Exactly. I could dub my tape to cylinder.
Ron’s New System
- Thread starter Ron Resnick
- Start date
At that level.of reactivity, the height of the record would impact the tracking force.
No, because that would be a coloration (a term I rarely use because I think it is typically used as a subjective personal preference general purpose slur) which homogenizes everything.
Unless warmth needs to be added deliberately to a system to offset coolness from other components, resulting in a net neutral (non-homogenizing) tonal balance.
I conceive of a spectrum with "cool" at one end (as typified by Boulder electronics) and warm at the other end (as typified by Shindo electronics and early Conrad-Johnson). All electronics fall somewhere on this spectrum.
For example, Lamm is on the slightly warm side of neutral. This is how Lamm electronics tame Wilson Audio metal dome tweeters and edgy beryllium compression drivers in some horns.
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About an hour. He didn't even have to crack open the instruction manual.
But he is -- my extensive research suggests -- the second most experienced Reed 5T installer in the entire world.
Marty, how would you characterize the tonal balance of the ZYX UNIverse Premium? Do you think the upper bass to lower midrange area tends to be full or lean?
This interesting point brings up psychological issues which I am unqualified to address. I think some audiophiles are more introspective and intellectually honest than others.
I think some audiophiles use whatever decision process they adopt to arrive at a purchase decision, and then, therafter, suppress introspective analysis, cognitive dissonance, and self-doubt to convince themselves they bought the best component in the world. Such a person would think there are no possible sonic compromises with the component purchased.
Applicable to each of us is the ubiquitous problem in this hobby that we don't know what we don't know -- until we hear it. The purchaser of a component may convince himself/herself that it is the best-sounding component possible with no compromise -- that it sounds perfect to him/her.
Based on the auditioning experience of such person it may very well be the case -- to him/her. It may very well be the best sounding component without compromise he/she has ever heard.
But that raises the question of the depth and breadth of the person's auditioning experience -- how many actual and methodologically valid data points are in that person's database? Has the person in question auditioned three amplifiers or 30 amplifiers?
very well written.
it is the person’s number of data points, style of auditioning, intellectual honesty to himself, and when he shares it with the community.
subjective taste differences are a different point. Problem is many put all these points under “subjective taste differences”
Excellent post, Ron.
I have never heard a system without compromises.
Apart from the components themselves, rooms necessarily impose compromises on the audio experience, and so does speaker set-up.
Of course, the better a system the less compromises, relatively spoken, but compromise is always there. No system can grasp it all, and choices in reproduction have to be made by the owner according to his taste (and not infrequently the choices will be to some extent simply the haphazard result of system history).
Just the humbling experience of unamplified live music from a great seat in a great venue vs. reproduction on a system tells you enough.
I also agree with your psychological points.
That’s interesting. The only time I heard Wilson audio metal dome tweeters being tamed was by Pass Class A amps that were much warmer than my Lamm electronics in my system.
Where on that spectrum of warmth do you want your amplifiers to fall? Are you saying your tube VTL amplifiers don’t provide the warmth you are looking for?
Finally, which Lamm are you describing, and do you think the Lamm ML2 is warmer than your Jadis?
Concluding that a specific amplifier and speaker pairing do not involve trade-offs or compromises in terms of ability for the amp to drive the speaker or in terms of sonic quality heard by the listener is not the same as concluding that the pairing produces perfect sound. I would agree with those who say no component or system is perfect if that to which it is compared is live unamplified music.
Of course we can only reach conclusions based on our own experience and knowledge. The subject you describe is plagued by his own lack of exposure into thinking what he has is perfect. He does does not suffer when the criteria is only his personal satisfaction. Perfection is not required.
You yourself, with the help of your visitors, concluded that your amplifier choices involve trade-offs. The unaware subject of your post is not troubled by such awareness. He simply enjoys the sound of his music on his system. Is he suffering from some disorder?
Slightly warm. But we are glossing over an issue which is that tonal balance warmth or coolness is an independent variable from -- is not the same thing as -- weight and density in the upper bass to lower midrange region
MB-750s are a little bit warmer/richer than Siegfried IIs. But obviously I would still take Siegfried IIs over high power solid-state for their greater tube liquidity/wetness.
Lamm SET in general
I don't know. Inappropriate to guess on the warmth question since I have never compared them directly. I don't know about the question of warmer or not in terms of tonal balance.
If you forced me to guess on the weightiness/density question I would say that I suspect the Jadis JA30 might have greater weightiness and density in the upper bass to lower midrange region.
Okay, but I think this is a false dichotomy. Obviously no component or system is "perfect" if the definition of "perfect" is "compared to or indistinguishable from live, unamplified music."
Ron, You brought up the notion of perfect sounding for the listener. I try to avoid such language as it is fraught with issues and requires qualification.