audioXpress July 2015 is one of those editions that we’re certain you will read immediately and keep close for a while, since there’s so much reference material included.On the get-to-it-first section of audioXpress July 2015 we bring you the AXPONA 2015 Show Review by Oliver A. Masciarotte. Three jam-packed days of the latest in high-end listening equipment and the hottest in music reproduction technology at The Audio Expo North America (AXPONA) 2015 show.
Next, Peter Delos reviews The Bottle Builder: A Compendium of Tube Amplifier Designs by Johan Basse Bergqvist. This hands-on collection of the author’s amplifier designs is illustrated with more than 400 figures and photographs to help readers understand audio—no engineering degree necessary.
This month’s cover article is a great R&D Story, courtesy of Monty Barlow, Director of Wireless Technology, Cambridge Consultants, explaining “The Birth of the World’s First True Software Radio.” As Monty describes, over the last century, radio engineers have refined the analog circuitry that makes radio communications possible — striving for higher performance, power efficiency, and miniaturization. But now Cambridge Consultants has demonstrated a world’s first—a radio transmitter, code named Pizzicato, built solely from off-the-shelf digital components. With this remarkable development, the team at the product design and development firm has created and demonstrated the world’s first software radio transmitter.
Next, our Sound Control column by Richard Honeycutt reviews the acoustical measuring possibilities of the SMAART (System Measurement Acoustical Analysis Real Time) tool from Rational Acoustics. In this article, Richard explains how Smaart was developed and introduces this popular FFT-based software measurement platform for acoustical measuring.
And because software innovation is increasingly important for the whole audio community, our software and computer-music expert, Fernando Rodrigues, explains what he found on FabFilter’s new Pro-MB and Pro-Q2 audio processing plug-ins. FabFilter is a small software company established in the Netherlands and it is breaking new ground in terms of graphic user interfaces and audio quality, as Fernando explains.
As many readers have noticed, last month we started a new regular column on Practical Test & Measurement, where Stuart Yaniger explains how to create a low-cost system for lab-grade audio electronics measurements. This month, Stuart explains the necessary requirements for such a system.
We also recommend Ron Tipton’s exploration of realistic sound reproduction with great practical examples. This month, the article series tackles Enhanced Stereo solutions.
And for those looking for great DIY projects, Gerhard Haas explains how to build a Single-Ended Class-A Power Amplifier with 6C33 Tubes. It is a quality project from an expert on tubes amps from Munich, Germany.
There’s also the second part of The Right Filter project from Vincent Thiernesse. As he explains, the project intends to build a tunable near linear phase analog crossover, using analog components. In the June issue, Vincent explained the method used to get phase linearity over the audio band and now he describes the hardware and his design choices, focusing on phasor cells, tuning boards, and phase correctors dedicated to crossover frequency tuning.
Finally, Richard Honeycutt’s Hollow-State Electronics column shows how to create a design for a hollow-state amplifier stage that will take into account the necessary factors. He looks first at a triode circuit design before moving on to a pentode design.
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