Quote Originally Posted by frenchmon View Post
When I buy gear...the first thing I want to know is does it sound good to me in my sysytem....the second is whats its history with reliability....the third is how much does it cost. Thats it!

Thanks for answering my question RGA but I could care less about an amp being " the only truly linear amplifiers is the single ended triode" or such other things that don't mean a hill of beans to me...no offense RGA...and I respect your opinions and understandings in these matters, but I don't share your sentiments about it.

...frenchmon---
Frenchmon

Thanks for reminding me of that fact. The problem is audio is an experiential thing. When you try to rip that down into words it falls apart. You ask my why I like the sound of AN - what can I really say? I am a science first guy - so when I listen to something that handedly destroys most stuff when actually listening to it I am in the chartered territory of Jehovah Witness that comes to my door trying to tell me they know the "truth." And it's entirely not the side of the fence I like being on.

The fact is an AN complete system is a difficult proposition to make the case for. It's very easy to dismiss. It's bad enough to be in the camp of vinyl or SET - you can make measurement arguments for SET - there is possibly enough measurement merit with regards to feedback and low distortion at low level to get someone to at least try one. Vinyl - no chance - no matter how good the turntable measures a single pop or click (surface noise) will have people write it off entirely.

The speakers - are so-so in the measurement department - they're well balanced in the listening chair and if set-up correctly but in general measurements are never taken where anyone actually listens to them - I can argue that case and the more objective may consider trying them based on that - some will not because they believe all speakers should be measured the same way because that's the way they measure.

AN CD players - well without the analog and digital filter - they measure worse than any CD player on the market. Add all of those technologies together and frankly I can't really make the case for it. I am left to the only real argument of "it simply sounds more accurate, more realistic, and thus better, than alternatives that I have heard. Well gee - anyone can claim that kind of stuff. I can attempt to bend the English language all sorts of ways but at the end of the day the legs I have to stand on are very wobbly indeed. But I can't throw out my experience of it - when it embarrasses a top various combinations of Sim Audio/Audio Research/YBA/Classe/Mark Levinson/Bryston/Naim/Krell connected to Wilson/Magnepan/B&W/Paradigm/Genelec/Elac/.Martin Logan/ PMC/Meridian/Dynaudio/Quad/Sonus Faber/ etc then I have to go by experience - I simply can't chuck it out because the technology and the numbers makes me uncomfortable.