Pending Firewall module review and Analysis of Laminar Streamer vibration absorption characteristics

Dear customers,

Firewall modules: pending Mono and Stereo review

8 Firewall modules with C13/C14 connectors attached have been delivered and received in good order by monoandstereo.com review webzine.



Watch this space (merely several published photographs... for now)!

LessLoss Audio Firewall Modules Arrived

I commented to Matej Isak on the quality of his photographs, upon which he replied "The best for the best ;)"

When the review is completed and live, I will let you know.

Laminar Streamer: Calibrated analysis of its resonance reduction

In our earlier videos on the vibrational characteristics of the Laminar Streamer's chassis, some question may have remained unanswered as to how exactly the vibration absorption capability of a piece of audio equipment can have to do with its resulting output quality.

We decided to show this to you using calibrated measurements. We want to show you how an equipment born vibration can enter the actual output signal cable of a connected interconnect cable. To do this, we devised a short cable of approximately 40 cm long, attached to which one end is this typical RCA connector:



And on the other end is this small metallic flat plate to which we can tape a contact microphone:



Here is a picture of the entire cable assembly:



The contact microphone does not capture sounds which do not come off of the surface it is attached to. We used the AKG C 411 condenser contact microphone. It looks like this (the mic itself is the smaller element):



The AKG C 411 frequency response spectrum looks like this:



We used the True Systems Precision 8 professional microphone preamp and RME ADI-8 DS A/D converter to capture the data in digital form.

The Laboratory 'Mice'

Playing the role of 'laboratory mice' were three pieces of gear, namely:

A very fine Nikko AM/FM Stereo Radio Receiver:



A professional TASCAM DA-88 eight track digital audio recorder:



And the Laminar Streamer with an RCA socket installed:



The Bouncing Ball Test

This test consisted of the following rubber ball (pencil shown for size):



which was made to impact each of the pieces of gear in the following manner (but from 40 cm height each time):



At this point, I invite you to go here for interactive results showing pictures of procedures, audio of the collected data, as well as analysis using FFT software. Here is some of what you'll see there (you really need to hear the results, too):









Why you need to see this

When alternating currents travel along wires or circuit board traces, they create undulating magnetic forces amongst themselves, and these forces result in small vibrations which, through screws and soldering points, are induced into the structure of the equipment.

In this test we have amplified the vibration so that our measuring equipment could give a good signal-to-noise ratio for easy and fool-proof comparison and analysis. As can be seen, this vibration goes through the RCA output and down the copper wire, where our output signal resides! This means that the vibration will also infest the next piece of equipment which is connected via the cable.

Taking this aspect of design seriously is just part of what makes the Laminar Streamer so special. A lot of this type of works goes on behind the scenes here.

So now that you know that you really need to see this, come on over and see it!