A true believer

To Tubegroover:

Why is it that, when I read one of your posts, I feel more stupid than usual. :) You are one of the more thoughtful and knowledgable guys on this site. And you do speak from personal experience. There is no subsitute for that.
I can't speak from exerience about high-end gear. The only components I have ever owned that could possibly be considered high-end were my tape decks and turntable. Nakamichi 700 and Technics 1500 rtr and my thorens 126 with sme and black widow and shure. That was a different era of course. They would be considered junk now. All my amps, preamps, CD players and speakers have been low-fi. So you are correct I have never heard a high-end system.

About my beliefs: WIRE: it's not that I don't believe or won't believe, it's that I cannot believe. No more than I can believe you can turn lead into gold.

Amps? I have not owned enough and no high-end to say, or, at least to be dogmatic about it, BUT I do believe in blind testing. it's as scientific as we can get testing this issue. It seems to my inexperienced mind that all of these issues would be sooooooooooo easy to resolve. Let people DEMONSTRATE that they can hear wire. DEMONSTRATE that they can ID Amps. Could all be over in an afternoon.

"you wouldn't dare come onto a forum like this and say such things. It comes across as somewhat foolish, I'm sorry but this is true."

No need to be sorry. I understand completely. But I do think 'you wouldn't dare' is a little much. Don't you?


"You seem to be a generally nice guy and I DO like your sense of humor but if you really want to get on board here, open up your mind and try to listen to some systems instead of spewing the same old nonsense. Maybe an audio show would be a great place to start; you will also meet some very cordial, knowledgeable folks."

The only thing I spew are facts. I have never typed IMO or IMHO, you see that alot on this site. I would love to hear a high-end system someday. Maybe the next show in Dallas. As for the people being cordial, of that I have no doubt. You and many others here, prove that everyday.

Thanks for taking the time to share your experiences in your post.
Good listening

To Rodman99999

"I can tell the difference between Sylvania VT-231s and a TungSol 6SN7GTs, in the driver positions of my Cary monoblocks, simply by the width and depth of the resulting sound stage"

WOW!! this is amazing!! I thought soundstage was 'created' by speaker / speaker position and room interface. You better git yo self down to that patent office, now. And insure them ears while you are at it.

To Rodman99999:

"Enjoy your mediocrity"

I do. After all, ignorance is Bliss!

AMEN!!

"Why is it that, when I read one of your posts, I feel more stupid than usual. :) You are one of the more thoughtful and knowledgable guys on this site. And you do speak from personal experience. There is no subsitute for that."

Well I try to be thoughtful but so far as knowledgable, I'm not too sure about that! There are many MUCH more experienced folks than I am concerning audio knowledge. What I AM confident in and what we all should aspire to is learning to trust what we hear. That takes time and experience to develop. Critical listening is not always easy, it is a process but is necessary to develop hearing acuity and discerning differences. The more you practice it the more you develop it and can trust it. I see it more as a learned discipline than an innate ability though some are better at it than others.

Telling the differences between tubes in a given circuit in many cases is quite easy. I'm sure I could readily identify all the 6sn7 line stage tubes I have on hand in my preamp because I am so familiar with their given characteristics from listening over the years. The differences between some are not at all subtle, some are closer. Some of the other tubes in the circuit, the regulators and rectifier are not as easy to identify as to the brand but the effect that each makes to the presentation is different and not at all difficult to hear. Soundstage can be greatly affected by the tube used. I have one particular 6sn7 tube that seemingly expands the soundstage at the expense of image location and focus, a clear distortion to my ears, some rave about it, huh? To each his own but for sure I know it is not a good tube and I would never recommend it. The best tubes increase performance in all parameters without altering the sound. Tubes can be about flavoring but that is not what I'm after, been down that road. A really well balanced tube circuit with the right compliment of tubes can be a revelation and doesn't lose out to ss in any area and can make the music come alive. You need to hear one Rok2id, you might be surprised how far they've come from what you might expect.