Philosophy
Audio Consulting
Audio Consulting is a Swiss company producing very sophisticated audio equipment mostly for the music enthusiast, but also for professional applications. True research in acoustics, electronics and other fields of physics, lead to innovative solutions. Audio Consulting is specialised in transformer technology using high quality to very exotic magnetic materials together with copper and custom made silver wire. Optimised thermal treatments (Cryo) are extensively used during production of parts and equipment. Production takes place in Switzerland where highly specialised hand labour is available.
We would like to explain our philosophy :
Time may have come to give you further information about how products are being developed and manufactured at Audio Consulting. We choose to list a series of issues that we have accepted as guide lines over some three decades of R&D. This list may be completed in the future. If physical measurements are certainly important in what we do, the final word always comes to the ear.
1. First issue: the mains power supply
We consider the mains as inadequate a source of power for the audio equipment of the resolution that we are aiming for. Today, the loads that are connected to the mains are more and more of the non linear type, which dramatically lowers the power and energy transfer to audio circuits. This has a dramatic impact on sound. That is why we have invested time and money into battery power solutions, being very well aware of the fact, that many battery powered amplifiers do not necessarily sound good. It turned out that we had to engineer the preamplifiers, amplifiers and front ends to suit the battery’s technical specifications. This mainly led to solid state devices , while we did not refrain from fully battery driven tube equipment, although those may by too big in size, in weight and in budget for many. The latter have to be understood as research objects showing how far one can go with tube circuits, once they are freed from the mains problem.
2. Second issue: heat
Have a look at the physical definition of heat: “A form of energy associated with the motion of atoms or molecules and capable of being transmitted through solid and fluid media by conduction, through fluid media by convection, and through empty space by radiation.” Over the last 28 years of research in the audio field, it has become obvious to us that heat plays a major role when we try to keep audio performance steady over time. Simply listen to your CD player right after you have switched it on, and then again 30 minutes later, same CD same track same volume setting. See what we talk about? We produce audio circuits of the highest thermal efficiency in order to lower the impact of heat on audio performance. In today’s energy conscious world, this also becomes an ecological issue.
3. Third issue: silver wire
Some may believe that silver , when used in wires and cables, has a cumulative effect on sound. This is true for most cables on the market as they often use Teflon as an insolation material, while some combine this with non-insulated multi-strands. This definitely leads to negative impact onto sound. We listened to many isolating materials as well as diameters and caem to the conclusion, that silver wire and cables are capable of the highest resolution possible if one uses the right isolation material and diameters. Of course the purity of the silver metal also plays a crucial role. The cryo treatment we impose to our silver wires and cables allows for even more resolution and natural sound.
4. Forth issue: transformers
We strongly believe that transformers, provided they are of a certain specific technical quality, are unique in performing a certain number of jobs, namely:
• Inter stage coupling in amplifiers/preamplifiers
• Volume control
• Power transfer from amplifiers to speakers
• Phase shifting, balanced systems
• Voltage gain (Mc Step Up)
5. Fifth issue: wood
Wood has been used to produce speakers for many years now. Many of us do agree that wood has unique properties to please the ear and very interesting if not exotic theories about that have been published in the last two decades. We claim that this holds even for electronics’ cabinets or turntable platters. That is why we offer those made of the appropriate woods. Explanations for this could be found in carefully observing magnetic, electromagnetic and vibrational properties of mater.
6. Sixth issue: hand labour in Switzerland
Switzerland produces no oil, gas or other minerals. That is why we had to develop other industries over the centuries. One of those is high tech in general (electronics, micro-mechanics, watches etc.) and thus we have access to a great number of higly specialised and skilful companies. Among those companies we are choosing our suppliers and subcontractors as well as collaborators. Audio Consulting products are hand made in Switzerland. This has an impact on retail prices, but also on real quality.
Ludwig van Beethoven
"Music should strike fire from the heart of man, and bring tears from eyes of woman."
Albert Einstein
"Things should be as simple as possible, but not simpler."
William Shakespeare, "Hamlet", Act 1 scene 5
"There are more things in heaven and earth, ..., than are dreamt of in your philosophy".
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1833)
Men, in so far as they help themselves of their healthy senses, are the biggest and most precise physical apparatus which there can be; and it is just the biggest evil of newer physics that one has separated the experiments from the person and only believe what artificial instruments show, thus limiting what nature recognizes, what she can perform, and proves.