Maker Pro
Maker Pro

Grotty "digital" sound

N

N_Cook

Jan 1, 1970
0
Musak in my pub was a CD juke-box , other than too loud at times, adequate
sound rendition. That packed up and they replaced it with an "internet"
juke-box pulling sound files off broadband. Amp speakers and wiring stayed
the same, just source changed. Now whatever sound level, the sound is
terrible, but not to the management of course. Reminds me of the vinyl days
and fluff accumulates around the needle and that fuzziness gets worse and
worse , but with that you just lift the pickup and blow off the fluff.
Hasten to add , not just me, a musician friend of mine is considering never
going in there again, What is the name for this distortion? presumably from
being compress and decompressed so sung words are unintelligible and
instrument timbre become indistinguishable from general mush.
 
N

N_Cook

Jan 1, 1970
0
Gareth Magennis said:
Its probably just a low bitrate mp3.

But even low bitrate mp3's shouldn't sound so bad in a noisy pub environment
that people won't go there again.

Are you sure the speakers have not been damaged?
Or that the source is not now clipping a pre-amplifier/plugged into a phono
pre-amp by mistake?



Gareth.


There are 4 speakers and each sounds rubbish. It coincided with replacement
of the source, the mechanics of the CD deck gave up, but a mis-match between
source and the existing amp would make sense. As its consistently bad I
doubt it could be due to consistently bad internet material. There is a long
run of cable between the box on the wall and the amp , can't help the matter
 
J

Jamie

Jan 1, 1970
0
hr(bob) [email protected] said:
Do younger folks also complain - I think their hearing may be so
damaged from those walkman type devices that they may not even realize
the distortion, or think it is intended.

What?

Jamie
 
W

William Sommerwerck

Jan 1, 1970
0
Mr Cook, why don't you just ask the owner if you can troubleshoot the
system? You seem to know enough to figure out what's wrong.
 
N

N_Cook

Jan 1, 1970
0
Jeff Liebermann said:
Well, you might be right. It's been so long since I've played a fluff
encrusted record that I don't recall what sounds like. I thought that
it would sound like adding high frequency scratch, but now I'm not
certain. I do have a functional turntable, and can probably find
enough lint from the inside of my pocket to simulate the experience,
but methinks it's easier to simply await clarification by the OP.


--
Jeff Liebermann [email protected]
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558


I would say the bottom end is there, where there is minimum "information" is
coming through but mid to top, where voice content is, is mushy, as I said
like fluff lifting the needle off vinyl.
This is a commercial enterprise so they like to have a coinbox attached to
the music source, whatever the sound acquisition process.

At a previous pub a customer who was a pro sound engineer installed their
system. Worked well and still is used. A 15 inch woofer buried in the
central area of the pub and 4 small speakers around the room. The woofer
gives a strong sense of a sound environment to the whole pub but lack of
volume from the small speakers means people can still speak to one another,
without strain.
Incidently his DI box installation to the room PA was wrong, so live
musiscians rarely used it. There was a mismatch or long lead problem there ,
again a muffled sound if the DI was used
 
N

N_Cook

Jan 1, 1970
0
Thinking about the fluffy needle business.
Was it lifting the needle or simple damping of high frequency, low energy,
vibrations of the needle , or both?
 
W

Wond

Jan 1, 1970
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I thought it was the other way round in this case, i.e. that the highs
were unintelligible (like fluff around a needle, according to Mr.
Cook).


Gareth.

I liked your previous suggestion: its being overdriven. Can you turn
down the source, Nigel?
 
M

Mark Zacharias

Jan 1, 1970
0
Wond said:
I liked your previous suggestion: its being overdriven. Can you turn
down the source, Nigel?


I saw a demo once where successive amounts of RAM were switched out of the
digital signal path and the sound got rougher and rougher.

Makes me wonder if there's maybe a RAM problem in there somewhere.

Mark Z.
 
W

William Sommerwerck

Jan 1, 1970
0
This exchange is typical for this and other groups. Yes, it's //always//
right to start with simple suggestions (as I requested for my recent VCR
problems).

But ultimately, you have start getting down and dirty. Western society is
modeled (in part) on Greek culture, but unlike the Greeks, we are not
content to theorize about problems -- only "doing" will solve them. I urge
Mr Cook to ask the pub owner to let him troubleshoot the system. If the
owner won't let him -- then (other than theoretical curiosity) what is the
point of discussing this?

By the way, no one has answered my question about how to remove the
transport board without ripping the VCR to shreds.
 
N

N_Cook

Jan 1, 1970
0
Jeff Liebermann said:
Well, you might be right. It's been so long since I've played a fluff
encrusted record that I don't recall what sounds like. I thought that
it would sound like adding high frequency scratch, but now I'm not
certain. I do have a functional turntable, and can probably find
enough lint from the inside of my pocket to simulate the experience,
but methinks it's easier to simply await clarification by the OP.


--
Jeff Liebermann [email protected]
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558


I would not volunter to put myself there for advising or repairing or
modding - pub "politics". Jukebox bought/leased ? from one company , amp
from another company , wiring and speakers from some previous installation.
 
N

N_Cook

Jan 1, 1970
0
Gareth Magennis said:
The point in discussing this is to educate ourselves by sharing information.

Now, have you ever come across the type of cable I have just described, and
what can happen if you are unaware that the black coating is actually
conductive, or would you rather not know about this kind of thing?



Gareth.

I've never come across that. But then up to a couple of months back I've
never come across non-burnt, clean and dry , as made pcb material , going
conductive on Marshall amps at valve voltages
 
W

William Sommerwerck

Jan 1, 1970
0
The point in discussing this is to educate ourselves by sharing
information.
Now, have you ever come across the type of cable I have just described, and
what can happen if you are unaware that the black coating is actually
conductive, or would you rather not know about this kind of thing?

I'd be a liar if I said it didn't interest. me I might need just that
information next week or next month or next year when I'm working on my own
or someone else's equipment.

But you can talk something to death. At some point, someone has to start
troubleshooting this system. Theory is great in getting you started, but
only hard observations will guide you to the solution. At least in cases
like this, where there is no obvious explanation for the problem.

As long as we're sharing... I once used faucet washers to isolate
rack-mounted audio equipment from the rack. But it didn't eliminate the
ground loops. I then discovered that black faucet washers are often
conductive. Red ones aren't.
 
S

Sylvia Else

Jan 1, 1970
0
I assume that, like in the US, public eating and drinking places must
pay license fees for the music played there. Using a commercial
internet radio service would keep the pub owner out of trouble with
the copyright holders, with a minimum of effort on his part. Internet
jukeboxes also permit access to a wide variety of tunes, so that his
customers can play exactly what suits them.

Do they still have silent records?

Sylvia.
 
N

N_Cook

Jan 1, 1970
0
Sylvia Else said:
Do they still have silent records?

Sylvia.

I created a silent minidisc last week , to clone the TOC to one with a
corrupted TOC, worked a treat.
 
S

Sylvia Else

Jan 1, 1970
0
I saw a "silent disco" at a Festival a while ago - everyone wears radio
headphones.
Extremely amusing to watch!

At least they get to decide individually how much hearing damage they want.

Sylvia.
 
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