An Open Letter to Audio Manufacturers -- Please stop listening room light pollution!

[JackD201]

I'm not a fan of Blue LEDs either. I take mine in Red. I like Accuphase' orange, clearly visible but with no glare. We handle a product line where the customer has a choice between white, red, blue, green and yellow. By far, BLUE is the most common choice so I asked why that is. They said it is because the sources often come with blue displays too and they like stuff to match.

AMP is right though, we ARE more sensitive to blue. I think every piece of kit should come with an on/off switch or at least a dimmer.

 

[NorthStar]

---...And on HDTVs we are more annoyed (sensitively disturbed) by stuck Green pixels (flashing) than Blue or Red ones.

I used to like Yamaha's Amber displays. But I still prefer displays that can be totally dimmed (off).
And the tiniest dot (red & green) for power, the better. ...The size of a pin's head.
...And no halogen type of blinding light!

Remember in the fifties-sixties? There were no lights on our preamps and amps and turntables (the vast majority of them anyway).

Let's retro back with purity and not discontinuity. :b

 

[edorr]

Unfortunately, the guy I bought my Krell KPE Reference phono section did just that with the LED on the front of the KPE and now I have a discolaration in the metal I can't seem to clean. Too bad because other than that, this phono section is in mint shape as I bought it from the original owner and he kept great care of it except for taping over the blue LED that drove him nuts too. He did disclose this before I bought it so I don't have any bitch with him about it.

I personally found the MAC C-2300 preamp with it's multi-colored lights to be way too much on the eyes even though some others love it. Too many shades of blue and green for me.

If the discoloration is tape glue residue, get some "goof off" at home depot. It is chemical that will remove it.

 

[NorthStar]

---...Or a lightly impregnated Q-Tip with isopropyl alcohol.

 

[Mosin]

They annoy me, too. My turntable controller has two LEDs, one for high speed and one for low. Anyway, I chose LEDs that aren't blue and I mount them, so that they peep through 3mm holes in a way that they are shielded on the sides. I also add dropper resistors to cut their output by about 75%. That way the user gets a hint of what is going on, but nothing more. Mainly, they help him remember to turn the unit off after a listening session.

Perhaps you guys with obnoxious blue lights can add dropper resistors to the LEDs, or have someone do it for you. It's a relatively simple modification that doesn't affect performance in any way.

 

[HedgeHog]

---Classe gear, can you fully dim the display's lights?

FWIW, Classe's SSP-800 can completely turn off the LCD display and the global standby does dim all the power button's blue LEDs down quite a lot (for all the connected amps via CANBUS). The amp channel amps do not dim (or not very much) so I see 5 bright ones for the center/surround amps plus 2 more for the two monoblocks. IIRC, Classe did this on purpose so people know that the amp channels are actually on and whether it's single-ended or balanced.


Back on topic, my stuff is lit but not so annoying...I can understand where some gear (or collection thereof) can resemble an airplane instrument panel in a dimly lit room.

 

[theguesswho]

I agree those terribly annoying lghts are so ..... annoying! Really do we have to see what is on, don't we allready know that? It is like my cars IDIOT lights (thats what my dad called them) I mean really do I need a light to tell me to check my oil or coolant level is low. I guess if I were and idiot and never checked levels I would need an idiot light! And now they have lights on cars to check tire pressure, dont you check tire pressure!

The only thing worse is those ridiculous watt meters on MacIntosh amps, I would not buy Mac just because of those. It reminds me of the 1970s where there was a meter or idiot light for every useless function. Remember SAE? The amps had a row of twenty bright red LEDs for a watt meter, the reson for the lights? So you had something else to do while the sound of the junk ripped your ears off!

And it is no different in a car also, do I really need a tach? You cant tell if your engine is overrevving? And while a speedometer is useful I rarely look at it, I just go with the flow of traffic and I dont drive fast anyway. Its the same as the watt meters, you cant tell if you have it turned up too loud? Also all of those meters and lights add noise pollution to the equipment, who needs that! It just reduces the purity and essence of your system.

The other thing I dont understand is this need for measuring volume levels and freq response, remember those graphs and equilizers on equipment? What a waste, it did nothing then as well as nothing now. What are you measuring that you cant hear? Of course now they have fancy computers for this, but have you ever seen anyone use this sucsessfully? Who uses EQ, no one I am aware of? Unlesss it is for home theater and that tells you something.

Its like Bruce Browns thread where he measured the room and all he had to do was move his speakers to appease the computer, I am looking to have good sound for my ears not a microphone/computer. At least Bruce has it right as he will not use EQ to destroy the purity of his system as it is so critical to his listening, for his job. I feel the same way, my system sounds great and has great bass response, all without the noise, light or distortion adding components.

Wendell
POE143

 

[Bill Hart]

I agree those terribly annoying lghts are so ..... annoying! Really do we have to see what is on, don't we allready know that? It is like my cars IDIOT lights (thats what my dad called them) I mean really do I need a light to tell me to check my oil or coolant level is low. I guess if I were and idiot and never checked levels I would need an idiot light! And now they have lights on cars to check tire pressure, dont you check tire pressure!

The only thing worse is those ridiculous watt meters on MacIntosh amps, I would not buy Mac just because of those. It reminds me of the 1970s where there was a meter or idiot light for every useless function. Remember SAE? The amps had a row of twenty bright red LEDs for a watt meter, the reson for the lights? So you had something else to do while the sound of the junk ripped your ears off!

And it is no different in a car also, do I really need a tach? You cant tell if your engine is overrevving? And while a speedometer is useful I rarely look at it, I just go with the flow of traffic and I dont drive fast anyway. Its the same as the watt meters, you cant tell if you have it turned up too loud? Also all of those meters and lights add noise pollution to the equipment, who needs that! It just reduces the purity and essence of your system.

The other thing I dont understand is this need for measuring volume levels and freq response, remember those graphs and equilizers on equipment? What a waste, it did nothing then as well as nothing now. What are you measuring that you cant hear? Of course now they have fancy computers for this, but have you ever seen anyone use this sucsessfully? Who uses EQ, no one I am aware of? Unlesss it is for home theater and that tells you something.

Its like Bruce Browns thread where he measured the room and all he had to do was move his speakers to appease the computer, I am looking to have good sound for my ears not a microphone/computer. At least Bruce has it right as he will not use EQ to destroy the purity of his system as it is so critical to his listening, for his job. I feel the same way, my system sounds great and has great bass response, all without the noise, light or distortion adding components.

Wendell
POE143

Amen re cars. As a prosaic example, compare the dash of a 2002 BMW from the early 70's with the current car.
Re lights on electronics, all my gear except for speaker and mono blocks, is at a distance, on a side wall/alcove from the listening environment, so I don't 'look' at the gear when i am listening. I think this is generally better for sound too, ie not having all the equipment between the speakers, although you could get into issues over the use of long interconnect vs. long speaker cable, i guess.

 

[NorthStar]

---...The reason why we have XLR balanced connections. :b

 

[NorthStar]

FWIW, Classe's SSP-800 can completely turn off the LCD display and the global standby does dim all the power button's blue LEDs down quite a lot (for all the connected amps via CANBUS). The amp channel amps do not dim (or not very much) so I see 5 bright ones for the center/surround amps plus 2 more for the two monoblocks. IIRC, Classe did this on purpose so people know that the amp channels are actually on and whether it's single-ended or balanced.


Back on topic, my stuff is lit but not so annoying...I can understand where some gear (or collection thereof) can resemble an airplane instrument panel in a dimly lit room.

-----Thank you sir. :b

 

[rbbert]

---...Or a lightly impregnated Q-Tip with isopropyl alcohol.

Actually this doesn't work for most adhesives (except by friction).

 

[edorr]

Actually this doesn't work for most adhesives (except by friction).

The "goof off" stuff will absolutely work.

 

[rbbert]

I agree those terribly annoying lghts are so ..... annoying! Really do we have to see what is on, don't we allready know that? It is like my cars IDIOT lights (thats what my dad called them) I mean really do I need a light to tell me to check my oil or coolant level is low. I guess if I were and idiot and never checked levels I would need an idiot light! And now they have lights on cars to check tire pressure, dont you check tire pressure!

The only thing worse is those ridiculous watt meters on MacIntosh amps, I would not buy Mac just because of those. It reminds me of the 1970s where there was a meter or idiot light for every useless function. Remember SAE? The amps had a row of twenty bright red LEDs for a watt meter, the reson for the lights? So you had something else to do while the sound of the junk ripped your ears off!

And it is no different in a car also, do I really need a tach? You cant tell if your engine is overrevving? And while a speedometer is useful I rarely look at it, I just go with the flow of traffic and I dont drive fast anyway. Its the same as the watt meters, you cant tell if you have it turned up too loud? Also all of those meters and lights add noise pollution to the equipment, who needs that! It just reduces the purity and essence of your system.

The other thing I dont understand is this need for measuring volume levels and freq response, remember those graphs and equilizers on equipment? What a waste, it did nothing then as well as nothing now. What are you measuring that you cant hear? Of course now they have fancy computers for this, but have you ever seen anyone use this sucsessfully? Who uses EQ, no one I am aware of? Unlesss it is for home theater and that tells you something.

Its like Bruce Browns thread where he measured the room and all he had to do was move his speakers to appease the computer, I am looking to have good sound for my ears not a microphone/computer. At least Bruce has it right as he will not use EQ to destroy the purity of his system as it is so critical to his listening, for his job. I feel the same way, my system sounds great and has great bass response, all without the noise, light or distortion adding components.

Wendell
POE143

Well, that's one school of thought,but by no means the only justifiable one. Increasing numbers of audiophiles are in fact using digital room correction to excellent effect.

Beyond that to automotive matters, I think there are at least 2 generations now of drivers who don't check fluid levels or tire pressure because they don't need to; the car does it for them. There is no incentive for learning an unneeded skill.

 

[edorr]

The other thing I dont understand is this need for measuring volume levels and freq response, remember those graphs and equilizers on equipment? What a waste, it did nothing then as well as nothing now. What are you measuring that you cant hear? Of course now they have fancy computers for this, but have you ever seen anyone use this sucsessfully? Who uses EQ, no one I am aware of? Unlesss it is for home theater and that tells you something.

Its like Bruce Browns thread where he measured the room and all he had to do was move his speakers to appease the computer, I am looking to have good sound for my ears not a microphone/computer. At least Bruce has it right as he will not use EQ to destroy the purity of his system as it is so critical to his listening, for his job. I feel the same way, my system sounds great and has great bass response, all without the noise, light or distortion adding components.

Wendell
POE143

I use digital room correction (Trinnov) in an audiophile system with great success. There are others, although admittedly not that many. I use the same speakers as Bruce (Evolution Acoustics MM3). I have a dedicated room with passive treatment, but obviously nothing like his purpose build studio. Being a bona fide audiophile I was equally paranoid about messing with "the purity of my system", but am happy to report that these concerns were unfounded (or at least not confirmed by my empirical findings).

I also do not think Bruce is opposed to EQ as a matter of principle, but it is not available to him since he works in the DSD domain, and no DSD based DSP engine is available. However, this would be for Bruce to comment on.

 

[rbbert]

The "goof off" stuff will absolutely work.

That was my implied point

 

[mep]

Actually this doesn't work for most adhesives (except by friction).

And it didn't.

 

[mep]

The "goof off" stuff will absolutely work.

The thing is, there is no tape residue that you can feel, it just left a discoloration behind.

 

[treitz3]

Is it an anodized finish?

 

[mep]

Is it an anodized finish?

It looks anodized to me.

 

[mep]

It looks anodized to me.

I need to ask that blonde in the 80 mph video and get her opinion though.