What to listen for?

[Paul R]

Last evening, my wife and I were listening to Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of the War of the Worlds, one of my all time favorite albums, and one I have listened to many many times before.

 

As David Essex was singing his part of the Artilleryman, I will be darned if his voice didn't warble or something. I have never heard that before, and was immediately suspicious that something in the playback chain has gone south.

 

By "warble", I mean it sounded almost like an interference beat. Most annoying, and only audible on the vocals.

 

Once I noticed it, I could also hear it, albeit at a reduced level, in some other performances on the disk. In particular, Justin Hayward's _Forever Autum_. .

 

Would someone else have a listen and see if it doing the same on their system? Darned if I have ever heard it before.

 

Karen says she can here it on Beverly Craven's performance of _The Very Last Time_ on the Alan Parson's _Time Machine_ disk, again only on the vocals and only when the artist sustains a note.

 

-Paul

 

 

 

 

[Jim Smith]

When it occurs on a sustained note in the general vocal region, it can be a time/phase thing going on with speakers in the room.

 

To test it, simply move the speakers a foot or so forward and/or back and see if it changes. This can be more noticeable with speakers that direct some sound off the front walls as well. May call for more a bit more rear-wave dampening - even dispersion can help a bit.

 

May not be what's going on in your set-up, but I've run into this issue dozens of times.

 

You are not hearing things - well, actually you are!

 

Although it's not noticed by some listeners, it's not entirely uncommon.

 

[Paul R]

Thanks Jim - I will give that a try tonight.

 

It is a bit of a relief to know that is a possibility- I was thinking either my hearing was heading south, or all the magic smoke was about to escape from some component or other...

 

-Paul

 

 

[esldude]

Something like that can also be checked if you have any halfway decent headphones. If it goes away on headphones it is something else in the system after the source. If it is there with headphones then it could be a playback problem or might really be in the recording though you never noticed it.

 

[Paul R]

Excellent idea- thanks! -Paul

 

 

[thesurfingalien]

Paul,

 

Is this phenomenon occurring on a very wide focal frequency range, or on a more narrow range? If narrow, can you do a guesstimate on the frequency?

 

If this is caused by acoustics, you might want to use a sine-wave signal (sustained tone). Then it might be easier to check if loudspeaker-placement fixes it.

 

Peter

 

 

P.S. I would also do the test-tone check on headphones just to make sure.

 

(Sorry Paul. Too much edits)

 

 

 

[thesurfingalien]

Hi Paul,

 

I wonder if you have got this resolved...

 

Peter

 

[Paul R]

I was hoping this would die because it is embarrassing. It was a slight ear infection.

 

Thanks for checking back in though Peter.

 

 

-Paul