Recently, I would say the last 2-3 years, I detected a very foolish tendency that audio people are brewing within themselves. A typical today’s audiofool holds within itself a hope about existing of a “secret”, no discovered yet, SS high power amplifier that address all problems of dead speakers sound reproduction. The tube people have this disease for many years and they keep within thier imagination s concept of “a secretive unique tube”. This  “secretive unique tube syndrome” is well-known, however if the tube people at least have some merits in this believe (like unique catachrestic of thier “unique” tube) then the SS people with this believe in thier “ultimate SS push-pull” have nothing more then just a new subscription to well-oiled marketing BS mixed with their ignorance to discriminate results.

Last 2 years, here and there, there are multiple reports about the new Australian, Japanese, German, Israeli, Italian, America, Russians and few other SS high power amplifiers that reportedly did not sound like a typical crappy SS amp. Sometimes ego I kind of followed those rumors reacting to all those VK-500, Parasound Halo JC-1 (the ultimate garbage!!!), Lamm M1.1, Spectral DMA-360, Boulder 2050, Tenor SS hybrids, Mark Levinson No.33H, Ayre V-1, Pass Labs X1000, Halcro dm68, Plinius SA250, Blue Circle BC-8 and many others and then, I recognized the foolish rumors pattern and frankly speaking got sick to even acknowledge all this crap. Today the new army of the SS amps out there and the morons who push them use the very same buzzwords and the very same bumper sticker inelegance to crate a new audio-Moronic hype about the “new generation” of SS push-pulled amps. The typical audio Morons learn those empty and in many instances criminally fraudulent audio-reviews, memorize them, and then exchange the quotes with each with other… How pathetic and depressing….

I would like do not insist that all SS power amplifiers are complete garbage, although it is what I feel (admitting that there are some very nice line-level SS electronics). However what I do insist that above-mentioned SS push-pull hunters waste themselves in very wrong and fundamentally unfruitful direction. A person who would sit in a public restroom, trying different fish sticks, with intention to catch fish out of a toilet probably would look ridicules. Why in such case a person who spent a lot of time and a lot of money picking better high-powered SS push-pull look less ridicules?

Unfortunately no one educate those people but if somebody do and if those people would have a chance to spent 5 seconds with their “beautiful SS amps” connected to a serious speaker then they instantaneously realized that the entire notions of “Recently SS Messiah” is completely fictional. He problem is that it is completely impossible, even theoretically impossible to be able to hear anything audio-valuable when one uses 200-400 watts SS push-pull and dead tonally and contrast disabled loudspeaker. Why? Connect this 300W SS amp to a PROPERLY BUILT AND PERFORMING 110dB sensitive system and listen what this realy amp does. Sound too revolting? Now connect it back to your 90dB sensitive speakers (even a god one) and see if your SS amp can REALLY discriminate tonal and dynamic charisma of notes? It is it! The game is over and the high power SS amp after this self-education should be sent to hell, or more precisely to the Audiogon to benefits a next idiot out there….

It is 21 century and still there is no good, tonally and contrast capable high sensitively loudspeaker. If all those people who waste themselves by infinite search of high power SS push-pull Messiah would spend the same amount of time and money to discover the potentials of properly done multi-channel (no single driver idiocy please!) high sensitively speaker then ALL those high power, SS, push-pull, gray-sounding amplifiers will die off and will not be applicable for a high demanding home sound reproduction…

For now, you the audio Moron, run to a bookstore, buy a new audio magazine and devour a new article about the new “discovered” SS push-pull monster, written buy you next audio pimp. The ignorance of those writers, the audio heaters, is very much matched with the idiocy of your, audio Moron, expectations. The FaxNews of Audio is opened 25 hours a day!

MusicLover wrote:

IF you can "hear" SS amps, Romy, then your system must not be well set up, and be sensitive to the frequency shifts caused by tube amps. SS amps have NO sound that humans can hear.

MusicLover, could you elaborate on this a little more?

MusicLover wrote:

I use EQ'd high eff multi driver horn system, and I can tell you, solid state sounds great! I use a mid 1990's luxman, and it works great on my triamped (mainly horn) system.

Hm, I am glad that you happy with  Luxman. Yes, I am familiar that there are some very inexpensive low compression MF drivers, primarily with ceramic magnets, that work better with SS amplification but they, even with the best SS, perform very poorly and none desirable all together.

MusicLover wrote:

Horn systems like yours Romy are notoriously colored and need proper EQing,

Could you elaborate on this as well? It would be interesting what were the stimulus and reasons for your comments. Also, it would be interesting to learn what kink exposure to horn loaded installations you have.

MusicLover wrote:

otherwise you will spend the rest of your feline life swapping amps.

Ironically I swap amplifiers much less frequency then anyone I know in audio. Still, although I very much disagree with your suggestions it will be educational to hear your further thoughts

Rgs,
Romy the Cat

John,

I do not think that it should be arguments at the level like: who could hear differences or whose playback sounds more realistic. The man had his point, agree I or disagree with it is irrelevant. The question should be not about whose views are better but if the MusicLover views have any justifications for validity, inner-reasoning and if they do not have a self-destructive sense.  People know that that the comments like: “… and I can tell you, solid state sounds great!” do not impress me and I need some factuality behind the dropped word.

I do feel that I know where MusicLover coming from and I do fell that I might help him to learn where he was incorrect, objectively incorrect. He certainly might find beneficial to reflect what stays behind his “sounds great” statement and what might be a success definitions for a playback. That is why I’ve offered him to expend his view, hoping he would provide more details on his standing.

Rgs,
Romy

MusicLover wrote:

Romy, SS amps have a FLAT freq curve and essentially inaudible distortion. THey don't cause ANY sound. No one has been able to scientifically demonstrate that SS amps add any HUMAN AUDIBLE signature to the signal. While I understand this site is more opinion based, i'd be interested to see if you can cite any SCIENTIFIC studies (not listening experiences but science) that demonstrates otherwise.

MusicLover wrote:

Romy, I use altec 808a in a 511b and altec 515G. AS for desirability, that's your opinion. My opinion differs. WE are both entitled to our own opinions!

I understand why in such case you feel that horn are severally colored and why you need a use a condom of SS amplification to mask out the huge problems of the 511b horn. In my language those rectangular caskets are not horn but the ears torturing machines.  In realty the properly built, properly arranges and properly powered horns do not have anything colorations you apparently experienced before. I think you make a generalization slightly premature. Also, if horns require any EQ then it is a clear evidence that people who design the system were very much ignorant regarding of what they do. Trust me, I did play with horns EQ a lot until I learned why I was wrong. . If you find yourself in Boston I will be happy to demonstrate it to you and horn is completely free form the prejudices that you observe in then so far. But one age, it is demands what you looking to get: the music for your soil of the sounds for your oscilloscope… :-)

MusicLover wrote:

I have a couple of horn systems, and have heard many more. They tend to be colored in terms of frequency response. Of course they have great dynamics. Butthey need proper EQing. Your system seems to be non EQed. I can only surmise that you have managed to find some acceptable balance between the tube amps you use and the system you have built, that (while my guess is not flat at all) sounds pleasant to you. THe stimulus for my comments is simple: I have built & listened to quite a lot of horn systems.

MusicLover wrote:

Ok ROmy, disregard my last line, I was being humorous. What I meant was: if you have a non-flat horn system (and in your case I can tell you it is non-flat if you measure it you will see) then you can swap imperfect tube amps till you find a balance of sound. Or you can do what the pros do: just EQ it and go with a flat SS amp.  REal simple.

I would anticipate that you would extend me some credit and will not presume that I would cure the non-flat horn system with amplifier or even some kind of barbaric equalizations. I think one should discover how to make the playback installations at least linear and then start to thinks about Sound.

Rgs,
Romy the Cat

MusicLover wrote:

SO you are saynig you have meaured the horn system in question and it is truly flat? I would be interested to hear your measurement procedure.

MusicLover, trust me, John know everything that need to be know about the measurement procedure and it would be rely funny if you would examine him about it. BTW, what did you mean the “horn system in question”. Are you talking about my own installation? The sweep is in “My pPayback “ section of my site. Frankly speaking it might be even more linear if I wish but I have much more advanced demands for the speaker measurements then juts the plane-vanila linearity.

MusicLover wrote:

I dont think ROmy actually did any design, he just bought components and put them together. Did he actually design the horn?

MusicLover, you might discover eventually that we are the masters of out own playbacks and that we fully responsible for the design of our listing rooms. I might presume that if I ship my playback ‘as is” to you then you would still have the difficulties with linearity of response. :-) What I am trying to say that until you personally take charge, control and responsibility for the way how your installation performs then “you will spend the rest of your feline life swapping amps”.. :-)

MusicLover wrote:

I'll ignore the rst of your post, since its clear you have strong opinions, but don't seem to have much experience with sound reproduction.

Well, what might be described as an “experience with sound reproduction”? I feel that experience is a predictable ability to deliver a predictable result as a targeted level of demands. From this perspective John has quite a lot of experience. In fact if you decided to move form the Altec "coca-cola cans" to the real horns then you might learn that John is in a very unique position: he could deliver a stable predictable result at the level of demands that way suppresses any another known to me horn makers. I wish you luck to find somebody more skillful and  knowledgeable vendor with completely suppressed ego.

As personal note, I might say that I was introduced to John very accidentally and was attracted by his certain horno-radicalism. For the years when I was talking with different people about horns I was feeling that no mater now bug Moron I was but still actually was  in a position to teach those people about the subject. With John it was very nice “click” as many of my own visions that I considered imperative for a properly sounding horn installations were fully embraced and enriched by the John’s horn making experience. I think, your conclusion that  he has not much experience with sound reproduction require…  I would say ...a lot of equalization on your side….

Rgs,
Romy the caT

LossTangentZero wrote:

Romy, You are an idiot as proven by your inability to spell.  Your degree of electronic brainwashing is exceeded only by the offensiveness of your derisive descriptions of those who reject your fantasy paradigm.  How is it possible that a tube amplifier which cannot meet the most basic of specifications accurately reproduce anything but the sound of your farts?  While you may relish the smell of your own petards while enjoying the sound of tubes- the rest of us are not morons because we disagree with the sound and smell!  Pathetic is you in your aromatically and sonically polluted room denying the truth that solid state amplifiers (and even FoxNews) deliver.

Romy,

Please accept my apologies for my first posting on your website.  I had only perused a couple pages and may have come to an incorrect conclusion.  While it is human nature to lock onto an idea and dogmatically pursue it, those in touch with reality will continually question their senses and attempt to critically evaluate external inputs with the understanding that we as humans are biased and prone to enveloping ourselves with a cocoon of incorrect but comforting paradigms.  I did not mean to state that FoxNews is the “truth” but was trying to imply that those who believe the channel is all lies are blinded by their as yet unrealized internal biases.   FoxNews is just a biased as CNN, BBC, Al Jazeera, or any other “news” of choice because they are produced by inherently biased individuals.  Those who filter their information inputs into prima facie “lies” and “truths” are not in touch with reality.  Only by absorbing all of the available sources of information with a skeptical analysis can one hope to arrive at some temporary “truth”.

We must accept that the human body is equipped with very poor measurement instruments in the form of eyes and ears, etc.  Fortunately, the human brain is exceptionally powerful in compensating for this poor signal quality.  If you doubt this, please let me know and I can provide you with some experiments to prove how your brain fills in the missing information and vainly attempts to correct for errors in measurement (negative feedback if you prefer).  The downside is that this correction process is so automatic that we grow to ignore it and some would even deny it exists.  As our measurement instruments age or we suffer from mental illnesses the brain must apply even more corrections and the overworked brain is further stressed.  In order to maintain the self esteem required to prevent breakdown the conscious mind often compensates for incorrect information by externalizing the sources of the errors.  In other words blaming the world for ones ever increasing biological shortcomings, inflating the ego, and convincing oneself that the rest of the world is wrong, deaf, stupid, or whatever.

Subsequent to my initial posting I have spent a couple of hours reviewing a small fraction of your nearly 5,000 posts.  I am sincerely concerned about your state of mental health and hope that you take some time to consider that you may be in need of a slight “tune up” and ask yourself some of the following questions.  Please, there is no need to reply as they are for your benefit only and not meant as an attack or to initiate an argument.

1.    How many cats do you live with?  Have you ever had complaints from neighbors about your animals?  If you have more than 3 cats you may have animal hoarding tendencies.  If you are not familiar with this condition please do some research on the subject and consider that you may suffer from the syndrome.

2.    How is your income derived?  You stated that you were a software engineer, but your website is so large I question whether you have the time to hold a professional job while maintaining a normal social life, allowing time for physical exercise, etc.  Have you ever had your employment terminated despite your protestations that you were a superior employee?   Since you clearly have the funds to pursue the audio hobby I’m wondering if you are living off an inheritance or other funds while living a reclusive life in isolation of healthy human interactions and relationships.

3.    Are you able to review and understand your postings from the past?  You demonstrate an extensive body of knowledge regarding many aspects of music.  However, frequently paragraphs within your postings are incompressible despite repeated readings.  Some of this may be due to careless spelling and diction or English being your second language, but so much of it seems to be nonsense to those outside your world.  While you are demonstrably convinced of your infallible expertise, the truth is your statements often contradict the accepted and undeniable body of knowledge of physics, acoustics, electromagnetic and acoustic wave propagation, signal theory, and electronic signal reproduction.

4.     Are you generally happy?  Do you have hourly or daily mood swings?  I congratulate you on a very comprehensive website presumably dedicated to the enjoyment of music reproduction.  Unfortunately, most of your postings are full of virulent attacks on outsiders and attempts to prove your own omniscience.  A healthy mind cannot be so obsessed with proving oneself as the holder of all truths while blaming and lamenting the exterior world for being so inferior.  If music makes you happy, why are you so full of anger and resentment?

LossTangentZero wrote:

FoxNews is just a biased as CNN, BBC, Al Jazeera, or any other “news” of choice because they are produced by inherently biased individuals.

1.    How many cats do you live with?  2.    How is your income derived? 3.    Are you able to review and understand your postings from the past? 4.     Are you generally happy?

LossTangentZero wrote:

We must accept that the human body is equipped with very poor measurement instruments in the form of eyes and ears, etc.  Fortunately, the human brain is exceptionally powerful in compensating for this poor signal quality.  If you doubt this, please let me know and I can provide you with some experiments to prove how your brain fills in the missing information and vainly attempts to correct for errors in measurement (negative feedback if you prefer).  The downside is that this correction process is so automatic that we grow to ignore it and some would even deny it exists.  As our measurement instruments age or we suffer from mental illnesses the brain must apply even more corrections and the overworked brain is further stressed.  In order to maintain the self esteem required to prevent breakdown the conscious mind often compensates for incorrect information by externalizing the sources of the errors.  In other words blaming the world for ones ever increasing biological shortcomings, inflating the ego, and convincing oneself that the rest of the world is wrong, deaf, stupid, or whatever.

LossTangentZero wrote:

Subsequent to my initial posting I have spent a couple of hours reviewing a small fraction of your nearly 5,000 posts.  I am sincerely concerned about your state of mental health and hope that you take some time to consider that you may be in need of a slight “tune up” …

LossTangentZero wrote:

How many cats do you live with?  Have you ever had complaints from neighbors about your animals?  If you have more than 3 cats you may have animal hoarding tendencies.  If you are not familiar with this condition please do some research on the subject and consider that you may suffer from the syndrome.

LossTangentZero wrote:

How is your income derived?  You stated that you were a software engineer, but your website is so large I question whether you have the time to hold a professional job while maintaining a normal social life, allowing time for physical exercise, etc.  Have you ever had your employment terminated despite your protestations that you were a superior employee?   Since you clearly have the funds to pursue the audio hobby I’m wondering if you are living off an inheritance or other funds while living a reclusive life in isolation of healthy human interactions and relationships.

LossTangentZero wrote:

Are you able to review and understand your postings from the past?  You demonstrate an extensive body of knowledge regarding many aspects of music.  However, frequently paragraphs within your postings are incompressible despite repeated readings.  Some of this may be due to careless spelling and diction or English being your second language, but so much of it seems to be nonsense to those outside your world.

LossTangentZero wrote:

While you are demonstrably convinced of your infallible expertise, the truth is your statements often contradict the accepted and undeniable body of knowledge of physics, acoustics, electromagnetic and acoustic wave propagation, signal theory, and electronic signal reproduction.

LossTangentZero wrote:

Are you generally happy?  Do you have hourly or daily mood swings?  I congratulate you on a very comprehensive website presumably dedicated to the enjoyment of music reproduction.  Unfortunately, most of your postings are full of virulent attacks on outsiders and attempts to prove your own omniscience.  A healthy mind cannot be so obsessed with proving oneself as the holder of all truths while blaming and lamenting the exterior world for being so inferior.  If music makes you happy, why are you so full of anger and resentment?

LossTangentZero wrote:

Again, I apologize for my earlier posting as it was an attack and I was wrong to send it without taking the time to better understand your situation.  I’m sure most of us in the outside world appreciate your monumental efforts in creating such an admirable tome.  I only wish it were more constructive and conveyed the joy of music instead of the wasted attempts of an obsessive compulsive to prove his superiority.