What are the Rules of Thumb to Mate Tube Amps with High Efficiency Speakers for Maximum Musicality?

[Al M.]

Why wouldn't I use listening to Led Zeppelin or Rush to evaluate an amplifier?

Heaven forfend, I don't want to start a genre war. Let's just say I prefer to use acoustic music for equipment evaluation.

I do too, Tim. There is nothing that is more important to me than believability when it comes to performance with unamplified live music as a reference.

However, rock is great, even essential in my view, to evaluate bass and rhythm & timing. Problems with the latter are less obvious on classical and classical avantgarde, my musical main diet, but on a subliminal level they will also be important there, and rock reveals it all (it doesn't need to be "classic rock"). Jazz is also good for that, but I found that especially digital components tend to have, or used to have (it was a really bad problem in the past), rhythm & timing problems with in particular rock. Fortunately, my current digital is a veritable rhythmic animal, and can compete in that area with any turntable.

So yes, I think Caesar was entirely correct to use listening to Led Zeppelin or Rush to evaluate an amplifier, at least particular aspects thereof.

 

[bonzo75]

Fortunately, my current digital is a veritable rhythmic animal, and can compete in that area with any turntable.

You mean one that rhymes with any, like Peter's SME?

Or do you mean literally any

 

[Al M.]

You mean one that rhymes with any, like Peter's SME?

Or do you mean literally any

Any that I've heard so far, which is far more than one.

 

[microstrip]

(...) Fortunately, my current digital is a veritable rhythmic animal, and can compete in that area with any turntable. (...)

You are a very fortunate person. I am not able to make such general statement. Probably because of poor digital transcription or recordings, different mastering and added sense of rhythm brought by the electro/mechanical vinyl recording and playback, many jazz and rock LPs have more rhythm than the equivalent CDs in my system.

I would love to discuss the why's in a peaceful and informative separate thread, but I fear this is a subject that unfortunately will quickly degenerate in a brand/format war.

 

[Al M.]

You are a very fortunate person. I am not able to make such general statement. Probably because of poor digital transcription or recordings, different mastering and added sense of rhythm brought by the electro/mechanical vinyl recording and playback, many jazz and rock LPs have more rhythm than the equivalent CDs in my system.

I would love to discuss the why's in a peaceful and informative separate thread, but I fear this is a subject that unfortunately will quickly degenerate in a brand/format war.

Yes, I have been extremely critical of digital in the past when it comes to this issue, and I have my own ideas as to why digital is (used to be) challenged in this respect, but you are right, the subject would quickly degenerate in a brand/format war. There will also be those who will deny that the problem exists in the first place .

Here are interesting links from an era where digital was really bad at rhythm & timing, but I suppose you know them already:

Pace, Rhythm, & Dynamics (Martin Colloms, 1992)

Pace, Rhythm, & Dynamics: One listener's lament

 

[KeithR]

Why wouldn't I use listening to Led Zeppelin or Rush to evaluate an amplifier?

Heaven forfend, I don't want to start a genre war. Let's just say I prefer to use acoustic music for equipment evaluation.

because they want electric guitars to sound real?

i find it hard to fault anyone's choice in demo music - its what they listen to and want to sound good.

 

[assessor43]

I am not sure there are any set rules. I have heard some great systems with valve, solid state, electrostat and "box speaker". Different systems approach getting to the end result differently. How I judge is i like a system that to me seems like it does not have a volume control. I can listen at low to moderate levels and feel like I am not missing anything or need to turn the volume up. Many different types of setups can get you there. I think getting there comes with experience, sometimes many years. lol