[Accord Man]

* my replies...

Originally posted by Tchad
THD and S/N ratios arent everything, but they are elements that need to be considered in conjunction with the rest of the factors at play.

> Right. If you can tell the difference between a sound to noise ratio of 90 and 105 you are have better ears than me for certain. Same with THD.
*I'm a classical pianist, I've playing for about 14 yrs.. Its possible that my ears are a little more capable of detecting minute details than the average man (I'm not saying your an average man/woman, but maybe you havent havent taken the time to listen carefully?!)

As you raise the volume the distorsion becomes more and more apparent (partly because the components are approaching
they're max capacity and partly because your hearing becomes more sensitive to what it hear.)

> I doubt that this is due to the amp unless you have set your gains incorrectly. I suspect that your components are near to their limits, ie past thier linear thresholds.
*When an amp is close to its max, there will be more noise.

For most people, it wont matter.. But for those who are serious about SQ car audio.. it will..

> Only to their eyes and brains, not their ears.
*umm, if thats what you think..

The link GSteg supplied is great, I read thru that whole site a couple of years ago.. You should listen to the audio sample thats on there..

> I have listened to similar samples. You have good ears if you hear 1% distortion. But even a $140 profile amp has a THD of .07%. Does it make the amp good? Not IMO, but its not the THD that makes it bad.
*.07 is pretty high.. and most companies that produce low end stuff, will over rate their gear..

On my PC, I have a 4.1 THX approved speaker system.. And at low volumes I hear the noise..

> Are you saying that its even audible at low volumes?
*Well, its a roughly 400w rms system.. And with the Sound Card controles set so that I can turn the knob all the way up.. before maxing out.
And at the volume set to around 20%, I can clearly hear the 1%..


I'm curious, have you guys ever been to an SQ type competitions?
> No, but typicly they are not the best source of facts about audio.
*Maybe not to learn, but to listen..