PS: Typical McGowan Sound? -- HCA-2 & Classic 250

Kevziek, what a weak and juvenile response.

And I suspect that Paul McGowan and PS Audio would consider your continued diatribes as harassment considering the fact that you continue to slam a product you haven't even heard.

You have decided to fabricate an issue here and over at AA about a piece of equipment that you don't own, haven't auditioned or even briefly listened to. Something doesn't smell right. It has become obvious to all here and over at Audio Asylum that you are just trying to stir the %#$@ about this amp.

What are your real motivations?

I find this statement rather odd.

"In looking at the responses to the Audiogon review, it is interesting to see that half the responders love it; the other half hate it."

Kevziek, your entire post seems to be a very subtle and clever attempt to bash PS Audio and the HCA-2 in particular.

If you take a broader look at opinions beyond one Audigon review, I think your 50/50 statement will evaporate. I have read every post I can find online about the HCA-2. My opinion is that from those who have *actually heard this amp* the ratio would be more like 90/10. Many of the so-called "haters", upon close inspection, haven't even auditioned this amp. They are simply responding to measurements or hearsay. Who cares about measurements, how does the damn thing sound!

My grandmother never measured a thing when she was cooking. Pinch of this and a dash of that. I would put her dishes up against anyone who used the same recipe and measured everything perfectly. I always found it funny when my sisters measured the ingredients perfectly and yet their dishes never TASTED as good as my grandmother's.

Just like cooking, I believe circuit design is as much art as it is technical execution.

If I were you I would be looking for the best *measuring* amp in the world and then live happily ever after in *measurement* bliss regardless of the sound.

BTW, I own the HCA-2 and love it.

"You can't trust the reviewers."

And you call me paranoid, Kevziek? Get real.

My response had nothing to do with my ownership and I could care less what you buy. My only point was why insinuate that the amp doesn't justify the hype when you haven't even heard it?

Your initial post is TRULY the typical audiophile response - can't possibly as good as many people say it is because Paul McGowans designs in the past have been, "An upfront, technicolor upper midrange & lower treble, some harmonic thinness, & a tight, but lean bass." Why be so cynical? It is a totally new design. None of the adjectives you use to describe McGowans past efforts remotely describes how my HCA-2 sounds in my sytem. (YMMV in your system)

Like you, I was initially skeptical of the HCA-2 and I doubted that I would keep it when I ordered it. But I decided to found out for myself rather than blather about a product I personally knew nothing about.

My point is, why try to cast aspersions on something you haven't even listened to. You would have a lot more credibility knocking something you have actually auditioned. But that is another typical audiophile response - sling *know-it-all* statements about something you haven't even heard.

Kevziek, I do find the following quote a bit strange in light of your rant in this thread about how poorly the HCA-2 measures:

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09-18-02: Author ?

"The accuracy thing bugs me. Nothing out there is accurate. Every amp presents a facsimile of the musical event, and none is true to it. Some of the SS people just want to push the "science" thing, but it's all for naught.

Again, measurements basically mean crap. I agree with Twl that this should have been discarded long ago. I remember all the older SS amps I had with 0.0001% distortion. They sounded like garbage.

The ultimate question is: which sounds more like real music being reproduced -- tubes or transistors? My experience tells me tubes, but I started this thread to see other's opinions, and I'm open to them. But let's not fool ourselves into thinking what we are listening to is accurate.....nothing is."

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Guess who's post that is? Yours.

http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?aamps&1031724377&openusid&zzKevziek&4&5#Kevziek

So which is it Kevziek? Do measurements matter or in your own words do, "measurements basically mean crap"?

And again, based on your own words, should we even bother with measurements at all, "I agree with Twl that this (measurements) should have been discarded long ago."

Maybe I am wrong about your intentions in posting this thread to begin with and I appologize if I am. Only you know the truth and what your real motivations are.

Clearly, you are certainly entitled to your opinions, as contrary as they are to one another, but I think anyone reading this thread can now see why I felt like your initial post was a subtle attempt to bash the HCA-2.

Kevziek, you don't need my help to discredit you, your own diametrically opposed posts do that.

And you say that is not you at AA. Funny thing, I previously did a search and your equipment here and over at AA is coincidentally the same. Just like in your earlier contradictory posts that I quoted, your own writings betray you again. Just be a man and step up to the plate when you get caught with your hand in the cookie jar.

And your statement, "Give it a rest before Audiogon silences you" is an obvious plea for the moderator to rescue you here and it is un-becoming.

I have done nothing to be silenced by Audiogon and the moderators are infinitely patient and fair here. I would suggest that it is you that should stop casting aspersions about a legitimate product that you haven't even heard. I suspect that the moderators may be more troubled by someone who is bashing a manufacturer without ever hearing the manufacturer's product. There is a very recent example of similar behavior to your's where a manufacturer pursued legal recourse and it wasn't pretty. Part of the problem for the poster wasn't his negative opinions or remarks about the product, but rather negative commentary that was not "legally" viewed as opinion because the poster had never auditioned the product prior to some of his inflammatory posts. Maybe you should take the hint or learn by example.

Hey, audition the amp and if you don't like it, then post negative reviews till the cows come home. And I will be the first to support your right to do so. But please stop inciting negativity about a company illegitimately.

This is my last post, I don't think anymore needs to be said. Anyone that is interested can take the time to do a search and see for themselves who is telling the truth.

To save everyone the trouble of having to go to the PS Audio Forum, I will graciously post my "suck-up" and "obnoxious" post here:

Warren Gibson

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Being a business owner myself, nothing irritates me more than for someone *to stir-up crap* online ANONYMOUSLY about a product without considering how their actions may affect a reputable company. There was a recent example where a jerk started the same type of crap about Newform Research and it reportedly cost John Meyer (the owner of Newform) tens of thousands of dollars in business. John sought recourse legally and the guy finally admitted that he was a liar and a fraud and confessed to his crimes. But much damage had already been done.

Fortunately, I am not in the audio business or own a business that is vunerable to this type of online subterfuge. But I know first hand how tough business is without some pinhead making it tougher. When I put myself in Paul's shoes, the crap that was started at Audiogon and AA really is obnoxious. The guy justs wants to look like a big shot. (He's probably very lonely).

He has no intention of buying an HCA-2, yet he thoroughly debases the HCA-2 to presumably ask about the CLASSIC 250. And does anyone really believe he is interested in buying a 250 when he trashed all of Pauls previous designs by saying, "...all of Paul McGowan's designs in the past" - had - "An upfront, technicolor upper midrange & lower treble, some harmonic thinness, & a tight, but lean bass". Seems to me he could have simply asked, "Could someone please give me their impressions of the PS Audio CLASSIC 250" without trashing the HCA-2 or Pauls previous designs.

But here's the icing on the cake, he later has the gall to ask Paul to explain (defend), "the test results of Mr. Atkinson"!

I would tell him to kiss my _ _ _ !

If the guy has no interest in buying the amp, why bother explaining it to him. If he sincerely wanted an explanation about the amp for *legitimate* reasons, he could have simply emailed or called Paul for the details.

He is simply on a power trip to try to make the designer (Paul) cow-tow to his demands of publicly explaining his design. The simple truth is, numbers don't tell the complete story. You know that, he knows that and I know that. He just wants to make noise.

Look, I don't have any problem with negative reviews. Hey, if you try a product and don't like it, fine, voice your opinion. I will be the first to support your right to do so. But it is simply wrong, petty, unethical, etc. to trash a product or a company for fun and games when you haven't even tried their product.

The goal of these boards is to provide useful information to help others. It is of no use to anyone to muck-rake and blather about an amp you haven't even heard.

I suspect that Paul's efforts to produce an amp that is this good at this price point has ruffled a few feathers. I guess when you move toward the front of the line, you become a bigger target. It would be real interesting to know if there are any hidden agendas in play here.

For what its worth, I don't know Paul, I've never spoken to Paul or anyone else at PS Audio for that matter. I am simply a satisfied customer who happens to also be a business owner. And I just get pissed when idiots play silly little games that take money out of the pockets of honest, hard-working businessmen.

Warren