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In Reply to: An excellent post... posted by Dr. Philosophy on January 23, 2005 at 04:50:46:
Hi,> (1) Excellence in hi-fi does not yield a single
> linear ordering (a single ranking, best to worst),
> because what is desirable in sound reproduction is
> not given a priori - different people will value
> different things.Absolutely. Which is one of the key reasons why so far no formal measuremenst of quality have been devised that show any significant correlation with percieved "good sound".
> (2) The bottom line for engineering in any domain
> is, does it work?How do we define "it does work"?
Does it work if it fulfills the German DIN 45500 Standard?
> Does it do what we want (at acceptable cost, reliably etc.)?
How do you define this then, unless on an individual, subjective basis?
> Our hi-fi world is infested with component or
> design-fetishism - this type of amp, this type
> of wire is absolutely the best.Perhaps.
> Fetishism, by definition, is the belief that certain
> properties are contained in some object which are not
> really contained in the object, but only in certain
> contexts in which the object occurs.In other words, a given thing may be considered relatively, in a given context, but not absolutley.
An example may be SE Valve or OTL Amplifiers and Apogee Scintilla Speakers or old 15 Ohm Tannoy Coaxials in GRF Autograph Enclosures. The SE Amp or OTL will be very much "a bad thing" in the system with the Apogees, while in the system with the Tannoys they would be both likely exceptional, as overall system. Equally, the Monster Krell Solid State Amp that would be "a good thing" with the Apogees would not sound too good with the Tannoys.
> One falls prey to it precisely when one is
> ignorant of the way in which the context works -
> eg, of the ways in which circuits actually work.Absolutely.
> So for an amateur like me, all I can do is to be
> very sceptical of what anyone who is not a real
> engineeer says about hi-fi,Hmmm. How do you define "real engineer"? It it someone who constantly bangs on about how great an engineer he is or somone who actually understands things? And how do you judge if you yourself do not understand the subject well enough?
As a degreed EE myself with experience in both industrial/military electronics and audio and as someone with quite a few years as sound/recording engineer I find myself highly sceptical of what many engineers claim about things audio/electronics. I have had enough time to collect practical experience which suggests that traditional theoretical foundations are sufficiently incomplete to be relied upon to the exclusion of other (empirical) methodes.
Therefore those subscribing to the orthodox readings of electronics (and acoustics/electroacoustics) suggest to me usually the presence of academics, as opposed to real engineers.
> except, at most, what something sounds like.
I would argue that few Audiophiles are qualified to comment on how something sounds, lacking sufficiently points of reference and schooling in critical listening, at least when it comes to commenting on anything beyond "what it sounds like to me".
Ciao T
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Follow Ups
- Re: An excellent post... - Thorsten 07:31:58 01/23/05 (2)
- Email me. - Dr. Philosophy 09:42:42 01/23/05 (1)
- Re: Email me. - Thorsten 10:58:13 01/23/05 (0)
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