It looks like a debate to me.

I stand by the intent of my original statement:

Amps seem to sound more sensitive to impedance issues to me than the math otherwise suggests.

Peace, @atmasphere

Best,

E

Hi @tomic601

I hate to be the spoil sport here, but I know I'm not that sensitive, and experts I trust also say this.

I believe some people are very sensitive to this issue, but I've never heard a time/phase accurate speaker wow me just because of that.

I point you to this article, which has three different experts on the subject:

https://audioxpress.com/article/zero-phase-in-studio-monitors

Like I said, I know I can't hear this, maybe others can, but I don't think those who can are the majority.

Best,

E

It should not be a debate. If you have a tube amp that ’measures poorly’ yet seems to sound just fine (as has often been seen in the pages of Stereophile) and an amplifier that measures just fine and is really ’neutral’ but not particularly musical then you have two amplifiers that sit at the opposite spectrum of the same problem, which is distortion and what to do about it.

I will argue that we are also more susceptible to damping factor and speaker/cable impedance than we think we are, but I, in a very lage part, agree with Ralphs point, that the distortion profile is probably a large, large factor in likeability.

In large part I think my own love/dislike for certain amps, and those fanboys on the opposite side of the room probably has to do with exactly what @atmasphere is talking about here.

I'm leaving this thread alone.
Not because I don't want to mess with it.  I do.

I just don't know what it means.