New Linn Forum

We use the Tune Method to evaluate performance

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Spannko
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Re: New Linn Forum

Post by Spannko »

DavidHB wrote:
Spannko wrote:Let’s say you’ve owned a new piano for a while and it’s started to sound a “bit off” and in need of a retune. A gentleman arrives with nothing more than a special spanner and starts to fettle under the lid. You ask him where his other tools are and he tells you the only other tool he needs is between his ears. Do you say “Sorry, that’s not good enough, your idea of tune isn’t the same as mine” I’d love to see his face if you did!
The tuning of a piano is, compared with the assessment of the performance of a high end audio system, a relatively simple task. It relies on patterns in the behaviour of audio frequencies that nearly all humans recognise. So the great majority of us can perceive (with varying degrees of precision) whether a piano is in tune or not. (I'll ignore for present purposes the fact that a conventional "well tempered" piano actually distributes small errors across the tuning range to make all keys equally playable.)

Beyond that, my idea of a particular tune may well be different from that of the piano tuner. His job finished when he restored the piano to its required tuning. But the audio system's job is only done when it has conveyed the sense of the tune (in particular its emotional impact) to the listener. That involves a degree of subjectivity that is simply not, in general, required in the piano tuning case. So I'm afraid that your analogy does not hold good for me.

I'm conscious that this discussion (which only started with an aside in a previous post of mine) has rather taken us off topic. Perhaps I could steer things back in the right direction by pointing out that a particular strength of the Linn forum (in my view) is its ability - most of the time - to sustain high quality debate on awkward topics such as the degree to which perceptions of our expensive Hi-Fi systems are based on objective criteria or are "all in the mind". I hope those debates continue when we get the forum back.

David
I agree. When those “patterns of behaviour” are altered by a HiFi system, the pitch is slightly altered.

Ergo, the less the pitch is altered, the better the system.

This is exactly what Linn are saying in their explanation of Tune Dem.
Spannko
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Re: New Linn Forum

Post by Spannko »

Charlie1 wrote:Does that mean you think there is only one correct answer? For example, only one correct torque setting that is 'the' optimum.
Yes, I think so.

I’m not absolutely sure of the mechanics involved, but the way in which energy crosses any boundary appears to have a significant affect on the sound, even when the boundary isn’t in the signal path!

My guess is that because everything in a hifi system vibrates, it can either vibrate harmoniously or it can vibrate discordantly. By changing the way energy transfers from one element to another (by altering the pressure between the mating surfaces) the mechanical system can be tuned, rather like a luthier tunes an instrument through manipulating materials and construction techniques.
Last edited by Spannko on 2018-10-02 10:35, edited 1 time in total.
cortina
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Re: New Linn Forum

Post by cortina »

Torque with ”calibrated” torque wrenches gives (more than) a good reference. But the final setting should be tuned by ear. And if you cannot hear the difference and/or spend the time adjusting in small steps nearby, why bother at all about whether torque is consistent, an approximization or not. Just use the recommended tool and torque.
ARMCOSMO
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Re: New Linn Forum

Post by ARMCOSMO »

Music Lover wrote: 2018-09-27 22:46
ARMCOSMO wrote:
timster wrote:Linn hasn't abandoned Tune Dem at all. It's still very central to their SO ethos.

Yup, my Linn dealer still used it when he set up my system 2 years ago.
That's good, but I was talking about Linn not their dealers.
Shouldn't the Linn dealer network be an extention of Linn? At these price points and given the sparcity of dealers in most markets ( Two dealers in Toronto, Canada, a market of 3 million and that total goes to 3 dealers when you include the Greater Toronto Area of 6 million people!) I would imagine that Linn has a lot of influence on their network.
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