Home Propeller Head Plaza

Technical and scientific discussion of amps, cables and other topics.

[ Follow Ups ] Thread: [ Display  All  Email ] [ Propeller Head Plaza ]
[ Alert Moderator ]

How Do We Have A Technical Conversation When We Have So Many Vocal Unrational Objectivists & Unrational Subjectivists?

I've been wondering as of late how subjectivists & objectivists can have an intelligent & rational technical conversation/debate/arguement if they cannot agree on the technicalities? For Example: I believe it's quite apparent that today's accepted audio measurements do NOT correlate with what we hear. If they did then the component that measured best would always sound the best. However that's not the case. Many times we find the component that doesn't measure the best, sounds the best and visa versa. Yet at the same time there are those who believe today's accepted audio measurements are indeed sufficient within themselves. In fact those who hold to these beliefs do so, so strongly they come up with dogma to enable them to support thier beliefs like this one Peter Aczel "...a "properly designed" amplifier has no sound of its own." This statement if followed to it's logical conclusion means if an amp comes along that sounds different, that amp is simply not "properly designed"!

Sadly when I and others disagree with that asessment we're often immediately labled as being anti-science or anti-measurement, when nothing could be further from the truth. I and I believe most other rational subjectivists believe there should be and there are measureable, verifiable scientific reasons for EVERYTHING we hear. To those of us who hold these beliefs know the reality is today's accepted audio measurements don't correlate sufficiently with what we hear! For Example: Measuring THD reveals as much about how well that amp replicates music, as measuring my weight reveals what the color of my eyes are! Both of these measurements are useful, but neither tells us what we really want to know.

Any rational thinking person can see these beliefs on my part and those who embrace these same beliefs doesn't mean we think all measurements are useless. Rather it means we believe today's accepted measurements aren't sufficient enough to reveal what we really want to know. We who hold these beliefs understand scientists and audio manufacturers haven't yet discovered exactly which traits in live music the human ear/brain uses to determine it is live music and not recorded. These are the measurements that will correlate with what we hear! These are the measurements that once discovered and implemented, rational subjectivists can embrace and use. These are the measurements that will help to close the gap between the rational subjectivists and rational objectivists who honestly want to know the truth about whats actually happening in audio.

The main problem is we also have many unrational objectivists and unrational subjectivists amongst us who simply wish to fan the flames and preach their version of how to attain Audio Nirvana as being the one true way. When an unrational objectivist like Peter Aczel preaches his religous dogma via statements like "...a "properly designed" amplifier has no sound of its own." I often wonder how Aczel and those who hold to his beliefs would react if Aczel reviewd an amp that sounded completely different from all his previously accepted "properly designed" amps. After all being that this new amp sounded different from all Peter's previously accepted "properly designed" amps would mean that this amp couldn't possibly be a "properly designed" amp, right? However, what if this new not "properly designed" amp sounded almost indistinguishable from live music? Would Aczel and those who hold to his beliefs still reject it as being not being "properly designed"? That would be an interesting dilemma no?

Then of course at the other end of the spectrum are those unrational subjectivists who believe you can simply place a block of some type of wood, like the exotic Mappa wood for example, on a table anywhere in the room where your audio system is located. Doing this will allow via quantum physics for the quantum mind to be effected in such a way that the audio system, the block of wood and the person's mind are now in quantum entanglement. Quantum entanglment is a quantum mechanical phenomenon in which the quantum states of two or more objects have to be described with reference to each other, even though the individual objects may be spatially separated. This leads to correlations between observable physical properties of the systems. The quantum entanglement in turn permits quantum coherence, which is the condition of a quantum system whose constituents are in-phase. Finally because the audio system, the exotic Mappa wood and the person's quantum mind are in-phase via quantum coherence the music is perceived as sounding more realistic! PAAA-Leeeasssseee...

Thetubeguy1954

"If you thought that science was certain - well, that is just an error on your part.” Richard Feynman theoretical physicist, 1918-1988


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

Topic - How Do We Have A Technical Conversation When We Have So Many Vocal Unrational Objectivists & Unrational Subjectivists? - thetubeguy1954 11:08:36 03/29/07 (139)
You can not post to an archived thread.

[ 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 ]