lejonklou wrote: ↑2021-09-24 12:11
Spannko wrote: ↑2021-09-24 11:50
Hmm. Good point! But, is it really possible to see the flow of power as being separate from the flow of musicality? Without power, there is no musicality. With power, we can have a range of musicality, depending upon the nature of the power. Isn’t musicality our interpretation of the quality of the signal riding on the back of the power circuit? Somewhere, there must be a link?
Yes, you need to separate the music signal from the power. Otherwise you can't build anything.
The music doesn't travel from your mains outlet to the transformer, through the rectifier and into the regulator. Power runs in that path. I'd draw those parts vertically (along the Y-axis). They are all affecting the music at the points where they're powering stuff.
The flow of music I'd draw horizontally, from left to right (along the X-axis). The power coming down vertically keeps it alive. There's likely multiple vertical power paths.
The Hierarchy is evident along the horizontal axis. Along the vertical axis it doesn't exist.
Since I haven’t had a formal electronics education, my understanding is quite limited, however this does allow me to be curious and think differently 🤪
If I’ve understood you correctly, your graph analogy reminds me of a circuit diagram, with the power lines running horizontally feeding the circuit components vertically. So the power flows horizontally (at eg y = 20V) and at various points will flow vertically to the x-axis (at y = 0V)?
If we converted this into a working circuit, it could look like a battery supplying 9V to 6 bulbs wired in parallel, or even just a battery with a single bulb? So we have a battery and a bulb. Surely they both constitute a “circuit”?
I think I’m right in saying that we could replace the bulbs with a transistor, capacitor, resistor and loudspeaker, which would get us nearer to a useful circuit? With the addition of an input signal, we would have a working amplifier?
Now let’s put the battery in a separate box and add multiple components to the amplifier circuit.
At what point does the battery not become part of the amplifier circuit?
Ah, but this isn’t what we’re talking about, I hear you say! Where’s the music signal?
Let’s pop a signal into our amplifier circuit. I think this modulates the power line to generate vibrations in the loudspeaker? But, we can’t just pick a signal out of thin air. We have to generate it in some way. Why not use our simple amplifier circuit, with the addition of a microphone (the generator)?
Now we’ve got two batteries, two amplifiers, a microphone and a loudspeaker. To save weight, cost and the planet, let’s power both amplifiers from the same battery. Is the battery still part of the circuit, or is it, as most electronic engineers emphatically state, a separate, inert entity?
No matter what theory suggests, our experience tells us that if we change the battery, the sound produced by the loudspeaker will change. Consequently, the battery
must be part of the circuit (I’m sure Julian Vereker would be yawning at this point, saying “I told you that 50 years ago!”)
Source first might suggest that it’s the most important part, given that the signal rides on top of it. But what about the microphone? Isn’t that the source? I think what you were suggesting is that there is both a power source and a signal source, only the signal circuit works hierarchically and we need to separate the music signal from the power in order to design something?
However, our thought experiment with a battery, microphone, two amplifiers and a loudspeaker tends to suggest that there is no separation. Topologically, isn’t it the same as just a battery and a bulb, so therefore just one (larger) circuit?