Bigtee: Well, Toole is justifying his own (well-regarded) approach to speaker design. What he shows is a correlation between frequency response (measured in an anechoic chamber) and listener evaluation (blind, of course). There are a lot of reasons why that correlation may break down somewhat outside the lab; e.g., speaker-room interaction (which, along with the recording itself, is where much of your soundstage information comes from). And it's quite possible that people would prefer one speaker if they were looking at it and another if they weren't. No formula is going to explain every audiophile preference.
Cable vs. Electronics: biggest bang for the buck
I recently chronicled in a review here, my experience with a very expensive interconnect. The cables cost nearly $7000 and are well beyond my reach. The issue is, the Pursit Dominus sound fantastic. Nothing in my stereo has ever sounded so good. I have been wondering during and since the review how much I would have to spend to get the same level of improvement. I'm sure I could double the value of my amp or switch to monoblocks of my own amps and not obtain this level of improvement.
So, in your opinion what is the better value, assuming the relative value of your componants being about equal? Is it cheaper to buy, great cables or great electronics? Then, which would provide the biggest improvement?
So, in your opinion what is the better value, assuming the relative value of your componants being about equal? Is it cheaper to buy, great cables or great electronics? Then, which would provide the biggest improvement?