Hi! I’m Dick Burwen

I have been an audio enthusiast ever since ham radio was shut down during World War II.  My home in Lexington, Massachusetts is built around my 20,000 watt hi-fi system.  The photo above shows 3 of my 5 speaker horns which contain 150 tweeters, 5 mid-range horns with dual drivers, 10 16-inch woofers, and 4 24-inch subwoofers.  I started designing my 5-channel system in 1962 and it is almost finished.

After designing electronic circuits as a full-time consultant for 41 years I retired to part consulting in 2002. Equipment for which I designed circuits included: airborne, seaborne, audio, video cable TV, automotive, industrial control, medical, detection, laboratory instruments, function modules, space vehicle, and integrated circuits.  Partial retirement enabled me to work 60 hours/week for more than 8 years at my passion, high-fidelity audio. During that time I developed audio signal processing software to improve the sound of my hi-fi, and incidentally become professional and consumer products. It has 1,400,000 long mathematical equations and now every one of them works.

You can read about my sound system and software at http://www.burwenbobcat.com and at http://www.burwenaudio.com.

Now!  Podcasts by Dick Burwen, MP3 for listening or PDF for reading – HOW TO ACHIEVE HIGH FIDELITY SOUND

1.  Make MP3s Sound Better Than CDs

2.  Frequency Response Is Most Important

3.  Sound Improvement – Real, Imagined, or Fraud?

Look for new podcasts occasionally.

Posted in Blog Posts | Tagged | 9 Comments

Sound Improvement – Real, Imagined, or Fraud.pdf

Help for better sound at home or on mobile player. Listen to audio or read PDF.Don’t waste your money on on a lot of audio stuff.

A lot of audio equipment sells based on the power of expectation.  Even Dick Burwen has sometimes deceived himself into hearing what is not there.  Some products make real sound improvement and some make imagined improvement.  Many high end products just make a slight difference in frequency response that can be done better with an equalizer.  Beware of two classes of products that just waste your money.

Posted in Podcast Episodes | Tagged | Leave a comment

Sound Improvement – Real, Imagined, or Fraud.mp3

Help for better sound at home or on mobile player. Listen to audio or read PDF.Don’t waste your money on on a lot of audio stuff.

A lot of audio equipment sells based on the power of expectation.  Even Dick Burwen has sometimes deceived himself into hearing what is not there.  Some products make real sound improvement and some make imagined improvement.  Many high end products just make a slight difference in frequency response that can be done better with an equalizer.  Beware of two classes of products that just waste your money.

Posted in Podcast Episodes | Tagged | 2 Comments

Frequency Response Is Most Important.pdf

Help for better sound at home or on mobile player. Listen to audio or read PDF. Make your audio system better and get more for your money by changing its frequency response.
Frequency response is by far THE most important characteristic of your sound system.  Dick Burwen found that your ears are sensitive to tenths of a dB.  Make your speakers and program material sound a lot better by applying high frequency ambiance to produce thousands of ripples in the frequency response in combination with very fine tuned equalization.
Posted in Podcast Episodes | Tagged | 2 Comments

Frequency Response Is Most Important.mp3

Help for better sound at home or on mobile player. Listen to audio or read PDF. Make your audio system better and get more for your money by changing its frequency response.
Frequency response is by far THE most important characteristic of your sound system.  Dick Burwen found that your ears are sensitive to tenths of a dB.  Make your speakers and program material sound a lot better by applying high frequency ambiance to produce thousands of ripples in the frequency response in combination with very fine tuned equalization.
Posted in Podcast Episodes | Tagged | Leave a comment

Make MP3s Sound Better Than CDs.mp3

Help for better sound at home or on mobile player. Listen to audio or read PDF.

Dick Burwen tells you what really works for better audio.

Dick Burwen explains two types of frequency response – smooth and rippled.  Audio electronics, tone controls, and equalizers have smooth response.  What your ear really wants to hear is rippled response produced by reverberation at extreme high frequencies, way above existing real or artificial reverberation.  It makes instruments sound musical and reduces high frequency imperfections in CDs and MP3s.  The trend of the frequency response curve is equally important and should be tuned to within 0.1 decibel.

Posted in Podcast Episodes | Tagged | 2 Comments

Make MP3s Sound Better Than CDs.pdf

Help for better sound at home or on mobile player. Listen to audio or read PDF.

Dick Burwen tells you what really works for better audio.

Posted in Podcast Episodes | Tagged | Leave a comment