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Single Ended Triodes (SETs), the ultimate tube lovers dream.

Drawing the line

Good question.

I don't think there is a one size fits all answer, however.

The question of directionality is a good example. Do I believe it? No, frankly. Sounds like total hogwash based on my limited knowledge of the subject.

But look at Slagle's story about Mapleshade. He was unrolling wire off of a spool and was supposed to label start and finish so they would know the "direction" of the wire for future testing. Then Dave intentionally swapped one around and labeled it backwards.

Pierre called Dave and said he thinks Dave labeled one of the wires wrong. In other words, he got caught.

Not sure if I am supposed to tell that story or not!

I don't know, Bro.

It seems Pierre has some way to know. Pierre is what I would call an intense auditioner and a hardcore experimenter. I first met him about 30 years ago and he was doing wacky experiments even back then. What can certain people learn to distinguish? I'm not sure.

Learning is routinely ignored in a lot of the forum discussion. Somebody who works with audio gear all day for decades learns things average folks don't know about sound, including highly developed sonic memory. I don't think it is pure memory, more like developing a framework to categorize sound differences that don't make much difference to average folks.

I routinely ignore even things I know matter, i.e. could make a positive or negative difference. I use speaker wire I bought USED from an installer in Vegas on ebay. It is used Belden 4 conductor. Sounds OK to me, but I think the kinds of speakers I use are somewhat less sensitive to wire choice than modern speakers even though I totally believe wire sounds different, but I don't get involved too heavily anymore. I make my interconnects and most wires myself out of stuff I selected though evaluation.

I think it is also hard to separate the device from the sales pitch. As soon as I hear a super wizard sales pitch about how this genius dude discover a new physics, I shut it off. For some reason this works on otherwise seemingly rational people, many with excess money.

But I have heard items like the Tice clock of the late 80s make a distinct difference, when it "shouldn't" have. This was a digital clock that you plug into an outlet near the system and it cleans up the sound. $15 at WalMart, a couple hundred $ from Tice or something like that. Basically an unexplained phenomenon with chicanery and snake oil drizzled on top, at a price.

This comes back to the difference between "knowing that" and "knowing how." Just because there is no handy explanation or a totally farfetched 'new physics' explanation is offered doesn't effect whether it works or not.

I guess I would say you can't _know_ until you try it, but something has to motivate people to try things. Intellectual curiosity might be enough in some cases, but personally I'm getting lazier by the day.

In all honesty, my main filter on this stuff is how much time do I have to expend. I have amps to build. Shopping to do, etc. To me, the magic puck thing is operating on a level of tweakery I haven't gotten to lately.

When I was younger I would build circuits just to hear what they sounded like, which is how I first got into SE amps and triode amps. I was just experimenting and keeping what I liked. I was more high energy and I suppose more fascinated in those days. I worked on audio and studied old electronics books and magazines around the clock.

However, I know that there are some things I am purposefully ignoring that might be major learning experiences but gotta make cuts somewhere.

Perhaps it comes down to personal style. Some people are magic puck and crystal people and some aren't. Nobody can do it all. Pick what lures you in. For me it might be a tube, circuit, or new transformer concept, but it won't be a magic crystal.












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Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must remain silent -- Wittgenstein

Free your mind and your ass will follow -- Parliament/Funkadelic


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