President's Message
May 2006

1.  I recently bought a pair of AV cables from MCM electronics, an S video cable with stereo audio cables. They are gold plated and look to be good quality. I measured the capacitance of the audio cables and they were 100 pF per foot. This is the same as the cheap small diameter bulk cable I bought a year ago. Normally the smaller the diameter the higher the capacitance, but checks of my other cables show no obvious correlation. The new ones are .15" in diameter. I haven't dissected them, but probably it's small cable with a thick rubber sleeve. Good cable in the past has been 30 pF per foot, now 100 seems to be the norm.

2.  In my Oct '05 piece I wrote about excessive sound levels of iPod type portable listening devices, and wondered how loud they would play. I found out. Earlier this year a Louisiana man filed a lawsuit against Apple, claiming that the iPod can cause hearing loss in people who use it. The devices can produce sounds of more than 115 decibels, a volume which can damage the hearing of a person exposed to the sound for more than 28 seconds per day, according to the complaint. Although the iPod is more popular than other types of portable music players, its ability to cause haearing loss isn't any higher, experts said. Apple is now offering a sofware update that will limit the maximum level. Union Leader 30Mr06

President, Boston Audio Society

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updated 8/6/06