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Posted by Paul S on
02-01-2025
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Who even wants a system that cannot discriminate aspects of "intent", including the composers vs. the conductors vs. the musicians, also audiences, apropos? Is it not obvious that the ability to reveal poor performances does not mean that the system "makes good performances sound bad"? Further, IMO, a top system can give insight into intent even if the "sound of the recording itself" is "not good" in Level 1 terms, and it should be able to deliver a good performance, apropos, even if the Level 1 sound itself is not especially good. In fact, IMO, the "content loaded" performance should pretty much come through, no matter what. God, how many treasured performances would I lose if this were not the case? No question, the ability to tune operating points is worth a lot. But, since I hear what Romy is talking about without amp OP tuning, I do not associate the "discrimination" here with that. Either that or my amps "got it right in the first place", or it is something else. Going the opposite direction from the recommended "cheesey" Tch PC3 is the Giulini/VPO Bruckner 9 ('88), where the VPO simply "nails" it, no fooling around. Anyway, I agree that amp shoppers should keep what Romy has said here in mind as they "compare amplifiers" (like we can actually do this...). If the amp can discriminate, and it is "not bad" in Level 1 terms, I'd put it ahead of... literally anything that could not do that.
Paul S
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Posted by Paul S on
02-02-2025
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Putting a little more thought into the issue of systemic "discrimination", I have long been inclined to think that Hippocrates was right when he said, First, do no harm. If we can get Music from a given source (LPs or CDs) to begin with, we "just" need to take care of the "Musical Data" through attenuation, routing, amplification and transformation (back) into sound. It's probably because it's actually "impossible" to do all this that it sounds daunting when framed like this. If there are problems at the listening end, what is the root cause? The only Saving Grace here is that if results are acceptable, then it's OK. This system builder's conundrum is the reason why hobbyists are cautioned and encouraged to change specifically-targeted things one at a time, and to circle the wagons if things get weird.
"When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro." -- Hunter S. Thompson
Paul S
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