Home Speaker Asylum

General speaker questions for audio and home theater.

[ Follow Ups ] [ Post Followup ] Thread: [ Display  All  Email ] [ Speaker Asylum ]
[ Alert Moderator ]

RE: If I may jump in here for a moment

Image from Gearbox Recording studios


No I do not play music and no I have no electronics background. And No I do not purport to be an expert in either field. In fact I am one of the only reviewers who objects to the word "professional" when discussing audio equipment reviewers because a professional body (Law, Education, Medicine) can boot people from the profession for various misconduct - and requires specific training and expertise in the field that is objective. Audio Equipment reviewing has none of that.

But let me ask you what you are driving at? I think you are seeking credibility. So if a person is a musician or an electronics engineer or recording engineer then they are more credible.

Actually I see your point and in certain fields I would agree with you. For instance if you were deciding between me and an engineer to design you a bridge - hire the engineer because if I do it you will surely plunge to your demise.

But I think you will find an issue with your argument almost immediately because in fact it doesn't matter if I have a degree in music or engineering. Let me illustrate why?

Can you evaluate the quality of a car without being a car designer or a mechanic? Of course you can. You may not be able to describe in glorious detail why the car sucks in the corner but you can certainly tell that it sucks in the corner by driving the car.

Can you evaluate a movie without being a film director or a cinematographer? Yes. Via experience with enough movies and some interest in learning you can offer a lot of reasons to support why a film is good or bad. Without any technical knowledge of any kind. A film may very well be a technical marvel and bore you to death. Just as a very simple low budget film with camera mistakes can be so well executed that is can turn the industry on end (The film Halloween comes to mind).

And what If I loved a product and raved about it and then a bunch of musicians and recording engineers came along and also started raving. In other words if I tell you the AN E is a good speaker based on my listening evaluations and you say - well RGA doesn't have an engineering degree and he doesn't play an instrument so the AN E sucks and Morricab who has a wife that plays a vioin, and he has an engineering degree must be correct.

But if you go down that route of musicians and degrees being more "truthful" then all I have to do to win that argument is to merely show you that more famous musicians and more famous engineers stand behind the AN E. So in that case I just have to present some people who from an experience and background perspective blow Morricab out of the water.

So here you go.

Steve Hoffman is a mastering/recording engineer for the following groups:

He has remastered over 500 Audiophile quality Compact Discs and LP's [and SACD] working with such artists as:

The Eagles, The Doors, Paul McCartney, Bob Dylan, The Beach Boys, Nat 'King' Cole, Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, Ray Charles, Roy Orbison, Cream, The Cars, Blondie, Jim Croce, Linda Ronstadt, Jethro Tull, The Doobie Brothers, Jackson Browne, Steve Miller Band, Elton John, Van Halen, Bonnie Raitt, Al Green, Joni Mitchell, Paul Simon, Stan Getz, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Art Pepper, Rod Stewart, Judy Garland, Ella Fitzgerald, Peggy Lee, Wes Montgomery and many, many, others.

So would you say that he has more professional experience with MUSIC than someone who merely has a wife who plays the violin?

This is what Steve Hoffman owns

Audio Note TT-2 Deluxe/Arm 3 v1, UK IO-1 MC/AN S9L/step-up.
DAC4.1X Balanced D to A,
CD Transport 3.
M9 preamp,
M6 RIAA phono preamp.
Ginrei monoblocks,
Jinro integrated,
OTO phono SE Signature integrated.
AN-E/SPx HE Alnico speakers,
AN-E/SPe speakers.
Sogon LX96 bi-wire speaker wire,
Sogon 50 interconnects, Isis interconnects.

So on the music experience and recording engineering mastering engineering front it doesn't get a whole lot more experienced.

So if you want to rely on the music experience or engineering front then this is a good start wouldn't you say.

There are world class classical composers, pianists, reviewers, recording engineers, audio engineers, who own Audio Note.

Peter Van Wellenswaard (Stereophile contributing engineer)
https://www.stereophile.com/features/357/index.html
See what speakers he is using for his measurements


Peter Bruninger (Stereophile/TAS AV reviews owns them and recently awarded it loudspeaker of the year.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyrRemcQ-rA

Peter attends more audio shows than anyone has heard all the speakers Morricab has heard and has the bucks and experience.


Wes Philips (Stereophile hailed AN E as the best hi-fi he has ever heard) https://www.stereophile.com/ces2009/ongaku_means_ecstasy/index.html

Kevin Fiske (Hi-Fi Critic) owns AN E

Hi-Fi Choice magazine uses the AN E as their reference loudspeaker and has won both blind tests it was in - the AN J also won its blind test)

Chris Redmond (6 moons owns them) http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/christopher/christopher.html

That's off the top of my head - don't even get me started on all the reviewers in the non English press that own them and who are musicians.

Piano machine of dreams and the AN E
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgcPGi76LYU

And guess what - it still only comes down to the person's ears. One person may be able to explain the technical issues of a product and write up glorious detailed white papers talking about the technical feats of a given tweeter - but it doesn't in fact make them hear better. JA doesn't have better hearing ability than Art Dudley just because he can measure a loudspeaker in a more sophisticated manner.

And guess what - all the blather and all the experts and the sheer number of reviewers and musicians and engineers I could probably work hard to add to the list STILL doesn't mean you will like them. I mean there are people who hate cats (for the life of me I can't understand that) but there are and me touting 50 reasons why a cat is better than a dog is never going to change the Dog fan's mind. (I like dogs too).

The problem with morricab is that he ignores all these reviewers and engineers and musicians who have heard all the gear and like AN. None of those people count. What counts is that RGA likes AN and he does not and many years back before he ever heard Audio Note he was in forum arguments with Peter Qvortrup and thus merely has an axe to grind - it doesn't matter what AN puts out - he hates it before he even walks in the door.

Here are few recent reviews
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3ZLPv6CH_o

Hi-Fi Choice 2013 comparing it to a previous system of 700 watts per channel.



This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors:
  VH Audio  

Follow Ups Full Thread
Follow Ups
FAQ

Post a Message!

 Forgot Password?
Moniker (Username):
Password (Optional):
  Remember my Moniker & Password  (What's this?)    Eat Me
E-Mail (Optional):
Subject:
Message:   (Posts are subject to Content Rules)
Optional Link URL:
Optional Link Title:
Optional Image URL:
Upload Image:
E-mail Replies:  Automagically notify you when someone responds.

[ Top Top of Page ] [ Contact Us ] [ Support/Wish List ] [ Copyright © 2024, Audio Asylum, all rights reserved ]
[ General ] [ Speakers ] [ Tubes ] [ Vinyl ] [ Digital ] [ Hi-Rez ] [ Video Asylum ] [ Cables ] [ Tweaks/DIY ] [ Music ] [ Films ]