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Diversity of opinion over what

I find it remarkable that what I percieve as cold and analytical others will call warm. Has this ever happened to you?
My particular situation I'm thinking of was that I sold Musical Fidelity A308 integrated amp, some years ago.I thought was just too SS, hard, cold, etc , sounding for my JM Lab speakers.
The guy I sold it to was very happy (I priced it waay low) and said it was very warm as he had expected it to be.
I didn't argue of course, but was really baffled. Even if he used soft toned speakers, by comparison with other amps it really should have been on the cool to neutral side, or am I way off? Beats me!! So I am asking if you have noticed this too? Either way your Warm is another guys cool etc..
I have learned never to argue about this, one guys "ruler flat" is anothers 'really rolled off top end' and dark. I am not equiped like John Atkinson to argue the point empirically.
My assessment of other sonic charateristic has been endorsed by some friends, in particular with tubes which I love experimenting with. I rarely get into a disagreement on tube qualities.
mechans

Showing 2 responses by jmcgrogan2

jmcgrogan2's avatar
jmcgrogan2
6,346 posts
 
It's not just that different folks have different tastes, it's about synergy too. I'm not trying to offend the OP, but I have always found JM Lab speakers to be hard or analytical. I'm sure they would sound their best with some warmer electronics. Speakers that I enjoy, Verity Audio Parsifal Ovations, others have called lifeless or polite. They will be if you put warm electronics in front of them.

It's about balance and synergy. Warm electronics + revealing speakers = good. Revealing electronics + revealing speakers = not so good, and vice versa. Oh yeah, don't forget to through cables into that mix too. I've heard enough different sounding pieces of gear that I think I can take just about any unit and place it with the right accompanying gear, make it sound very good, or make it sound very bad.

Most of us arrive at a similar location via very different paths. Synergy.
jmcgrogan2's avatar
jmcgrogan2
6,346 posts
 
But Steve, you did say the sound with the MF A308 was "hard, cold" which I take for detailed and analytical, when paired with your JM Labs speakers. I'm sure that tubes can tame the JM Labs speakers, but that doesn't mean the MF A308 is any guiltier of being hard and cold than you JM Labs. Mate the MF A308 with some warm, musical speakers and the sound would probably be fine.
analytical speaker + analytical electrics = Bad.
wam speaker + warm electronics = Bad
warm electronics + analytical speakers = Good
analytical electronics + warm speakers = Good.

Are you starting to see where I'm headed with this? Yes, the room and cables come into play too. A live room probably needs warmer gear while a dead room would prefer more analytical gear. It's all about system matching.

I mean I know what your talking about. I had a Mark Levinson No. 38S preamp in my system once and it sounded terrible. My wife even noted that "her car radio sounds better than that". I sold it to a guy who loved it. I don't think that ML is bad, it just did not work at all in the system that I owned at that time.
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