It's better an amplifier that sound warm or one that sound cold?

[Feanor]

I suggest you read the Masters article on the following link:


http://www.mastersonaudio.com/audio/20020901.htm

There have been many occassions when I though I heard a difference, but was prepared to admit it might have been my imaginiation. The was the case, for example, when swapping interconnect cables. I intrigues me the way golden ears will never to admit that they might have imagined a difference; further, insisting that patently tiny changes are "huge".

On the the other hand I'm not sure it's all just imagination either. Personally, what casts doubt on the imagination hypothesis is that I have often heard diffences when I did not expect them.

[ruadmaa]

There have been many occassions when I though I heard a difference, but was prepared to admit it might have been my imaginiation. The was the case, for example, when swapping interconnect cables. I intrigues me the way golden ears will never to admit that they might have imagined a difference; further, insisting that patently tiny changes are "huge".

On the the other hand I'm not sure it's all just imagination either. Personally, what casts doubt on the imagination hypothesis is that I have often heard diffences when I did not expect them.

Besides the Masters article I cited, Julian Hirsch also did similar tests back in the 70's with exactly the same results.

One of the more interesting debate settlers is the $10,000.00 challenge offered by Richard Clarke. You can find reference to this challenge if you do some Google searching. To make a long story short, Richard Clarke offers $10,000 to anyone who can tell the difference between amplifiers. Many golden ears have taken this "challenge" and to date all have failed. The gist of it is simply this: you take any amps/receivers you wish, listen as long as you wish, use any of your own music that you wish and take the extended listening tests after the amps have been carefully level matched and then simply be able to reliably tell the difference between amps. No one has ever walked away with the money. And no, I have no comments on this "challenge" I believe it is still open and I think I heard somewhere that the money has been increased if you win.

I might add that in the more than 45 years of listening to various amps/receiver amps I have never heard any that were functioning properly that sounded different to me.

I had a neighbor that used to come over to my place about 10 years ago and rave about how good my "Marantz" receiver sounded. When I was ready to sell it he immediately offered to buy. Guess what, after we took the Marantz over to his house it sounded lousy, exactly as his other receiver did. Why was simple to explain, his speakers were terrible and the Marantz simply did what it always did, amplified without any coloration. Amazing isn't it that after several years of raving about how great my Marantz was he didn't buy it.

Anything I say or even the most qualified audio people in the world say will not change the opinion of a closed minded person. The truly sad part though is that many young people will be placing thousands of dollars into better and bigger receivers and separate amplifiers to achieve better sound and be doing nothing more than wasteing their money. The biggest audio improvements come from getting quality speakers and correcting problems located in the listening environment.

In closing, if anyone thinks there is a difference simply buy the equipment that you think best.

[musicoverall]

Besides the Masters article I cited, Julian Hirsch also did similar tests back in the 70's with exactly the same results.

One of the more interesting debate settlers is the $10,000.00 challenge offered by Richard Clarke. You can find reference to this challenge if you do some Google searching. To make a long story short, Richard Clarke offers $10,000 to anyone who can tell the difference between amplifiers. Many golden ears have taken this "challenge" and to date all have failed. The gist of it is simply this: you take any amps/receivers you wish, listen as long as you wish, use any of your own music that you wish and take the extended listening tests after the amps have been carefully level matched and then simply be able to reliably tell the difference between amps. No one has ever walked away with the money. And no, I have no comments on this "challenge" I believe it is still open and I think I heard somewhere that the money has been increased if you win.

I might add that in the more than 45 years of listening to various amps/receiver amps I have never heard any that were functioning properly that sounded different to me.

I had a neighbor that used to come over to my place about 10 years ago and rave about how good my "Marantz" receiver sounded. When I was ready to sell it he immediately offered to buy. Guess what, after we took the Marantz over to his house it sounded lousy, exactly as his other receiver did. Why was simple to explain, his speakers were terrible and the Marantz simply did what it always did, amplified without any coloration. Amazing isn't it that after several years of raving about how great my Marantz was he didn't buy it.

Anything I say or even the most qualified audio people in the world say will not change the opinion of a closed minded person. The truly sad part though is that many young people will be placing thousands of dollars into better and bigger receivers and separate amplifiers to achieve better sound and be doing nothing more than wasteing their money. The biggest audio improvements come from getting quality speakers and correcting problems located in the listening environment.

In closing, if anyone thinks there is a difference simply buy the equipment that you think best.

Your friend committed the same error that I find in most of the documentation of the tests that the extremist objectivists perform - he listened to it in an unfamiliar system and listening room. Granted, his coming to the conclusion that it was his amp instead of his speakers and room that were the much bigger problem was ill-conceived.

You are right about two things - the speakers and listening room issues should be taken care of first and the opinions of a closed minded person (i.e someone who insists their own beliefs should be universal) will likely never be changed.

[Feanor]

...
I might add that in the more than 45 years of listening to various amps/receiver amps I have never heard any that were functioning properly that sounded different to me.
...
Anything I say or even the most qualified audio people in the world say will not change the opinion of a closed minded person.
...

This was a thread I started in another forum ...

http://db.audioasylum.com/cgi/m.mpl?...nor&r=&session=