Category Archives: How Things Work

New article posted — home theatre receiver setup

Posted on December 26, 2003 by Stephen Dawson

This is a piece I did for Appliance Retailer earlier in the year. It ought to be useful for people who are totally lost when it comes to making the necessary adjustments to their home theatre receivers. Go here.

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Listen to me on 2UE, Saturday afternoon

Posted on December 24, 2003 by Stephen Dawson

Got a call from Sydney radio station 2UE this morning. They want to do a short piece on Saturday afternoon on how to set up your new Christmas DVD player etc. So they’ll be interviewing me Saturday morning and broadcasting … Continue reading →

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How loud does it go?

Posted on October 31, 2003 by Stephen Dawson

Francisco from Portugal writes: I’m trying to do a project for a rehearsal studio for my band, and so I’m studying acoustics. I’m trying to determine the sound level in dB that we will have inside the studio.So I’d like … Continue reading →

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Clean calls

Posted on October 3, 2003 by Stephen Dawson

What happens when you put a Nokia 6610 mobile phone through a washing machine cycle? Um, it stops working, as I found out yesterday. Pulled it apart and left it in front of an electric heater for a few hours, … Continue reading →

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New article up – Killer CDs

Posted on September 24, 2003 by Stephen Dawson

A superficial reading of the specifications of a CD-ROM drive can generate a fearsome number. The now standard 52x read speed suggests a disc running at 24,000 rpm, with a linear velocity at its edge of over 150m/s (that is, … Continue reading →

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Damping Factor – not as important as I thought

Posted on September 23, 2003 by Stephen Dawson

The damping factor of amplifiers is a measure that has fallen out of favour in recent years. Many brands don’t specify it any longer. I had long considered it an important specification, since a low damping factor can lead to … Continue reading →

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Dithering?

Posted on August 22, 2003 by Stephen Dawson

Dithering has two meanings. The first is what I’ve been doing lately, although I have submitted my latest Institute of Public Affairs Reviewcolumn, plus a lengthy piece to Australian HI-FI on … dithering. In this latter context dither is noise added to … Continue reading →

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