Most of this (the equivalent of a Kitchen Electric Oven!) will be dissipated continuously as heat. I suspect this will require 1 Ton of additional...

www.hifivision.com

Understanding the room - provided these are adverts but initial explanation is very simple -

 

[Enkay78]

Audio Science Review (ASR) Forum

Audio reviews, science and engineering discussions.

www.audiosciencereview.com

The best website ever......without all the beating round the bushes and commercial nuances.

Unfortunately few members of this forum feels that ASR is for donkeys

You check out and decide whether you are a donkey or not. One thing is guaranteed you will have some better insights whether good or bad. And you may know how far the rabbit hole goes.

(Offtopic: I have gone through all sorts of forums but finds ASR much better (even better than this forum ...apology if I hurt any forum members). The impact of ASR is that companies are now responding to more detailed measurements of their products; except the boutique ones.)

Go through all the audio luminaries there as members.

 

[chander]

Audio Science Review (ASR) Forum

Audio reviews, science and engineering discussions.

www.audiosciencereview.com

The best website ever......without all the beating round the bushes and commercial nuances.


Unfortunately few members of this forum feels that ASR is for donkeys

You check out and decide whether you are a donkey or not. One thing is guaranteed you will have some better insights whether good or bad. And you may know how far the rabbit hole goes.

(Offtopic: I have gone through all sorts of forums but finds ASR much better (even better than this forum ...apology if I hurt any forum members). The impact of ASR is that companies are now responding to more detailed measurements of their products.....except the boutique ones.)

Go through all the audio luminaries there as members.

ASR is my go to as well for getting objective measurement based critique (though I do not understand measurements), but always good to know what they think and then read some more subjective stuff to understand the human interpretation of that objectivity.

BTW - most of the things I have owned or thoroughly enjoyed - ASR completely craps on

 

[skroderider]

I'm probably much more "clueless" about the topic than the OP, but thanks to all the informative posts this thread is rapidly becoming a reference thread for it (for audio science, not cluelessness )

 

[Bloom@83]

This thread should be made sticky.

 

[chander]

How a speaker works - a very nice video!

Understanding crossover for beginners - not a big fan of the guy (or his speakers) - but this was the simplest video I ever found that made sense to me. A bit of googling will be required to get a little more understanding of inductors, capacitors & resistors, but this will get you started.

And a live demo for visualisation of this concept.

A very simple explanation on the difference of Active/Passive & Hybrid Crossovers - I have not yet found a good resource on something that goes into details specially with examples of it happening live - if you got one please add here.

 

[Enkay78]

You can see Amir YouTube channels for some myth busting. This is one of his latest video

You can check about cables etc. Of course I am not endorsing Amir or ASR here.....but rather sharing what I feel of concerns. If other members feel otherwise, just consider such share as being part of the good-bad discourse depending on what perspective one has.

 

[chander]

Off course I am not endorsing Amir or ASR here.....but rather sharing what I feel of concerns

Oh! Please feel free to share - keep 'em coming That's the point of this whole thread. Like I said I see ASR pretty much always whenever I want to understand something or learn about a new device. It is a great forum!

My problem is (not theirs, mine) they are way too technical for me

 

[Enkay78]

Oh! Please feel free to share - keep 'em coming That's the point of this whole thread. Like I said I see ASR pretty much always whenever I want to understand something or learn about a new device. It is a great forum!

My problem is (not theirs, mine) they are way too technical for me

By 2-3 months you will become as technical as them. I am a plastic surgeon but over a year I am proud to have an average engineering knowledge about audio, psychoacoustics and amplifier topology and Prof Toole, Harman curve etc.

I was excited of Hypex.....then now it is Purifi. It's exciting as a hobby.

I learn some good points about ASIO, WASAPI and Foobar from sites such as this.

DIY-Audio-Heaven

Enjoy music through headphones on a low budget

diyaudioheaven.wordpress.com

 

[ssf]

BTW - most of the things I have owned or thoroughly enjoyed - ASR completely craps on

Well, they gave my less than perfect Crown XLS 2502 a recommendation.

 

[chander]

For those who find graphs difficult to understand - well this won't be a magic remedy as this is fairly technical - however you will grasp something atleast to get you started.

What is psychoacoustics - incredible concept I think I am making it more complicated than what I set out to do - but this seems to be going in this direction naturally for me Lots of googling here too.

Understanding Psychoacoustics with examples. -

To make the soup murkier - https://audiosolace.com/harman-target-curve-explained/

My Sunday is going more stressful than weekdays.