Quote:
Originally Posted by DMcCunney
Easy. That sort of thing reminds of the times years back when I would read a publication called The Absolute Sound, a magazine aimed at the market that would pay more for their stereo system than they would for their car. They ran lots of detailed comparisons between components whose differences could only be detected with a room full of expensive test gear. There was no way you would hear the difference.
But for Absolute Sound's reader base, it was about status and "Mine is better than yours!", and they would clutch to their chest anything they could use to bolster a claim that theirs was better. Being the sort of pragmatist who is only concerned with what he can actually hear, I shook my head in wonder.
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With regard to being able to hear things, I'm started to doubt myself. I can hear pitches much higher, and much softer, than would be normal for my age (mid-thrties). In my later teens and early 20's, my hearing was even better, at the limit of what is possible for a human.
I think my current hearing capabilities will still be competitive with the younger generation. Ms. NoHints is about 10 years younger than I am, doens't use headphones/earbuds much (and if, at normal levels), and seems to have better than average hearing. Still, I can 'outhear' her, both at volume (softer) and at pitch (both lower, and higher).
So what am I doubting about?
Some piano's have something called duplex scale. On the one end, a string is wound around a tuning pin, which you can turn to tune the string. On the other end, the string is led around a bridge pin (to keep it under tension) and then tied off to a post. The part between the bridge pin and the post is damped with felt.
Well, if you make the part between the bridge pin and the tie-off post *exactly* the right length and *don't* dampen it, these 'extra' string parts will resonate, along with other strings, when you play the piano. They add a ringing overtone onto the sound. This is what's called duplex scaling. ('Duplex' as in: the piano now effectively has two sets of strings/scales.)
This image illustrates this design. The small inset shows the 'normal' damped configuration. The extra string parts are damped with black and red felt.
There are ways to make the duplex scaling louder, softer, higher or lower. My digital piano has a setting for duplex scaling, and higher settings should make it louder. The setting goes from OFF to 1 to 10.
To be honest, I cannot hear a difference, and I refuse to believe the firmware is broken. I've found no reports with regard to that. Therefore, I assume I either cannot hear this effect, or I do hear it and don't know what to listen for.
The only way to test this would be to walk into a shop that has a real (in tune) grand piano on the floor, with duplex scaling, and then mute the strings with a felt. Then play, unmute the strings, and play again.
However, I don't think any shop will let me jackass around with with a €20K grand piano though.