Talk but not walk?


Hi Guys

This isn't meant to start a fight, but it is important to on lookers. As a qualifier, I have my own audio forum where we report on audio issues as we empirically test them. It helps us short cut on theories and developing methods of listening. We have a wide range of systems and they are all over the world adding their experiences to the mix. Some are engineers, some are artist and others are audiophiles both new and old. One question I am almost always asked while I am visiting other forums, from some of my members and also members of the forum I am visiting is, why do so many HEA hobbyist talk theory without any, or very limited, empirical testing or experience?

I have been around empirical testing labs since I was a kid, and one thing that is certain is, you can always tell if someone is talking without walking. Right now on this forum there are easily 20 threads going on where folks are talking theory and there is absolutely no doubt to any of us who have actually done the testing needed, that the guy talking has never done the actual empirical testing themselves. I've seen this happen with HEA reviewers and designers and a ton of hobbyist. My question is this, why?

You would think that this hobby would be about listening and experience, so why are there so many myths created and why, in this hobby in particular, do people claim they know something without ever experimenting or being part of a team of empirical science folks. It's not that hard to setup a real empirical testing ground, so why don't we see this happen?

I'm not asking for peoples credentials, and I'm not asking to be trolled, I'm simply asking why talk and not walk? In many ways HEA is on pause while the rest of audio innovation is moving forward. I'm also not asking you guys to defend HEA, we've all heard it been there done it. What I'm asking is a very simple question in a hobby that is suppose to be based on "doing", why fake it?

thanks, be polite

Michael Green

www.michaelgreenaudio.net


128x128michaelgreenaudio
There should be no good reason to remove an amplifier case cover. The cover protects you from a possibly fatal shock and the components from possibly fatal damage (and dust).

Case resonance issues in amplifier design are best left to the designers, but if you are concerned you can always experiment with means of physical isolation via platforms, air bladders, etc

Some manufacturers such as Naim Audio have been physically isolating/decoupling their circuit boards for decades.


Post removed 
Greetings everyone

Michael's products have helped me tame a wayward listening room with hard concrete walls and ceiling where other methodologies have failed.

Before this, I have gone through all the usual products and approaches such as acoustic foam, felt, traps, absorptive panels as well as drapes.  None were satisfactory. All took away more from the music than any benefit from dealing with the various honks and echoes of this room.

The whole Tune process -- more in acoustic treatment and to a limited extent on the equipment -- has created a sound in my living space that is very enjoyable with both digital and vinyl.

So while some audiophiles may find the whole Tune thing controversial or counter-intuitive, in my case it solved room problems and saved me from either finding another pastime or avoiding the room completely by using headphones.

Sonic   



glupson wrote,

“Where you may not be doing too well in all of this is putting too many emotions into something eventually completely unimportant. Some guy somewhere claiming things you see as bogus and selling it to other people who also have nothing better to do than to pay to play with bricks (wooden, or whatever) and that irritates you. So what? Let them play with their toys in whatever way they want, but do not pay with your new duodenal ulcer. It is not worth the trouble and you simply cannot win.”

>>>>Whoa! Hey, I did not see that coming! Those comments are very typical of professional naysayers and pseudo skeptics, a perfect example really of someone who presents himself as an intellectually honest, curious skeptic, innocently seeking answers to “real questions” when in fact he’s aiming to attack the other side as uncooperative and misinformed, even stupid, without even getting to the bottom of what it’s all about. Just wait for the name calling. It’s so obvious. A self fulfilling prophecy. It’s not a debate, it’s a foregone conclusion. A page straight out of Zen and the Art of Debunkery. Let the Inquisition continue! Like prof, glupson is one of these pseudo skeptics who keeps insisting, “they’re the ones calling names, not me, I’m just an innocent seeker of truth, seeking out hoaxes and frauds wherever I find them.” Give us a break, glupson. 

Zen and the Art of Debunkery
“As the millennium turns, science seems in many ways to be treading the weary path of the religions it presumed to replace. Where free, dispassionate inquiry once reigned, emotions now run high in the defense of a fundamentalized "scientific truth." As anomalies mount up beneath a sea of denial, defenders of the Faith and the Kingdom cling with increasing self-righteousness to the hull of a sinking paradigm. Faced with provocative evidence of things undreamt of in their philosophy, many otherwise mature scientists revert to a kind of skeptical infantilism characterized by blind faith in the absoluteness of the familiar. Small wonder, then, that so many promising fields of inquiry remain shrouded in superstition, ignorance, denial, disinformation, taboo . . . and debunkery.

• Put on the right face. Cultivate a condescending air certifying that your personal opinions are backed by the full faith and credit of God. Adopting a disdainful, upper-class manner is optional but highly recommended.

• Employ vague, subjective, dismissive terms such as "ridiculous," "trivial," "crackpot," or "bunk," in a manner that purports to carry the full force of scientific authority.

• Keep your arguments as abstract and theoretical as possible. This will send the message that accepted theory overrides any actual evidence that might challenge it -- and that therefore no such evidence is worth examining.”

- your friend and humble scribe
geoffkait,

As I have mentioned before, your comments are at least odd. Your choice of words is baffling. Your references are often revealing.