Audio Demystified | 
 enlarge | Author: Stan Gibilisco
Publisher: McGraw-Hill Professional
Category: Book
List Price: $19.95
Buy New: $11.18
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Avg. Customer Rating:  2 reviews
Sales Rank: 345052
Media: Paperback
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 319
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.2
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 7.2 x 0.8
ISBN: 0071469834
Dewey Decimal Number: 620.2
EAN: 9780071469838
ASIN: 0071469834
Publication Date: November 22, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: All orders ship same business day via standard shipping (USPS Media Mail) if received by 1 PM CST.
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Product Description
The fast and easy way to learn audio-frequency electronics This new addition to the Demystified series offers practical, easy-to-understand information on the latest audio-frequency (AF) electronics technologies. You will learn basic electronics and mathematical concepts, followed by details on speakers, microphones, amplifiers, and equalizers. Specialized topics include computer recording, home and car audio system installation, amplifier design, and live sound reinforcement.
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| Customer Reviews:
 Great book for hobbyists and beginners March 27, 2007
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I recommend this book to anyone looking for a solid foundation in the principles of audio technology. If you are new to audio or are perhaps a musician who would like to know more about how your equipment works, this book would be a great place to start. While it is an introductory text, the quizzes and the final exam do require some effort (which is a good thing).
Being an introductory text, the author does a great job of laying a foundation upon which the interested reader may go on to study more about the latest advances in the field of audio. The book starts with the fundamentals of electricity and electronics with an emphasis on audio applications; it covers a lot of ground and even goes on to explain how bipolar and field-effect transistors amplify signals. The book includes a chapter on vacuum tubes. And while vacuum tubes are rarely used today, I find it beneficial to understand how the old technology works so that I can better understand how the new stuff works. I am not sure why the author chose to include a section on camera tubes (given that this book is about audio), but it may have been for the same reason that I'm glad he included the information on vacuum tubes in audio.
Overall I recommend this book highly. It is a great book to start "demystifying" audio.
 An erroneuous anachronism February 27, 2007
7 out of 9 found this review helpful
At first glance, this appears to be quite a useful book, and indeed, mathematical fundamentals are handled reasonably well except for the failure to explain that when applied to electricity, RMS defines heating effect. However, closer perusal reveals that the book is extremely superficial and the author's occasional forays into greater depth reveal a lack of understanding of the subject. Some examples:
The advantage of electrostatic over electromagnetic deflection in a CRT is the wide range of operating frequencies, which is why oscilloscopes (needing a bandwidth from DC to at least 10MHz) use it, not some fluff about the medical effects of leaking magnetic fields.
"A resolution of 2^3, or 8, is standard for digital voice circuits. A resolution of 2^4, or 16, is good enough for most hi-fi sound systems that record or reproduce music." No. Telephony uses eight bits, giving 2^8, or 256 levels, and Compact Disc uses sixteen bits, giving 2^16, or 65,536 levels.
All capacitor microphones rely on the constant charge principle. Because the charge IS constant, when sound changes the plate spacing (capacitance), the voltage must vary, yet the author talks of "alternately charge and discharge."
Possibly worse, much of the material is out-of-date. When I first skimmed the book I thought it was quite reasonable for the late 70s - but was then alarmed to discover that it is newly published (2007).
The most horrific example is the inclusion of vidicon and image orthicon sensors in video cameras. Vidicons and image orthicons belong to the time of monochrome broadcasts (up to the late 60s). The last tube cameras were made in the late 80s and all electronic cameras (without exception) now use Charge Coupled Devices (CCDs). But CCDs aren't mentioned.
Turning to audio, a transistor power amplifier is shown using driver and output transformers - a technique not seen since the late 70s.
All in all, this book cannot be recommended, and I'm amazed that McGraw-Hill published it. The book is riddled with fluffy pseudo-technical terms and downright errors and anachronisms.
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