Audio is not rocket science. Much less quantum physics.no, it just means if we make amps sound the same they sound the same.
Thats not rocket science...
Baz,
The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled off was burying all those bones to mislead the evolutionists. And, man, did they fall for it!
Joe
no, it just means if we make amps sound the same they sound the same.
Thats not rocket science...
The issues should be, can we make amps sound different, and if so, are there circumstances in which those difference would serve a purpose
I'd be up for the test but not using a comparator switch box. Switching back in for between amps during a song doesn't allow you to hear the same passage of music on each amp. I would want to listen to ten second passages on one amp a few times and then play the same passage on the other amp. Those conditions would make for a more useful experiment for me. I'd also want control of the system setup and room conditions and source equipment/software.
Seems like a marketing ploy to me....
I.e. generate lots of forum noise by offering a challenge. If it costs him a pair of speakers (at manu cost) and he sells an extra 10 sets at trade he'll probably be be quite happy.
Duh.Seems like a marketing ploy to me....
But why should you want to do that?
You can certainly make amplifiers that sound different to each other*, but that's a very, very blunt and crude form of tone control. Tone controls are supposed to be bad, aren't they?
It has been possible over the past four decades, and in recent years for very little money, to build amplifiers that compare with straight wire. Amplifiers that don't conform to this degree of audible transparency are simply exhibiting different degree of 'wrong'. Preferring something that isn't transparent is fine, but lets at least recognise what's going on.
If you want to change sound without changing loudspeaker or room conditions, do it properly and with the appropriate degree of control by using EQ.
But why should you want to do that?
You can certainly make amplifiers that sound different to each other*, but that's a very, very blunt and crude form of tone control. Tone controls are supposed to be bad, aren't they?
It has been possible over the past four decades, and in recent years for very little money, to build amplifiers that compare with straight wire. Amplifiers that don't conform to this degree of audible transparency are simply exhibiting different degree of 'wrong'. Preferring something that isn't transparent is fine, but lets at least recognise what's going on.
If you want to change sound without changing loudspeaker or room conditions, do it properly and with the appropriate degree of control by using EQ.
They also introduce known problems with human short term memory.
However, so long as there were enough repetitions and the order of play varied, it should even out well enough.
It would make the test harder for the listener, but Alan would still win.
If the test is carried out properly there should be no memory involved.
You should just make some succinct statements about sound quality each time you hear an extract.
Then after wards your statements can be tallied against each amp to see if there is a pattern.
Using memory or a guess the amp game would give erroneous results as it would be based on preconceptions that may or may not be true.
It doesn't read like a marketing ploy or anything like that to me - more like an engineer fed up with people believing something he knows to be untrue, and willing to put in his time and money to prove them wrong. Fair play to him.
I totally agree, especially, having spoken with him in the past.
Maybe, he also thinks that it is the speakers that are the component that counts.
You can certainly make amplifiers that sound different to each other*,
Perhaps the Linn Klimax, Naim 250 and a Quad 405.2 or 606? (or a Behringer A500?)
So basically you'd insist on nobbling it to a load of similarly powered class AB solid state amps, rather than the type of kit Harbeth are actually partnered with in the real world? I'd far prefer to take the gauntlet as thrown, and if one searches the web for reviews (user or professional) of Harbeth speakers they can be found on the end of Leben, Croft, Audio Research, Sugden, Naim etc. That's certainly more the type of list I'd be interested in hearing as they each represent a different yet perfectly valid approach to amp design.