Measurements, A/B testing - TAS discusses why they’re lacking

Honestly I wish there was a hobbyist magazine that mingled a healthy dose of DIY construction and design with the equipment and music reviews. One where manufacturers and designers and hobbyists were either interviewed or contributed articles in roughly equal measure. The preponderance of high end equipment showcased in the mags these days feels uncomfortably too much like a narrated product brochure for luxury goods.

The now defunct Brit mag Hi FI World had occasional sections devoted to DIY builds about their tube gear kits. Anybody remember this and bought their kits? I bought HI Fi World regularly at the old now-gone Borders Books.

John Curl is wrong! Audio equipment measurements are settled engineering. There are no "unknowns" to be discovered! You could say that audio engineering started back in 1877 with Edison's Talking Cylinder. By the 1930's the foundations of modern audio engineering were in place. 

Hi end audio equip sounds better today than in decades past due to tech - T/F

Nope! The "good stuff" of the past can still hold its own with any of today’s touted offerings by the "golden ears" crowd! The idea of continual forward progress in HiFi is an illusion benefiting magazine advertising revenue!

jasonbourne52 2,863 posts 05-12-2021 at 07:14am Case in point: my vintage 1973 Altec Stonehenge I’s vs. the Tekton DI’s! How about some Zeppelin and Ten Years After as playback choices? Maybe some Pink Floyd and Hendrix, too! Both speakers look like contenders that can "rock out"!

jasonbourne52 2,863 posts 05-12-2021 at 07:19am A nicely restored pair of Marantz Model 9 mono tube amps can today still compete with any four and five figure tube amps! Report this

jasonbourne52 2,863 posts 05-12-2021 at 07:22am Add those same Marantz 9’s to a pair of KLH Nine full-range ESL’s and you have a killer combination circa 1962!

@jasonbourne71

You are person living in a box. You surround yourself with vintage gear in your box then make claims about gear outside your box.

For some irrational reason, you tell everyone there is no more sonic progress in high-end audio. For this reason, you disparage John Curl who is one of the most respected audio engineers - a mirror to your irrational belief that audio tinkering, engineering, materials science, has stopped in high-end audio.

This thread is meant those who believe in the reality of high-end audio’s continued progress