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Hello Romy and friends,

With regard to constructive criticism:

At the risk of stating the obvious: Not many people (audio manufacturers included) have your level of references with regard to both sound and equipment (to say nothing of musical culture). Serious audio manufacturers would probably very much value the input of a pair of ears like yours (they’d be crazy not to), if they could just get it to occur before putting the product on sale. Such a scenario would of course wreak havoc with the cat’s routine…

With regard to the apparent ignorance and “high-end” gear:

I think it comes down to a question of passion.

As becoming an audio manufacturer often has its roots in a passion for, if not sound, then SOMETHING, I believe that in most cases the manufacturers do have the best intentions, and do try to build the best products their ability allows.

However, though it sounds ridiculous, I also believe that most manufacturers simply do not have the references necessary to judge their own work. This BTW is not restricted to audio:  I know a lot of “automotive engineers” that will not acknowledge the importance of a rigid chassis; this is because they have never experienced a proper rigid chassis… The result of their work is Twisto-Flex garbage!

The truth is that this sort of reference (be it an automotive chassis having reference level rigidity, or audio) is super difficult to access. One would however think that those having sufficient passion would seek out such references (why they would not, is something I don’t understand)…

At the same time, those having the passion of the average postal employee should be stripped of their badge as creators (That’s the mild version…The general lack of passion I find in others is a wall against which I regularly slam my head. Is passion not what differentiates a human from a cabbage?)

Your system and particularly the Macondos is an example of a level of reference that is very difficult to access… Believe me I know… My back is killing me from the work I’ve been doing, but the rewards are already so apparent. Though I may not be able to walk when all is done, the experience so far has been supremely educational… I’m no different than anyone else… Without having made this investment in time, sweat and cash, I simply would not have had access to this knowledge (this tool really).

The public of course suffers from the same lack of access to these references, and hence is ignorant of what is possible. People simply do not know enough to demand better, or how even to define “better”. They would if they could, but as you often say, the mass of equipment available to the public does not favor such enlightenment.

The audio world is no different, and is orbiting within the current, very narrow base of references… It doesn’t make sense… If they are not good, how then did they become our references??? History shows that the people can be massively led, and massively misled. I suppose the “why” is another subject. As inappropriate as they may be, we have these references and most if not all equipment is designed with them in mind. Music has of course somewhat evolved as a function of the capacity of the equipment (current pop music often lacks mid range but has a lot of narrow band bass and HF…Most PA/concert speakers no longer even bother to incorporate a dedicated mid range driver!).

It is unlikely that the situation be changed over night by a manufacturer offering one piece of really superb equipment. That one piece of superb equipment would likely be completely incompatible with anything else currently available.

I believe that people are still sensitive and respond to genuine quality (though some need to be smacked a bit harder before they catch on), and because of this there is some very long-term hope.

In the mean time, in the name of the advancement of mankind, those few with true reference level access (regardless of the domain) should share this access as often as is practicable … Which I suppose is exactly what this site does.

Jd*

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