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Au Revoir! [message #19304] Thu, 21 June 2007 19:38 Go to next message
Cuppa Joe is currently offline  Cuppa Joe
Messages: 103
Registered: May 2009
Viscount
I'm done; I give up. The Head Honcho/Creator of another popular audio forum let me know publicly just how incredibly stupid I am for one of my design ideas. Late last year, the balance of my current designs were slammed by another well-educated Forum Host. Interim ideas have met with similar fates at the hands of other Audio Gurus. That, pretty much, torpedoes everything I have on paper. I've decided to bow out and recognize my place as an audio moron, as my efforts haven't benefitted anyone, including myself. It simply doesn't feel good anymore; I'm finished.

Once again, I appreciate all the supportive input I've received over the past couple of years, and especially appreciated is the patient tolerances of Mr. Wayne Parham. Goodbye, and thanks for all the fish (obscure reference)!!

-Michael (Cuppa Joe)



Re: Au Revoir! [message #19305 is a reply to message #19304] Fri, 22 June 2007 00:02 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Norris Wilson is currently offline  Norris Wilson
Messages: 361
Registered: May 2009
Grand Master
Hi Michael,

I have followed a few of your threads in interest. But, I know almost nothing about speaker building, ask Wayne, he knows me.

But, one thing I do know is, that you cannot let others influence your efforts to build speakers and enjoying it.

We are all a work in progress, there is not a sole who does not learn something every day, even the experts.

So, hang in there, don't give up your passion. Your efforts will pay off eventually, for yourself and others.

Norris Wilson

Re: Au Revoir! [message #19306 is a reply to message #19304] Fri, 22 June 2007 11:32 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Bill Wassilak is currently offline  Bill Wassilak
Messages: 402
Registered: May 2009
Illuminati (1st Degree)
Don't give up that's half the fun of audio, whose knows you could build your designs and they may work or may not work, a least you learn somethings from the designs and know what to avoid next time you design and build something.

Re: Au Revoir! [message #19307 is a reply to message #19304] Fri, 22 June 2007 14:00 Go to previous messageGo to next message
colinhester is currently offline  colinhester
Messages: 1349
Registered: May 2009
Location: NE Arkansas
Illuminati (3rd Degree)
When I was in grad school, I spent 6 months in the "stacks" looking for a project that would compliment my advisor's previous work. I came to him with a proposal, and he basically said it wouldn't work and I didn't have a clue. Well, 14 refered publications later ( could have written another 3, but time was running out) and a couple without his name, I think I proved a couple of points: my ego was bigger than his, and I don't like being called stupid.

If you think you're right, fuck 'em.

Re: Au Revoir! [message #19308 is a reply to message #19304] Fri, 22 June 2007 19:14 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Martin is currently offline  Martin
Messages: 220
Registered: May 2009
Master
Michael,

When I started telling people that the fibers in a TL don't move, everybody rained on my idea. Since the early 70's the JAES articles all said the fibers move. Almost everybody said I was a quack and the forum "experts" ridiculed me and my MathCad worksheet approach to transmission line speaker design. Times have changed.

You never know unless you try and most forum "experts" are anything but,

Martin

Re: Au Revoir! [message #19309 is a reply to message #19304] Fri, 22 June 2007 23:03 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Cuppa Joe is currently offline  Cuppa Joe
Messages: 103
Registered: May 2009
Viscount
Obscure reference correction: So long, and thanks for all the fish!

Frankly, I wasn't expecting any outpouring of support, maybe just a few farewells; I was taken by surprise! However, the mechanical drawings are already in the dumpster at my place of employment, and are irretrievable. I don't plan to recreate them.

The real problem is that I lack the cohesive formal education and the discipline of experience to discern whether one expert's application of fact & principle is more correct than another's. Attempting to navigate the sea of expert opinion is a frustrating kind of confusion to the serious amateur, so I've chosen to get out of the water.

Thanks anyway, Guys!
-Michael

Re: Au Revoir! [message #19310 is a reply to message #19309] Sun, 24 June 2007 21:52 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Wayne Parham is currently offline  Wayne Parham
Messages: 18783
Registered: January 2001
Illuminati (33rd Degree)

I've looked over your ideas when you've written. I can't think of a single thing you've said that was out of line. In fact, I always thought you were one of the DIY'ers that did most of your own homework pretty thoroughly. You know, anyone can talk on the internet. The proof is in the doing.

If your ideas are unworkable, then it will show up in the speaker when you build it. That's what everyone faces when they build a new speaker design from a new concept. If it works, that proves the concept. If it doesn't, then that may prove the concept to be unviable, but even then, it may also just mean that some adjustments are in order.

I think I know at least one of the "talking heads" you're referring to. He is a bit of a blowhard, and yet people look up to him. I've measured his designs. They suck. I can't believe people would accept their performance level, completely unacceptable in my opinion. Even compared with other low-cost DIY speakers, his products fare poorly.

So if someone like that critiqued your ideas unfavorably, that says nothing. It's like having a guy that is sure the world is flat beat you up about your idea that it is round. There are lots of guys like that in audio, so keep your chin up and stop throwing away your designs unless you've tested them and found them to be unsatisfactory. Don't let some quacks beat you down.


Out of obscurity [message #19311 is a reply to message #19304] Mon, 25 June 2007 00:41 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Duke is currently offline  Duke
Messages: 297
Registered: May 2009
Grand Master
"The knack of flying is learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss" - Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Might I humbly suggest that, at least in audio, to try and fail is better than to have never tried at all (ignoring for the moment the effect on your piggy bank). I learn more from my failures than from my successes - my failures tell me what I need to pay attention to next time.

The creative urge within might not be so easily dismissed - you now have a clean slate before you. How long before you sketch something out on it??

If you have access to a public library, you might want to spend a few evenings there looking through old issues of the Journal of the Audio Engineering Society. Back in the 50's and 60's and 70's, they were researching fundamental questions, such as "what really matters most in loudspeaker design?"

The enormous variety in speaker design today reveals that the answer to that question still hasn't been pinned down. Maybe you'll be the one to see the forest without being distracted by the trees.

Duke

Re: Au Revoir! [message #19312 is a reply to message #19304] Tue, 26 June 2007 13:04 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Grant Marshall is currently offline  Grant Marshall
Messages: 17
Registered: May 2009
Chancellor

It's interesting that you've been slammed by anyone if your idea is the post just below the Au Revoir.

I recognize the names responding to your latest post and they don't seem to think your idea is out of line.


Don't Panic.

Grant

Re: Au Revoir! [message #19313 is a reply to message #19312] Thu, 28 June 2007 16:24 Go to previous messageGo to previous message
Wayne Parham is currently offline  Wayne Parham
Messages: 18783
Registered: January 2001
Illuminati (33rd Degree)

I think he is talking about people on other websites. I don't want to get into name calling, and you probably know the culprits anyway. We've all run into them over the years. They seem cool at first, but later they start looking like they don't know what they're talking about and are insecure about it to boot. Herd instinct sets in and so you have a group of guys following an alpha male that may or may not be any good at what he does.

Some websites aren't that way, and they're really cool. But the bad websites are just terrible. You can identify them by the way regulars treat newbies or "outsiders". They bully them, talk like they have superior intellect, and aften point to their alpha male as having the "ultimate authority" or some such crap. It's like guys in a little gang.

Good websites, on the other hand, are also easy to identify. They have regulars that are helpful and welcoming. Those websites are the most useful, and the most fun.

Trouble is, there is a sort of emotional obsession that draws you back into a sick website. Once you're attacked, you feel a need to set things right, to explain yourself. So people can get caught in that like a spider's web. It's a sick cycle, but it's easy to get stuck in it for a while. You always think there's a need to explain yourself, so you keep going back.

The bad sites are those that are run by a guy that is a technical hack pushing garbage or a attention-seeking egomaniac that thrives on driving internet traffic to his website at any personal or ethical cost. Nothing to offer but pseudo-science and insults backed by a host of sockpuppets and shills. The best thing you can do is to stay away from a site like that. Otherwise, you can get really hurt and I think that's what Cuppa Joe is trying to say has happened to him.




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