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Critic's Corner Discuss a review. Provide constructive feedback. Talk to the industry. |
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In Reply to: Did you miss JA's "recuse" post? posted by Rick W on November 2, 2017 at 15:09:17:
"He therefore will "latch on" to the beliefs of someone that he deems to be an unimpeachable expert, and then parrot their beliefs, judging all the competitor's products on the standards of the (current) "guru". He apparently believes that then he cannot be attacked for not knowing enough about which he writes, as it is all based on the opinions of the "foremost expert" in the field.
For example with turntables, he started out as Andy Payor as his "guru" for many, many years, the Rockport was the "best" turntable he had heard, so naturally he assumes that Andy Payor is the "best" designer who knows the "most" about turntable design. Every single turntable is held up to the belief system of Andy Payor. Then when the stupidly expensive Rockport is out-performed by the twice-as-stupidly-expensive Continuum, Fremer switches allegiance, and now the Caliburn designer is his new guru and everything is now held up to a different set of standards - again under the ASSUMPTION that just because he likes the sound, he assumes that the Caliburn designer must know more about turntable design than anyone else on the planet.
However he still "listens" with his wallet.I am missing the fact here. I've read Fremer during the course of his tenure at Stereophile, and I've not seen any evidence of his idolizing Payor. If Mr. Hansen has some inside information, then it would be helpful if he provided that information. Otherwise, we are left with hyperbole. Likewise, while Fremer loves his Caliburn, I've not seem him in print state that the designer knows more than anyone about turntable set-up. And I did not see any evidence that Mr. Hansen has even heard the Caliburn. I thought judgments should be reserved until the component was heard.
Does Fremer listen with his wallet? Again, hyperbole. I suspect this opinion is formed because Mr. Hansen does not like the components in Fremer's system, which is fine. But you characterizing these statements as facts is ludicrous.
Some might describe Ayre's MXR amplifiers as stupidly expensive.
"Also all tubes have magnetic (steel) parts in their construction, which is known to limit audio performance. No matter how good a component (eg, resistor or capacitor, not amp or preamp) sounds with magnetic parts, and identical component without magnetic parts will always sound better.
The only limitation with solid state was figuring out exactly why they didn't sound as good as tubes. It took 20 years (as denoted by our 20th-anniversary "Twenty" series), but I finally did, and there are some heavy-hitting hard-core tube lovers who agree with me. Several are manufacturers and don't want me to name drop, but you may want to check them out for yourself.
One thing that solid state will never have is the over-blown soundstage of tubes. That is a false (but extremely pleasant) effect created by the vibration of inherently-microphonic tubes from the speaker's sound waves."Let's break this down a little, and it will require some logical thinking to draw what I think is a clear conclusion. First, ALL tubes have magnetic parts which limit audio performance. Second, a part which does not have magnetic parts will sound better. Mr. Hansen figured out (apparently the first) why solid state did not sound as good as tubes (do we really need to dig up the posts that Ayre gear reproduces the best of tubes?) Third, solid state (presumably Ayre) avoids the negative aspect of tubes, which is the overblown soundstage.
I think the conclusion is pretty clear: Mr. Hansen has, apparently for the first time in audio history, produced solid state gear which combines the best of tubes without the negatives of tubes. Why, then, purchase a compromised tube product, and why then, would an engineer design tube gear? Other than to line their own pockets, of course, for consumers not smart enough to recognize they are listening to compromised gear. Makes sense to me.
"And that is the world that Bob lives in now. MQA is financed by the Rupert family of South Africa. Multi-billionaires that made fortunes by killing people with cigarettes. The elder Rupert (now deceased) invented the "king-size" cigarette, the "menthol" cigarette, and many other lovely things. One of the sons of big Daddy Rupert runs Reinet Investments, owners of both MQA and Meridian."
Non-biased? What does the source of the wealth have to do with the sonic integrity, or lack therefore, of any component?
"Yet he gave it a "Class A" rating, apparently without having any idea of what other products in the market sound like.
This is in reference to Greenhill. Apparently? Based upon what? How does Mr. Hansen know what products Greenhill has heard? I dunno. Mr. Hansen left out that information. I do know that Mr. Hansen does not like Levinson gear, generally after John Curl stopped his association with that company, but, again, has he heard those pieces? Do I need to dig up the posts criticizing posters for commenting on a piece of gear unheard?
"He's already used up all the favors of his wife's billion-dollar trust fund, and he is rapidly running out of options. He is likely extremely desperate, as he has become very accustomed to living in mansions. He bet the farm on DVD-A being successful and now is looking for something that will make money. He hasn't been able to do so selling mediocre sounding equipment from Meridian, using the same op-amps as a the sub-$1000 British equipment. Consumers aren't completely stupid."
So, now we are talking about Stuart's wife's wealth. See a pattern?
Edits: 11/04/17
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Follow Ups
- Well, here is a start... - jamesgarvin 19:44:18 11/04/17 (2)
- RE: Well, here is a start... - Charles Hansen 00:34:58 11/05/17 (1)
- RE: Well, here is a start... - jamesgarvin 07:53:08 11/07/17 (0)
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