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Oh the drivel....

TimF

TimF

pfm Member
Not picking on Audio Research in particular, speaking of recent note on the ARC 160S amplifier....

"Additionally, the 160S offers a four-layer circuit board, allowing music to emanate from a jet-black background."

This grabbed from their recent introduction blurb of said amplifier. When will the silliness end?
 
TimF said:
Not picking on Audio Research in particular, speaking of recent note on the ARC 160S amplifier....

"Additionally, the 160S offers a four-layer circuit board, allowing music to emanate from a jet-black background."

This grabbed from their recent introduction blurb of said amplifier. When will the silliness end?
Click to expand...

Does it really matter, maybe it’s a British pre-perception/conception, there’s a much bigger world market marketing has to translate and interface with ....
 
Actually, none of it really matters. I guess for whatever reason, it just struck me this morning. I do often get rather annoyed at the silliness of it all though, like if a four layer board brought about such a thing, maybe a six or eight layer board would have sent us through a black hole, what then? Sigh. I'll get my coat now and exit stage left...
 
What they actually mean by this is the audio circuit will be on layers 2 & 3 and sandwiched by layers 1 & 4 which are used as "screening" ground plains. This can be effective in screening noise from the audio signal layers, but it also has a fundamental problem. The extra layers (the 2 ground plains 1 & 4) create an increase in dielectric material sitting on top of the audio tracks (top of layer 2 and bottom of layer 3). This will have a sonic effect on the sound, typically a closing in of the sound stage and reducing stereo imaging and soundstage depth...

Note: we did this with the TRON Seven phono stage about 10 years ago on the MC transformer input boards. We considered the number of tracks and connections was small enough not to have degradation, plus the screening effect of the extra layers advantageous for reducing induced noise on very low-level signals. Although the induced noise was reduced, it was a shame we could hear a slight loss of audio fidelity. Audio is always about compromises and in our case minimising the compromises to the absolute minimum.
 
simon g said:
Audio Research is part of the McIntosh Group, an American company, HQ in NYC.
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I didn’t realise they were yet another who had changed hands/been bought out. I tend only to keep an eye on the vintage stuff though (I’ve always fancied trying an SP3 or 3a, but they are very hard to find in tidy condition and 240V).
 
Drivel started out making fishing gear.They held the patent on swivels -the Drivel Swivel and then invented the rotating stool-the Drivel Swivel Stool .I am not sure when they expanded into audio equipment but yes moved to Italy when they were bought out by the Italian company Hyberbole and became Drivel and Hyperbole.Some time after that they bought out Audio Research .
McIntosh make raincoats.
 
jtgofish said:
when they were bought out by the Italian company Hyperbole
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When they merged with a Netherlands company called lowperbole, creating the medium for the law of averages in hifi. McIntosh has a wonderful Barbour shop choir, I understand.
 
I think I failed to say this earlier about 4 layer boards. As a manufacturer, I would be very reluctant to advertise this because 4 layer boards are notoriously difficult to repair. If a fault develops, or if a component fails (most probable on an ARC product when a valve/tube fails) then it is very likely the whole circuit board would need to be replaced. 4 layer boards and above are really aimed at surface mount production where failure means you just replace the whole circuit board or the product. Best to use 1 or 2 layer boards, preferably 1 layer if you can get away with that.
 
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