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Technical and scientific discussion of amps, cables and other topics.

RE: Ah. So anybody who asks you for evidence you imply exists is a skeptic?

I think you are confusing the answer to "Whether?" with the answer to "How?"

It is perfectly possible to test a system as a black box without understanding any underlying theory of how the system works or was designed. (You will need some understanding of experimental design and statistics, but nothing much beyond common sense and high school math.) This will allow you to answer the first question, assuming a suitable test schema.

Some theory will be helpful when answering the second question but even here it may not be necessary. I was able to optimize the sound of my uncle's Dynakit amplifier by tweaking the components in the feedback loop while observing the square wave response into a resistive dummy load. Later, we observed that the output tube plates glowed red when connected to the speaker, which was my introduction, at age 13, to stability. Ultimately we got good sound out of the speakers with this amp, but I believe my Uncle had to purchase a few extra output tubes. The issue of speaker wire did not come up as this was the 1950's and we were using zip cord from the hardware store. We had learned our lesson: components interact. Had we had a choice of wires we might have seen an interaction between amplifier, wires and speakers, rather than just an interaction between amplifier and speakers. When I mean "seen" I mean it literally. :-)


Tony Lauck

"Diversity is the law of nature; no two entities in this universe are uniform." - P.R. Sarkar


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  • RE: Ah. So anybody who asks you for evidence you imply exists is a skeptic? - Tony Lauck 07:46:53 05/28/10 (0)

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