The HiFi Hobbyist Podcast

This mini-series of episodes explores the transmission line loudspeaker. It represents one of audio engineering’s most fascinating attempts to solve a fundamental acoustic problem. Engineers must produce deep, uncoloured low-frequency sound from an enclosure without allowing the rear wave of the loudspeaker driver to interfere with the front wave.   This topic holds personal interest for me because I recently purchased a pair of PMC Prophecy 5 loudspeakers. The transmission line serves as a trademark design for PMC across both domestic hi-fi and professional audio. This second episode is the second in the series, we will look at the transmission line loudspeaker in detail. We will explore its historical development and examine the challenges that modern designers face. In next week’s episode, I will reflect on how the PMC Prophecy 5 speakers sound in my own home system before we prompt a debate about transmission line merits.  This episode features Celtic folk songs from Ireland, Wales and Scotland using traditional words set to music arranged by the Hi-Fi Hobbyist with Mureka AI software. We hope that you enjoy these episodes!

The transmission line loudspeaker represents one of audio engineering’s most fascinating attempts to solve a fundamental acoustic problem. Engineers must produce deep, uncoloured low-frequency sound from an enclosure without letting the driver's rear wave interfere with the front wave. This topic holds personal interest for me because I recently purchased a pair of PMC Prophecy 5 loudspeakers. The transmission line serves as a trademark design for PMC across both domestic hi-fi and professional audio. In this first episode, we will look at the problem that the transmission line loudspeaker overcomes and examine how it compares to other solutions. In the next episode, we will explore how these speakers have developed over time. Afterwards, I will reflect on how the PMC Prophecy 5 speakers sound in my own system before opening a debate on the merits of transmission line designs. This episode features traditional English folk songs arranged by the Hi-Fi Hobbyist with the help of Mureka AI software. The songs featured are: The Goose and Common; The Dalesman's Litany; The Oaks Pit Disaster; The Lancashire Lads and Spence Broughton. We hope that you enjoy these episodes!  

Welcome to The final episode in our mini-series about the production of vinyl records and other physical media music formats. It has been inspired by attending a talk by Miles Showell, a renowned audio engineer who reminded me that my Hi-Fi only sounds as good as the material as I play on it. In this mini-series in the first episode, we considered how vinyl records are produced from the recording session to the production of the final record that we can play on our turntables. The following episode focused on specific aspects of production notably mastering of the recording in preparation for final production. The third episode focused on the work of two of the great audio engineers associated with the mastering process, Steven Wilson and Miles Showell. In this final episode, in order to conclude the series, we will generate a discussion comparing the work of these two artisans. In recognition of Miles’ work on Finlandia, the music accompanying this episode is a recording of this suite that he didn’t work on, downloaded from the Internet Archive by the London Proms Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Charles Mackerras originally released on London Records – STS 15159, together with Two Melodies, Op. 63, No. 2 from the same recording. We hope that you enjoy the discussion, and if this is your first visit to the Hi-Fi Hobbyist podcast, that you will explore previous episodes. To ensure that you don't miss any episodes in the future, please follow our podcast wherever you listen to them.

Welcome to the third episode in this mini-series about the production of vinyl records and other physical media music formats. It has been inspired by attending a talk by Miles Showell, a renowned audio engineer which reminded me that my Hi-Fi only sounds as good as the material as I play on it. In this episode, we will compare Miles’s work to that of another great audio engineer, Steve Wilson. If you haven’t listened to last week’s episode, I do recommend that you go back and listen to that first, as we will revisit some of the topics discussed last week, this time with practical examples. In next week’s episode, we will generate a discussion comparing the work of these two artisans. The music accompanying this episode features extracts from the Planets Suite by Gustav Holst. Our audio extracts are provided by Musopen.org and played by the USAF Band and the Skidmore College Orchestra. These recordings are in the public domain.

Welcome to the second episode in this mini-series about the production of vinyl records and other physical media music formats. It has been inspired by attending a talk by Miles Showell, a renowned audio engineer which reminded me that my Hi-Fi only Sounds as good as the material as I play on it. In this episode, we will focus on specific aspects of production notably mastering of the recording in preparation for final production. If you haven’t listened to last week’s episode, I do recommend that you go back and listen, but you can listen to this one first, if you like! In next week’s episode, we will focus on the work of two of the great audio engineers associated with the mastering process, Steve Wilson and Miles Showell. After this, to conclude the series, we will generate a discussion comparing the work of these two artisans. The music accompanying this episode has been generated by the Hi-Fi Hobbyist with the help of Mureka AI software. We revisit some of the brass band music, which has proved most popular on our partner Pixabay site, under the tag mediahobbyist We hope that you enjoy this mini-series and if this is your first visit to the Hi-Fi Hobbyist podcast that you will explore previous episodes. To ensure that you don't miss any episodes in the future please follow our podcast wherever you listen to them.

Welcome to this mini-series about the production of vinyl records and other physical media music formats. It has been inspired by attending a talk by Miles Showell, a renowned audio engineer who reminded me that my Hi-Fi only sounds as good as the material as I play on it. In this mini-series in the first episode, we will consider how vinyl records are produced from the recording session to the production of the final record that we can play on our turntables. The following episode will then focus on specific aspects of production notably mastering of the recording in preparation for final production. The third episode we will focus on the work of two of the great audio engineers associated with the mastering process, Steve Wilson and Miles Showell. To conclude the series, we will generate a discussion comparing the work of these two artisans. The music accompanying this first episode has been generated by the Hi-Fi Hobbyist with the help of Mureka AI software. It features a couple of musical sweets in a baroque style played by a trio of violin, flute, and harpsichord. We hope that you enjoy these episodes and if this is your first visit to the Hi-Fi Hobbyist podcast that you will explore previous episodes. To ensure that you don't miss any episodes in the future please follow our podcast wherever you listen to them. In the first part of this episode, we will consider the role of the master tape in the recording process.

In recent years, Samsung has emerged as a major player in the global hi-fi marketplace. This episode is the third in a series of podcasts that seek to understand how and why this has happened and what the implications are for Hi-Fi hobbyists. The Hi-Fi Hobbyist has a personal interest here, Mark Levinson, the manufacturer of my amplifier, is one of the brands acquired by Samsung. In the first episode of the series, we considered the history of Samsung from a local company in Korea to major electronics conglomerate and their acquisition of Hi-Fi brands. After this, we considered what this means for both Samsung and for Hi-Fi Hobbyists now and in the future. This third episode is a generated discussion about the implications for their Hi-Fi brands, and their Hi-Fi hobbyist customers. The music that accompanies this podcast is more from the 24 Caprices for Solo Violin written by Niccolò Paganini between 1802 and 1817.  The recordings were recorded, produced and published by Gregor Quendel, and distributed by classics.de. They are included here under a Creative Commons - Attribution-Non-commercial 4.0 International licence We hope that you enjoy the podcast.  If you do, and this is your first episode, please go back and listen to previous podcast episodes. To avoid missing any episodes in the future, please follow us wherever you listen to your podcasts.

In recent years, Samsung has emerged as a major player in the global hi-fi marketplace. This podcast mini-series seeks to understand how and why this has happened and what the implications are for Hi-Fi hobbyists. The Hi-Fi Hobbyist has a personal interest here: Mark Levinson, the manufacturer of my amplifier, is one of the brands acquired by Samsung. In last week’s episode, we considered the history of Samsung from a local company in Korea to major electronics conglomerate. After this, we considered how they acquired their portfolio of Hi-Fi brands. In this week’s episode, we will consider what this means for both Samsung and for Hi-Fi Hobbyists now and in the future. The music that accompanies this podcast is designed to recreate two of the great jazz genres of the 1920s and 1930s, Dixieland jazz and Boogie Woogie piano. The music was created by the Hi-Fi Hobbyist for this podcast using Mureka AI software. We hope that you enjoy the podcast.  If you haven’t listened to last week’s episode, please do go back and listen to this and other previous podcast episodes. To avoid missing any episodes, please follow us wherever you listen to your podcasts.

In recent years, Samsung has emerged as a major player in the global hi-fi marketplace. This podcast seeks to understand how and why this has happened and what the implications are for Hi-Fi hobbyists. The Hi-Fi Hobbyist has a personal interest here, Mark Levinson, the manufacturer of my amplifier, is one of the brands acquired by Samsung. In this first episode, we shall consider the history of Samsung from a local company in Korea to major electronics conglomerate. After this we will consider in more detail their acquisition of Hi-Fi brands. In next weeks’ episode, we will consider what this means for both Samsung and for Hi-Fi Hobbyists now and in the future The music that accompanies this podcast is from the 24 Caprices for Solo Violin written by Niccolò Paganini between 1802 and 1817.  The recordings were recorded, produced and published by Gregor Quendel, and distributed by classics.de. They are included here under a Creative Commons - Attribution-Non-commercial 4.0 International licence We hope that you enjoy the podcast.  If you do, please come back for next week’s episode, or go back and listen to previous podcast episodes. To avoid missing any episodes, please follow us wherever you listen to your podcasts.

Back in December, the Hi-Fi Hobbyist podcast took a first look at the use of valves and transistors in Hi-Fi components. Valves or strictly thermionic valves are the British terms for what U.S. Hi-Fi Hobbyists call vacuum tubes. In this series of episodes, we are taking a deeper, more detailed look at the topic. In the first episode, we looked at the underlying scientific theory, and the theoretical implications for sound quality. In last week's episode, we looked at examples of real-world amplifiers and considered why the reality is more complex than the basic science might suggest. In this final episode, we have fed the data to two AI protagonists and prompted them to debate the merits of valves and transistors. This debate is conducted in American English, so unlike the previous two episodes, this debate sometimes uses the terminology of vacuum tubes alongside valves. In this episode, the music accompanying the podcast is classical music supplied by classicals.de. It features the 1924 arrangement of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue for two pianos. Rhapsody in Blue was originally written as a composition for solo piano and jazz band.  It was commissioned by bandleader Paul Whiteman, the work combines elements of classical music with jazz-influenced effects and premiered in a concert titled "An Experiment in Modern Music" on February 12, 1924, in Aeolian Hall, New York City. This recording has been made for CLASSICALS.DE and released in 2025 under a Creative Commons - Attribution-Non Commercial 4.0 International licence. It has been chosen because pianos are often cited as a difficult instrument for Hi-Fi systems to reproduce. In order to make sure that you don’t miss any future episodes why don’t you follow the Hi-Fi Hobbyist podcast wherever you listen to your podcasts?