Silky and soft highs: product of coloration?

The ability of a system to reproduce the scrape of multiple bows on strings is something that is not in the purview of an amplifier that always sounds 'silky'. Such an amplifier is glossing over detail.

Dgarretson, for the most part I agree with Dave although I do not agree that an Onkyo is in the same league with anything we are talking about here. But I do not think that cost has much to do with how well an amp can reproduce things properly. Proper reproduction has more to do with intent.

Hi Dave, it was this comment:

Violins are "not" hard for an amplifier to reproduce...it doesn't take a mega priced amp....even an Onkyo can do it, and with out the unintended artifacts of shrillness.

that I was commenting on. IMO Onkyos and similar **cannot** reproduce the sound of violins in that they are unable to express the nuance that we have been discussing. IME I find such amplifiers to be shrill as well.

One thing that is tricky about these audio boards and about high end audio is the matter of degree of experience.

For example, the 'man on the street' often has **no idea** what is possible with high end audio. It is one of the things that, if the industry could educate the public, would be an area of industry growth. IOW more people would buy if they knew what is possible.

Similarly, this problem also exists within the community itself. Here on the boards we all use the same language to describe sound and our experience of it, but the degree of experience varies dramatically!

For example, how much would you spend if you could experience a whole new level of transparency and involvement with the music?

Would you go out and buy the amplifier that made that happen for you? How would you be able to tell that its that amp that did it? Especially, how can you tell when there are so many choices, most of which are hard to get to audition?

Herein lies our conversation- some on this list have heard some of the finest amps out there: CAT, Berning, Einstein, (if I may be so bold) Atma-Sphere, DeHavalind, etc., and might have even heard them on a set of speakers with a preamp and recording that actually does them justice!

Sadly, most have not (oh BTW my little list above is leaving off a lot, its just to make a point) and never will. It makes it very tricky to create a conversation like this one and have it make a lot of sense. Even if you have the 'best' amp out there, there is no point if your preamp is not up to snuff!

IME it is very useful to bring a musician into your listening room and have them play. If you can, record them playing. **Then** compare that to what your stereo sounds like! Then it is possible to create an idea of how your system really performs...

Dave, that's pretty much what we found, but it was very helpful too!