I have read a lot of bold claims and frankly some things mentioned here not entirely accurate.
Right up front I will say that I agree with Elliot G. I've never been in the business but after almost 50 years in this hobby and hanging around stores I agree with what he is saying. Everyone knows a customer is right, even when proven wrong. I myself returned a product twice claiming it was defective before I realized I was the dummy setting it up wrong. It happens.
Turntables/tonearms are as easy to set up as following a cookbook: Can't agree with that statement at all. First of all, given all of the various tonearm designs, each design type have their own unique set-up requirements and methods. But if one stops after making the basic VTA, HTA, VTF, Azimuth and anti-skating force adjustments, then the cartridge is hardly optimized. That's just the starting point. Every cartridge has be be dialed in by listening for optimum sound. That is something that has to be learned- and some may never be able to do it properly. All the tools in the world can't replace dialing in a cartridge by ear.
High end audio isn't deadly like high performance cars: Really? Grab a voltmeter and take some voltage measurements inside an amp. Take some voltage readings inside a tube amp or preamp and you'll see that they are quite deadly. They have a lot of stored energy in their oversized capacitors. Not a good idea to go poking around in there with your finger. Back in the day tube amps/preamps required putting a voltmeter directly on capacitors inside to measure and adjust bias voltage. You better watch yourself. These days I see most tube gear is auto biasing or have built in voltmeters and adjustments on the outside of the chassis. Definitely much safer. But I would not let small children around those glass tubes.
Quad speakers have text book step response while Wilson speakers are not ideal; Total nonsense. Take a few minutes to look up the step response of Quad, Thiel, Wilson or other speakers on the web. They all are quite similar. The Thiels have the best response but they are clearly underdamped as evidenced by the ringing after the step input. The Wilsons and Quads are critically damped giving just a slightly elongated recovery time but that prevents ringing.
My buddy builds speakers that sound better than Wilson XVX for a fraction of the cost: Hard to prove other than Wilson is a business with a pedigree and years of expertise in building speakers. You know, building a speaker is not just about selecting some drivers and crossovers off the web and stuffing them into a box made of special ingredients. The Cabinet design, structure and volume must be optimized for the type of drivers that will be used. Then the crossover networks must be designed to work with the selected drivers and the cabinet. The electrical properties are influenced by the mechanical properties of the cabinet design. Unless your buddy has an anechoic chamber and some good measuring equipment then he needs a really good ear to make a great sounding speaker. I tend to believe the high end speaker manufacturer have a lot of both. A lot of physics and math involved in building speakers. It's hardly a cut and try process these days.
I'm not trying to step on toes but listen to what some of these experts are saying. They may not always be right but they certainly have the battle scars and experience. And sure, now and then a really smart guy comes along and figures it all out in a day. Mozarts are far and few between.
