Quote Originally Posted by theaudiohobby
What's Colloms' claim to fame? Countless amplifier reviews? There is a world of difference between an audio journalist, which Colloms evidently is, and a chartered engineer, which he claims to be.
He is a electroacoustics engineer with honors Oxford University - He founded the company Monitor Audio, he is the go to technical advisor in Court cases to settle matters of electrical engineering, he is the technical advisor to Stereophile, Hi-Fi Choice, and several other magazines who hired the best available.

His works include

High Performance Loudspeakers (John Wiley & also available at Amazon.com, ISBN: 0-470-09430-33) has been in print for 30 years, and is now in its 6th edition. It has been translated into several foreign languages and received a most favourable review in the Journal of the Audio Engineering Society, Vol. 40, Number 1/2. The extensively revised 6th edition was published in autumn 2005. Dr Paul Darlington (appledynamics.com) contributed a new chapter, comprising a radical and refreshing approach to the theory of diaphragms and sound radiation, through a simple model which leads directly to the familiar equivalent circuits. All useful classes of radiator are analysed.

A second book Computer Controlled Test and Instrumentation (Pentech Press ISBN 0-7273-0310-4) published in 1983 is now out of print.

Amplifiers - Technology and Sound Quality, a three hour presentation for the Audio Engineering Society, London, (December 1985). This included formal and informal listening tests. The associated paper was published in Hi Fi News (May 1986) and reprinted by Audio Amateur (USA).

The Technical press, Reviewing and the Loudspeaker Manufacturers. Invited paper, Danish Audio Conference, ‘The Perception of Reproduced Sound’, Denmark, (August/September 1987).

Some Observations on the Results of Objective and Subjective Technical Reviewing Practice in High Fidelity. Invited paper at the Institute of Acoustics Conference, Windermere, UK (November 1991).

Loudspeaker & Headphone Handbook ed. J. Borwick, (Focal Press, ISBN 0 240 51578 1, 3rd edition 2001). Chapter 6, The amplifier/loudspeaker interface.

Improvements in Intelligibility through the Use of Diffuse acoustic Radiators in sound distribution, co-author Peter Mapp, AES 103rd Convention, September 1997.

Diffuse Field Planar Loudspeakers in Multimedia and Home theatre, with Christien Ellis, AES 103rd Convention, September 1997.

Do We Need An Ultrasonic Bandwidth For Higher Fidelity Sound Reproduction? Reproduced Sound 22, Institute of Acoustics, November 2006 reproducedsound.co.uk

Tah - Please tell me one book or ANY publication in engineering you have been involved in. And show us your degree and marks. The only person I am willing to accept as worth "jumping in" is someone who is AT LEAST as noted. If you say Colloms who chaired the Audio engineering society isn't a good engineer then you make no sense.

I respect him because despite his terrific engineering background he listens and keeps an open mind

"I have heard many technically accurate and beautiful sounding audio components and systems which lack sufficient rhythmic expression. While initially impressive, they do not hold your attention for long periods. These are the systems where you keep trying new tracks to see how good it sounds, rather than play that disc through and enjoy the musical performance.

Classic engineering theory remains valuable for design; it helps produce something that's reliable, effective, conforms to basic test and safety standards, with good compatibility to other audio products. But classically taught engineering excellence will not guarantee excellent sound quality.

See the excerpt below from Stereophile article Working in the Front Line.

Reviews have rated both solid state and valve/tube amplifiers as close to excellent. But both these technologies have provided equally indifferent performances in a number of product designs.

Some thermionic amplifiers can sound quite solid state especially if using relatively high loop negative feedback, while low or 'zero' feedback solid state models can sound sweet and valve-like in the expected sense. Amazingly, and for some critics paradoxically, the best of the tube SE, single ended, zero feedback designs have exhibited remarkable subjective 'speed' and vivacity, combining authentic tonality with natural rhythm and dynamic expression. Standard technical assessments cannot predict such variations and judged by conventional test criteria perform relatively poorly."