Sound and Vision Magazine

The “Bass Management Boot Camp” article about subwoofer setup that I wrote for the November S+V inspired an in-turn inspiring e-mail from reader Bruce Erwin. Bruce recalled his days setting up sound systems when he’d use a 1.5-volt battery to test subwoofer phase. If the sub and main speakers were in phase, he’d hear a single thump when he connected the battery to the wires leading to the sub's terminals. If they were out of phase, he’d hear a double thump.

That’s with passive subwoofers, though. Almost all of today’s subs have built-in amps, so this method wouldn’t quite work with them. Still, it got me wondering if I could come up with a simpler phase check than the ones I suggested in the article, which required either measurement or careful listening. My e-mail convo with Bruce gave me some ideas and, ultimately, a method that’s simpler than my original. And all you need to do it is a piece of free software and a meter you’ve either already got or can get for nothing.

One of the most popular — and in truth, most valid — ways of comparing two products is to, well, directly compare two products. A battle royale, two-enter-one-leaves style of head-to-head competition where it’s clear which product is the victor.

Done correctly, direct A/B comparisons are by far the most accurate ways of determining product superiority.

The problem is, they’re often not done correctly. Sometimes, they can’t be done correctly. In those cases, the results couldn’t be further from accurate.

I had an ear-opening experience when I got to do a blind listening test of some vintage turntables at Vancouver, BC vintage audio dealer Innovative Audio this past summer.

Just three years after the iPod ruled the audio industry, manufacturers are starting to look on it as a quaint “legacy device,” one they have to accommodate for customers who just aren’t with it. The iPod’s being replaced as our primary music source by all sorts of wireless stuff, like smartphones, Bluetooth-equipped computers, and routers connected to network-attached storage (NAS) drives.