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Herb's Verb

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Posted on August 12, 2020 at 14:39:25
mark.korda@myfairpoint.net
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Location: Maine
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 Hi,
In the new Stereophile Herb Reichert reviews the LKV Veros PWR+ power amp.In large red letters on the first page he says;
(The LKV colors it's transparency with a kind of golden honey quality).
How do you interpret that? It's kind of like hedging a bet to me or in this case a review.The amp reviewed is a class D for 10 grand....take care Mark K.

 

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he didn't actually put an apostrophe in "its" (possessive), did he, though? (nt), posted on August 16, 2020 at 11:50:03
mhardy6647
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 :-o


all the best,
mrh

 

RE: Herb's Verb, posted on August 14, 2020 at 04:02:14
lord addleford
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 Didn't he submit copy to Jim A for edit-rewrite? As originally written, the copy should never have gone to print.

 

Indeed he did., posted on August 14, 2020 at 06:33:27
Jim Austin
Reviewer

Posts: 71
Location: New York
Joined: March 11, 2019
 And obviously, lord addleford, I disagree with you. That phrase, like all the others, was carefully considered.

Herb's writing requires no defense, from me or anyone else. The notion that transparency exists in audio, in the real world, as an absolute, strikes me as dubious. There are degrees of transparency, and deviations from transparency can have different flavors. The phrase could have been--well, phrased--to be more logically impervious, but if it was, it would have been less concise and far less expressive.

Stereophile, which after all is at its core a subjectivist audio magazine, employs the best writers in audio. I have no interest in turning them into robots.

Jim Austin, Editor
Stereophile

 

RE: Indeed he did., posted on August 17, 2020 at 01:36:02
RGA
Reviewer

Posts: 15177
Location: Hong Kong
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 I liked Herb's phrasing and I agree - the idea that absolute transparency exists is dubious. Moreover even if it did exist - it has to go through the ear/brain filtration system so the perception of that transparency will differ greatly from individual to individual.

This is true just looking at the reviewers on any and every review staff. if there was an absolute sound that everyone agreed upon then all reviewers would all own the exact same stereo. They do not.

 

RE: Indeed he did., posted on August 17, 2020 at 10:04:24
mark.korda@myfairpoint.net
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Posts: 1253
Location: Maine
Joined: August 16, 2011
 Hi,
In the review of that amp Herb noticed a faint Lutron-dimmer type buzz.The sound he detected was coming from the amp in the transformer region.He used a stethoscope and presumed the transformer's coils were being amplified by the aluminum chassis and the diaphram of the 1920's wood floor.
He used this isolation base, the Harmonic Resolution Systems M#X 1719 AMG GR LF and the buzz was reduced to serene inaudibility.
I wished he explained the science behind the base and the amp.If that platform worked that well to silence a transformer hum I'm ordering one tonight.
I like the way Herb tests all sorts of equipment variations but in this review I think he spent more time on interconnect interaction with the amp than needed. Maybe a standard good quality interconnect should be the norm for testing.
It was a good review but left some questions for the customer.Here's one.
Does Bill build the boards or are they outsourced ? Thanks Mark K.

 

" it would have been less concise and far less expressive." , posted on August 14, 2020 at 11:47:09
musetap
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 Which would certainly be a disadvantage to any magazine reviewing high end products.

Especially in an industry that has developed its own language to describe what the products it reviews "sound" like.

"Once this was all Black Plasma and Imagination"-Michael McClure



 

That doesn't sound like Herb, posted on August 13, 2020 at 15:21:02
13th Duke of Wymbourne
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Location: Orange Co., Ca
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 I would expect him to specify the type of pollen used to make the honey!
(and it would be something exotic).

 

Transparency should NOT be colored or have any color - if it does..., posted on August 13, 2020 at 10:31:34
musetap
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 Wrong word choice.

Transparency certainly shouldn't have any sticky, goopy sweet stuff in or on it.

"Once this was all Black Plasma and Imagination"-Michael McClure



 

But some like to view the world through rose-colored glasses (nt), posted on August 15, 2020 at 14:01:10
Brian H P
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 nt

 

True that... thank you...N/T, posted on August 15, 2020 at 16:25:49
musetap
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 a
"Once this was all Black Plasma and Imagination"-Michael McClure



 

FWIW, I get it, posted on August 14, 2020 at 08:01:37
E-Stat
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 My vintage New Advents continue to demonstrate more transparency as I've upgraded upstream components. Yet, tonally they are colored in areas.

I read that as their providing more musical and spatial detail. I hear deeper into the recordings even if the mid bass is a touch thick and top octave reticent.

 

RE: FWIW, I get it, posted on August 14, 2020 at 11:56:36
musetap
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 Dialog from a (fairly good) movie last night:

A: "He good."

B;"It's he's good OR he IS good".

A:"Yeah, but you know what I meant, right?"

B:"Right."

"Once this was all Black Plasma and Imagination"-Michael McClure



 

RE: Transparency should NOT be colored or have any color - if it does..., posted on August 13, 2020 at 15:09:14
Ivan303
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Posts: 48887
Location: Cadiere d'azur FRANCE - Santa Fe, NM
Joined: February 26, 2001

And yet...


First they came for the dumb-asses
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a dumb-ass

 

Always thought it strange they call those..., posted on August 13, 2020 at 15:25:28
musetap
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  Since: January 28, 2004
 transparencies and not translucencies, though I suppose it's all some trick of the light.

One of those does have a nice kind of golden honey quality that I'm glad my amp doesn't because its sound is actually transparent.


"Once this was all Black Plasma and Imagination"-Michael McClure



 

RE: Transparency should NOT be colored or have any color - if it does..., posted on August 13, 2020 at 12:26:30
mark.korda@myfairpoint.net
Audiophile

Posts: 1253
Location: Maine
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 Hi Musetap, I had to look the word up before I wrote. If you look at it one way it sounds like the old transistor vs. tubes debate. Another reason might of been a very clean and pristine copy of A Taste of Honey by another Herb used in a listening test..?Mark K.

 

RE: Herb's Verb, posted on August 12, 2020 at 17:31:39
hesson11
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Posts: 2281
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 I'm not sure what Herb means, but if that "it's" actually has that apostrophe in it, it's wrong.

 

oops, I didn't see your post..., posted on August 16, 2020 at 11:53:12
mhardy6647
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  Since: October 23, 2016
 before I posted. Sorry.

"its" (possessive) vs. "it's" (contraction of "it is") is (are?!) a pet peeve (pet peeves?!) of mine.

all the best,
mrh

 

It is okay..., posted on August 19, 2020 at 13:44:38
musetap
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 Let us just not abbreviate that sucker.

"Once this was all Black Plasma and Imagination"-Michael McClure



 

RE: oops, I didn't see your post..., posted on August 16, 2020 at 12:55:22
rivervalley817



make sure your pet peeve is protected this summer

 

It doesn't. (NT), posted on August 12, 2020 at 17:42:12
Kal Rubinson
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Location: New York
Joined: June 5, 2002

 

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