They're also easily clocked out by playing a CD (and thus not listening to the radio).
You don't need a digital system for that. Over here (Europe), we've got the 'Radio Data System' that piggybacks on (analog) FM radio.
Among its functions are channel identification, EON (changing frequency as you drive through the coverage range of multiple FM transmitters with the same program), and TP (interrupting whatever you're listening to, when the traffic information is aired).
The Dutch government plans to introduce something like this, mainly for road pricing ("kilometerheffing")(make the use of congested roads more expensive to fight that congestion).
there is no doubt that if drivers know they will get caught the roads would be a safer place
No, there would be less speeding. But there are loads of other ways to endanger fellow road users, and these other traffic offences can't be monitored automatically.
Fully automated speed traps don't lead to better road behavior, they just lead to annoyance at the government for placing a lot of emphasis on only one factor in traffic accidents.
We've seen this in the Netherlands, where about 90% of traffic tickets are now automatically generated by speed traps. These speed traps have triggered a tenfold increase in the number of traffic tickets over the past 10 years, to the point where on average every Dutch car driver will get one ticket a year. Are our roads safer now? Hardly. The number of road fatalities has dropped a bit, but there are so many factors contributing to that (safer cars and roads, more congestion leading to a lower average speed, etc.), that the increase in speeding tickets can't have helped much.
Meanwhile, respect for the law has plummeted, and road rage increased, due to speed traps and speed limits that are perceived as pointless.
Why use radar? Systems with induction loops are also available (used e.g. in the Netherlands), and I expect those to be much cheaper. At least it'll be easier to measure traffic over multiple lanes.
From the article: And for those who dislike the idea of yet more plastic in their wallets, Moneo can be incorporated onto their existing credit cards -- something that has never been tried outside of France.
Wrong. I've had a combination PIN card/ChipKnip (the Dutch equivalent to Moneo) for two years now.
[prostrates]I bow to your obviously and stupendously superior knowledge in this area, and I'll never do it again. Punish me for my transgressions in any way you see fit, but please get a move on, there's a good chap. Otherwise, say wat you mean, rather than implying I'm wrong.
Seriously. Yes, I know that loudspeakers distort a lot. Several %, even at decent listening levels. But that does not mean that our discussion of amplifier power ratings is useless. Loudspeaker distortion is rather different from amplifier distortion. For one thing, amplifier distortion rises when you increase power output, making distortion a factor when you want to compare maximum power ouput of amplifiers. It makes rather a lot of difference whether you measure the RMS power output at 10% THD or at 0,05% THD.
An example. Current car audio headunits are specified as having about 25W RMS/channel. These measurements are done at 10% THD. Measure at 0,1% THD, and power output falls to about 13W.
You can use a PC for this, but it has some drawbacks. Main one is the noise level from the PC (fans, HD). Second is the electronic noise. IDK about the Audigy, but most soundcards pick up RF interference from the rest of the PC.
If you want to do this, I'd get a good receiver with a 6-channel input, and connect that to the Audigy. Buy good speakers (not computer speakers, but hifi ones).
It cannot be considered 'the standard' because the specification "RMS W" is incomplete. You need more data (% THD) to make the measurements repeatable.
No, read the specs. Logitech specifies the speakers as having 505 W RMS cumulative. So yes, they can crank out 505 W continuously. Sound quality will be rubbish at that level, but they won't go up in smoke.
Re:Expect fianl report in 6 months
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From the Shuttle Loss FAQ:
While there is a flight recorder on board the Shuttles, it's not exactly a "Black Box" as you'd find on a commercial aircraft. Once the power is pulled, all data collection stops. This is not considered a problem as almost all of the valuable data is downlinked anyway.
What little the onboard flight recorders may contain that wasn't downlinked may or may not be relevant to the mishap, and the only way to know for sure is to locate a surviving unit on the ground.
However, one should probably not hold their breath for one to turn up. As noted by the shuttle program manager during the first press
conference, there is no *hardened "Black Box" on board any of the Shuttles. At the same time, it's also worth noting that since commercial hardened "Black Boxes" have had difficulty surviving airplane crashes, surviving reentry without special protection is almost an impossibility.
The one use for power figures is that they indicate the power reserve. You may drive the system at 1 W in daily use, but playing back a video of a rocket launch (at the same volume setting) will shoot the power requirements of esp. the subwoofer through the roof. Remember that a 10 dB increase means 10 times the power is needed.
1. Hifi speakers will have a flatter frequency response, meaning they won't overemphasize some frequencies at the cost of others. I predict the Logitech will sound boomy rather than full, and be rather tiring to listen to in the long run.
2. Hifi speakers will sound more detailed. When you go from a bad system to a good one, you may notice new instruments in a song, things like that.
3. Hifi speakers have a greater dynamic range. On the Logitech, I expect the subwoofer will start distorting at a sound level that's not insanely high, where Hifi speakers would just keep performing well.
Uh, no. RMS Watts are no standard. 'RMS' just specifies the calculation method. You also need to specify the distortion at which the test takes place. I'll bet the Logitech figures are at 10% THD. Serious equpment is measured at something like 0,01% THD.
Will this finally be reason enough ofr audiophiles to give PC audio a fair go?
No. All an audiophile needs is a good soundcard so he can connect the PC to his stereo (which will be several orders of magnitude better than this speaker set).
This set is pretty good as PC speaker sets go, but it's nowhere near 'audiophile'.
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Oh yes! More Blinkenlights for my server room!
Uh, no. The Porsche 356 was based on the Beetle. The 911 has the same general layout, but (thankfully) has rather better underpinnings.
They're also easily clocked out by playing a CD (and thus not listening to the radio).
You don't need a digital system for that. Over here (Europe), we've got the 'Radio Data System' that piggybacks on (analog) FM radio.
Among its functions are channel identification, EON (changing frequency as you drive through the coverage range of multiple FM transmitters with the same program), and TP (interrupting whatever you're listening to, when the traffic information is aired).
But still, a radar is a lot more expensive (and complicated, thus more error-prone) than an induction loop.
The Dutch government plans to introduce something like this, mainly for road pricing ("kilometerheffing")(make the use of congested roads more expensive to fight that congestion).
there is no doubt that if drivers know they will get caught the roads would be a safer place
No, there would be less speeding. But there are loads of other ways to endanger fellow road users, and these other traffic offences can't be monitored automatically.
Fully automated speed traps don't lead to better road behavior, they just lead to annoyance at the government for placing a lot of emphasis on only one factor in traffic accidents.
We've seen this in the Netherlands, where about 90% of traffic tickets are now automatically generated by speed traps. These speed traps have triggered a tenfold increase in the number of traffic tickets over the past 10 years, to the point where on average every Dutch car driver will get one ticket a year. Are our roads safer now? Hardly. The number of road fatalities has dropped a bit, but there are so many factors contributing to that (safer cars and roads, more congestion leading to a lower average speed, etc.), that the increase in speeding tickets can't have helped much.
Meanwhile, respect for the law has plummeted, and road rage increased, due to speed traps and speed limits that are perceived as pointless.
If you want to use such a system to enforce laws, you'll have to give up the anonymity requirement.
Why use radar? Systems with induction loops are also available (used e.g. in the Netherlands), and I expect those to be much cheaper. At least it'll be easier to measure traffic over multiple lanes.
From the article: And for those who dislike the idea of yet more plastic in their wallets, Moneo can be incorporated onto their existing credit cards -- something that has never been tried outside of France.
Wrong. I've had a combination PIN card/ChipKnip (the Dutch equivalent to Moneo) for two years now.
No, it's "Verbing weirds language".
[prostrates]I bow to your obviously and stupendously superior knowledge in this area, and I'll never do it again. Punish me for my transgressions in any way you see fit, but please get a move on, there's a good chap. Otherwise, say wat you mean, rather than implying I'm wrong.
Seriously. Yes, I know that loudspeakers distort a lot. Several %, even at decent listening levels. But that does not mean that our discussion of amplifier power ratings is useless. Loudspeaker distortion is rather different from amplifier distortion. For one thing, amplifier distortion rises when you increase power output, making distortion a factor when you want to compare maximum power ouput of amplifiers. It makes rather a lot of difference whether you measure the RMS power output at 10% THD or at 0,05% THD.
An example. Current car audio headunits are specified as having about 25W RMS/channel. These measurements are done at 10% THD. Measure at 0,1% THD, and power output falls to about 13W.
Of course, to get the real (hardware) Blinkenlights effect, you need a stack of Xserves.
As this is a powered system (with the amplifier built into the subwoofer IIRC) the power rating quoted IS that of the amplifier. No confusion here.
And yes, I am an audio engineer.
You can use a PC for this, but it has some drawbacks. Main one is the noise level from the PC (fans, HD). Second is the electronic noise. IDK about the Audigy, but most soundcards pick up RF interference from the rest of the PC.
If you want to do this, I'd get a good receiver with a 6-channel input, and connect that to the Audigy. Buy good speakers (not computer speakers, but hifi ones).
That was a sine wave, at 100% modulation.
The world record currently stands at abotui 177 dB. Search for 'IASCA' or 'IDBL' for more info.
It cannot be considered 'the standard' because the specification "RMS W" is incomplete. You need more data (% THD) to make the measurements repeatable.
Linux/Unix? What's that have to do with this story? Neither is used to run the Shuttle systems.
No, read the specs. Logitech specifies the speakers as having 505 W RMS cumulative. So yes, they can crank out 505 W continuously. Sound quality will be rubbish at that level, but they won't go up in smoke.
From the Shuttle Loss FAQ: While there is a flight recorder on board the Shuttles, it's not exactly a "Black Box" as you'd find on a commercial aircraft. Once the power is pulled, all data collection stops. This is not considered a problem as almost all of the valuable data is downlinked anyway. What little the onboard flight recorders may contain that wasn't downlinked may or may not be relevant to the mishap, and the only way to know for sure is to locate a surviving unit on the ground. However, one should probably not hold their breath for one to turn up. As noted by the shuttle program manager during the first press conference, there is no *hardened "Black Box" on board any of the Shuttles. At the same time, it's also worth noting that since commercial hardened "Black Boxes" have had difficulty surviving airplane crashes, surviving reentry without special protection is almost an impossibility.
OK, I'll rephrase. The sysadmin's job is to give the users the tools they need to do their jobs efficiently.
Which still is a lot more than "make the computers run". For one, the sysadmin'll have to listen to the users' wishes.
Also, happy workers are more productive.
The one use for power figures is that they indicate the power reserve. You may drive the system at 1 W in daily use, but playing back a video of a rocket launch (at the same volume setting) will shoot the power requirements of esp. the subwoofer through the roof. Remember that a 10 dB increase means 10 times the power is needed.
I'm not up to date on PC soundcards, but I'd look for one that has all the analog electronics outside the computer case. this, maybe?
Or a DigidesignMbox.
1. Hifi speakers will have a flatter frequency response, meaning they won't overemphasize some frequencies at the cost of others. I predict the Logitech will sound boomy rather than full, and be rather tiring to listen to in the long run.
2. Hifi speakers will sound more detailed. When you go from a bad system to a good one, you may notice new instruments in a song, things like that.
3. Hifi speakers have a greater dynamic range. On the Logitech, I expect the subwoofer will start distorting at a sound level that's not insanely high, where Hifi speakers would just keep performing well.
Uh, no. RMS Watts are no standard. 'RMS' just specifies the calculation method. You also need to specify the distortion at which the test takes place. I'll bet the Logitech figures are at 10% THD. Serious equpment is measured at something like 0,01% THD.
Will this finally be reason enough ofr audiophiles to give PC audio a fair go?
No. All an audiophile needs is a good soundcard so he can connect the PC to his stereo (which will be several orders of magnitude better than this speaker set).
This set is pretty good as PC speaker sets go, but it's nowhere near 'audiophile'.
When will speaker manufacturers stop quoting meaningless figures?