Yamaha DTXpress/DTXplorer/DTXtreme

Vern,

I have it on good authority that the band Spinal Tap used Aural 
Exciters w/Big Bottoms on the "Smell the Glove" tour. Sorry, I 
couldn't resist.

I can't comment on the credibility of this particular product, but I 
wonder if you're familiar with the high-end audio press, which 
flaunts observations in metaphorical language because nothing in 
objective, scientific language would appear to explain the sonic 
characteristics (putatively) heard. I'm a bit of a skeptic myself, 
but I have witnessed the differences between, say, two solid state 
preamps in the upper reaches of audiophilia that cannot easily be 
accounted for by specs. This is not to imply that charlatans don't 
exist, but scientific discourse does not always get the last word.

The proof, of this pudding at least, is that I can converse 
intelligibly with like-minded people about comparative audible 
signatures of electronic components that will not reduce to the 
script of mathematical measurement. In audio, unlike in the physics 
of cosmology or quanta, we at least have our ears and eyes to make 
intelligent discriminations that may surpass what may be 
respresented within the confines of a particular formal discipline. 

Anyway, I like to think that I can approach such things with an open 
mind. But if I can't perceive what I'm told is there, and I'm not 
convinced that the theory behind it is coherent and reasonable, it 
certainly doesn't have much of a leg left to stand on.

I ramble, but this is an interesting topic. I hope people respond.

Ed


--- In DTXpress@yahoogroups.com, "Vernon Graner" <vern@t...> wrote:
> Hmmm.. :::the Skeptic in me jumps forward and grabs the 
keyboard:::! :)
> 
> I've have never been able to get anyone to explain to me what 
*exactly*
> an Aphex Aural Exciter does (now if it was Oral exciter, I might 
begin to
> guess :D). I've seen the product from BBE and I've talked to some 
of the
> sales folks that sell them and some of the true-believers that use 
them,
> but they always seem to use words that leave me queasy. 
Descriptive terms
> such as "Punch", "Depth", "Penetration", "Presence". Nice words 
all, but
> I don't know what type of a circuit gives "Presence"? How 
many "Presence
> Units" per sq-inch does it add exactly? Is it measured in
> "Mili-Presence", "Prese-watts?" or what? :) I understand EQ, 
compression,
> limiters, gates, flanger, delay, distortion, clipping etc. But no 
one has
> been able to tell just what the silly thing *does* without 
resorting to
> these very subjective terms.
> 
> From descriptions of users/sales people, my best guess is that it 
does
> some type of reverse-compression (bass freq between 50 and 90 hz 
that
> comes in at +1 db is gained on a curve to increase the dynamic 
range of
> bass, oposite of a compressor) or some type of psychic-acoustic 
phase
> inversion weirdness (I'm also dubious on the ROI when giving money 
to a
> psychic of any type!) So, in short, does anyone with an 
*electronics* or
> *acoustic engineering* background have a decent explanation of 
what the
> point of the module is, or it another example of the much-coveted 
Marshal
> Amp that goes to "11"? :)
> 
> Vern
> 
> -- 
> Vern Graner CNE/CNA/SSE     | "If the network is down, then you're
> Senior Systems Engineer     | obviously incompetent so why are we
> Texas Information Services  | paying you? Of course, if the network
> vern@t... www.txis.com  | is up, then we obviously don't need
> Cell 507-7851 Desk 328-8947 | you, so why are we paying you?" VLG
> 
> 
> Claudio Ortiz said:
> >    Try an Aphex Aural Exciter w/Big Bottom.
> > Claudio Ortiz