After reading this thread (I actually read every single one of them) I felt compelled to make my first Audiogon forum post. This is taken from an article in Stereophile in a review of the Infinity Prelude MTS speaker system. I believe it applies because you have a very technical guy and an experiece guy look at the same set of speakers. Also, the experience guy heard something that couldn't be measured in the 70s, but he ended up being right. Just an interesting article in light of this thread. The funny thing is that the section of the review is actually titled the below introduction.
Do I Want My Myths Shattered?
You may ask why, after a day of heavy
pummeling by Floyd Toolea CDloving
scientist who relies strongly on
measurements, who cuts mystics and
observational reviewers no slack, and
whose research proves that when we
can see what we are about to hear, we
form hopelessly prejudicial responses
I still wanted to review these speakers.
You also may ask why hed want them
reviewed by someone like meor by
any observational reviewer, for that
matter. Actually, he may not, given
some of the disparaging things hes written
about nonscientific, casual reviewing
in his published research.
There may be a single answer to both
questions: In discussing the bass-equalization
feature, Toole admitted that
attempts at this made in the 1970s yielded
great measurements but, according to
the golden-eared, bad bass. And guess
what? The ears were right. The observational
types heard things that the primitive
measuring devices of the time
couldnt. Todays gear showsand
Toole showed usthat 1⁄3-octave equalization
mutilated bass performance in
ways that were then unmeasurable but
clearly audible. So if I didnt like the
sound of these near-perfectmeasuring
loudspeakers, I had an out: I was
hearing things not yet measurable.
The review went on to say how much the reviewer loved these speakers. Anyway, I have a question now.
Which cables are the best to use? I have heard alot about Purist Audio but what about Cardas or the BPT cables?
Also, are Wattgates that much better compared to the Hubbell outlets? They are about 3 times the price. Just curious about thoughts on all of this.
Jeff
Do I Want My Myths Shattered?
You may ask why, after a day of heavy
pummeling by Floyd Toolea CDloving
scientist who relies strongly on
measurements, who cuts mystics and
observational reviewers no slack, and
whose research proves that when we
can see what we are about to hear, we
form hopelessly prejudicial responses
I still wanted to review these speakers.
You also may ask why hed want them
reviewed by someone like meor by
any observational reviewer, for that
matter. Actually, he may not, given
some of the disparaging things hes written
about nonscientific, casual reviewing
in his published research.
There may be a single answer to both
questions: In discussing the bass-equalization
feature, Toole admitted that
attempts at this made in the 1970s yielded
great measurements but, according to
the golden-eared, bad bass. And guess
what? The ears were right. The observational
types heard things that the primitive
measuring devices of the time
couldnt. Todays gear showsand
Toole showed usthat 1⁄3-octave equalization
mutilated bass performance in
ways that were then unmeasurable but
clearly audible. So if I didnt like the
sound of these near-perfectmeasuring
loudspeakers, I had an out: I was
hearing things not yet measurable.
The review went on to say how much the reviewer loved these speakers. Anyway, I have a question now.
Which cables are the best to use? I have heard alot about Purist Audio but what about Cardas or the BPT cables?
Also, are Wattgates that much better compared to the Hubbell outlets? They are about 3 times the price. Just curious about thoughts on all of this.
Jeff