Sound Advice: 'Cost no object' on audio gear?

sound advice need not consider all the options. It just needs to be useful to many.

So what's the problem. What better sound advice might be offered? Ransom the house for a uber expensive stereo or suffer? Most can't afford that so not no sound.

It's not rocket science. Can we just move on?

We need more authors that appreciate quality gear and sound but also keep things real. Not less.

To me, when I hear a high end supporter criticize someone for offering practical or sound advise that most would find useful, I have to question what is it that they are afraid of? Quality products should speak for themselves at any price point. OK, right, I know its a competition to get people to buy in. I get it. It is what it is.

I read he auditioned the Parasound amp he recommended. Seemed like a "sound" recommendation to me for use with Polk speakers.

He kept things simple and made a reasonable recommendation it seems to me after making a case that cost is no object is not good criteria for selecting an amp for the Polks.

Sheesh give the guy a break. We all try to make "sound" recommendations but fact is we all have our biases based on unique experiences that will influence things.

Lindish has a practical approach that emphasizes quality and value from what I have seen. He is a well documented OHM speaker fan so he can't be all bad. :^)

in a sense it comes down to what information is needed to make a sound recommendation.

I think specs are enough to do that. That and measurements if available are all you have to go by to decide what is a good technical match or not. Specs are the only metrics one has to decide what to try when it comes to picking an amp for speakers or siource or preamp to use with an amp. You make a sound recommendation by matching specs. Does not mean the results will be exactly what the doctor ordered. That takes listening. But that is a completely subjective determination at that point not on based on anything other than how each thinks something sounds which is not a reliable indicator alone of what another will think.

Any recommendation is a potshot. With no assurance another will like or not until heard.

Plus again Landis did test a lesser para sound amp so recommending the higher up model for modest Polks was very sound under the assumption that the op wanted to treat his Polks to something special but reasonable.

Landish' s recomendation has as good a chance of working out as most any in my estimation. Doesn't mean it will though. The sound people like is a very personal thing.

Zd,

We are in agreement. Maybe I didn't state it clearly.

I'm just saying that it IS possible to make a recommendation without hearing a particular product based on specs.

ALso that if I hear and like a combo does not mean someone else will and vice versa.

So its an exercise in problem solving that can be tackled in different ways to make progress effectively towards ones end goal.

A tv is all self contained. Most stereo systems involve matching of components. Then there is the room and it's acoustics. Not as simple. That's the difference.

The point is spec sheets can be and often are useful tools for identifying viable candidates that will most likely PERFORM WELL TOGETHER case by case.

What sounds best, especially after a certain point, is purely a matter of opinion.

Of course some specs and opinions are better than others. The game is to try to find the good ones.

So one can choose their poisons I suppose, but it is what it is. Hopefully the specs reflect that to some reliable degree.

FWIW I also hesitate to recommend something I have not heard but I will do it if someone needs an opinion bad enough in lieu of anything better.

For example if a product or company fits teh bill on paper AND has many positive reviews out there or has been around for awhile and is a proven commodity, there is lower risk. I might cite that with the qualification that I have not heard if someone finds that useful.

Again its all in the information available and how well one is able to synthesis it.

Whether anyone listens or not is a matter mostly of trust, which ideally must be earned.

But yeah, in the end nobody ever knows exactly until they hear it. i will never recommend that anything necessarily sounds the best other than IMHO.

ZD, I might trust your recommendations for hifi gear but I"m afraid I will pass for now on the brain surgery although I'm sure anyone would find some room for improvement there if they looked. :^)