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The question for people like John Curl who are serious about designing amplifiers or anything else where far more than money is involved in solving a problem is how do you know when the thing you've built is doing exactly what it's supposed to do.

For devices involving human perception (unlike the power systems you designed where they either worked - or didn't), final voicing of all good components is done by ear. Even with your Citation Eleven. Lee Kuby said it took a year to design it and another seven months to make it sound good. Using live unamplified music, of course, as the reference. I heard Richard Schram (President of Parasound, manufacturer of John's JC-1 amps) talk about that back in April. Not to diminish Mr. Curl's efforts, but there were two other critical members of the final team. One took JC's design and optimized the board layout, a science in itself. The third was responsible for final voicing.

Do you dismiss a Porsche because it can't pull a house trailer?

Gee, that sounds like a question I would ask you. Just because an amp can drive a boatload of PA bins, does that qualify it for accurate music reproduction? Obviously not. Crown amps, like pickup trucks, are designed for a particular duty. So are steel toed boots. Subtleties in their performance envelope are largely irrelevant for their intended purpose.

rw


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  • Answer - E-Stat 15:34:22 08/18/06 (0)


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