This month, in Standards Review, audioXpress discusses the new Bluetooth 5 specification and how it promises to positively affect wireless audio applications. The article includes exclusive comments from industry experts to put it all in perspective.Ron Tipton continues his Streaming Music Experiences series of articles, this month explaining how to effectively stream multichannel audio from the fourth-generation Apple TV using an adapter from Kanex. In this series of experiments with real world services, he tested a 5.1 surround soundtrack of a movie streamed to an Apple TV version 4, running through a Digital Audio Adapter from Kanex, which enables stereo or surround sound via a standard optical connector directly from the HDMI output of the Apple TV.
The February issue is also full of great reviews, starting with an authoritative overview of the Vienna Suite Pro, a collection of high-precision stereo and surround audio processing, reverbs, metering and utility plug-ins that Fernando Rodrigues applied in both orchestral and non-orchestral files. The Vienna Suite was created by the famous Vienna Symphonic Library (VSL) for use with its orchestral libraries and has been refined and expanded to make the software bundle even more attractive and comprehensive. As Rodrigues can attest, this collection is a prime example of transparency for individual track processing and mixing, as well as for the final mastering process, now greatly enhanced with an improved user interface.
In Fresh From the Bench, Ron Tipton reviews the Primacoustic London 12 Kit, which he installed in his own listening environment. This versatile kit contains 22 high-density fiberglass (6 lb per cubic feet) sound absorption panels covered with an acoustically transparent fabric that can be painted by the user. The review includes full details of the installation process, as well as measurements of the results achieved.
In this month's Sound Control column, Richard Honeycutt discusses one of the must-have books, a true classic textbook on the discipline: Room Acoustics by Heinrich Kuttruff. First published in 1973, the sixth edition of this comprehensive textbook has been recently released by CRC Press.
Another interesting article is a combination of a DIY project and kit review from Thomas Perazella. In "True Bass in a Small Space," Perazella evaluates the enclosure size/bass reproduction relationship on a subwoofer, as a follow-up to its subwoofer project published in audioXpress April and May 2015, this time using a new driver from Dayton Audio, the Ultimax 18” in a medium-sized sealed box to replace two 15” drivers in two larger sealed boxes. The system used in the article is available as a kit from Parts Express, powered by a 1,200-W switch mode plate amplifier with integral DSP, and an easy-to-assemble sealed box cabinet.
For DIY enthusiasts, there is a truly interesting article from Addie and Whisker of Toymaker Television about a compact preamp design to complement a piezo pickup on a violin. Describing the challenges of converting this ultra-high impedance source to a line level output, the article details the unexpectedly musical results achieved in the process of building the preamplifier circuit using military-specified salvaged components from a scrapped telemetry system.
This issue also includes the second part of an article by George Ntanavaras, the Low-Power, Class-A Power Amplifier, inspired by an existing design from J. Linsley-Hood. After describing the groundwork for this high-quality project, this second article details the construction process and measurement test results.
In Hollow-State Electronics, Richard Honeycutt explains how to troubleshoot tube circuit problems using an oscilloscope, analyzing the voltages and the waveforms produced by specific failures.
In Questions & Answers, Shannon Becker interviews Nancy Moon of MOON Amplification, a family owned venture, dedicated to improving the classic rotary speaker effect for organ and keyboards. As Moon explains, the company's business updates the classic design of those large sized rotary speaker cabinets with a portable product for live performance, combining a highly efficient switch-mode power supply, four Class-D amplifiers, eight efficient neodymium speakers, and four compression horns.This edition is now available to access and download online. Just visit: www.gotomyxpress.com
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