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RE: More Testing Of Tubes (Mastersound) Vs Transistors (Jungson)

Since you don't specify what speakers you are using, I will assume that you are still using your Aliante Pininfarina Ones rather than the speakers you are building.

You speculate that the slight harshness and congestion at louder levels with the 200 watt JungSon amplifier has something to do with amplifier clipping. But in fact, there are a number of things it could be. It is quite likely it is simply the result of driving a small two way speaker to loud levels. I won't bore you with other possible explanations except to point out that many tube amps do not have a very flat frequency response into most speaker loads.

That might also explain the perceived difference in soundstaging and air.

TG54
"With the Jungson the backround singers sounded as if they were standing directly behind behind the lead singer, but with the Mastersound you can hear these same singers are actually some 5 or 6 feet behind Steve Moo."

A difference in FR could account for that. I should point out that unless you were present at the recording or have access to a detailed description of the placement of the performers, you have no way of knowing where the background singers were "actually" placed. If they used the same microphones, such placement is unlikely (too far away), and if they used different microphones, their actual placement is moot. With multi-track recording equipment, they needn't even have been recording at the same time.

At the end of your post, you ask a question "why that particular expectation bias on my part didn't keep me from liking the Jungson?" The trouble is, you want an answer solely in terms of expectation bias, as if it would override everything else that could affect your perception. In other words, you eliminate a correct answer in advance, that other things are at work besides expectation. For example, the excitement over trying out a new piece of equipment might be enough, or maybe your mood was particularly good when you tried it out.

But indeed, you evidently like some things about the JungSon amp and other things about your Mastersound 845 tube amp, so it's really hard to see how your example proves expectation bias is not at work.

We have been over that before, that there are many possible sources of bias, not simply expectations, and that simply knowing which piece of equipment you are listening (even if just identified by a light or of different appearance) is enough to bias the audition. Human beings are built to overdetect differences, as jj has pointed out:

http://db.audioasylum.com/cgi/m.mpl?forum=prophead&n=16777&highlight=wetware&r=&session=

And you have had jj's remarks pointed out to you in the past:

http://db.audioasylum.com/cgi/m.mpl?forum=prophead&n=17248&highlight=real_jj,+thetubeguy1954&r=&session=



____________________________________________________
"Opposition brings concord. Out of discord comes the fairest harmony."
------Heraclitus of Ephesis (fl. 504-500 BC), trans. Wheelwright.

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