I've come to find many of these "legends" really aren't that inventive or particularly blessed with good hearing. Nelson Pass thinks the Lowther DX and other fullrangers sound good. He felt the one was "a tad grainy on the very top". The drivers are complete ringing aluminum above 6kHz and sound like crinkling metal, apparently he cannot hear the highs, and instead is content with not deliberating any form of correction for the 6dB rise in HF response. Mids are good but high hats sound like pink noise instead of the instruments they are supposed to be.
His amps have been dissected repeatedly and only recently have people finally had the courage to admit it- they aren't particularly good. The "guru" status is awarded to whoever gets the reviews and who's products have the looks.
There are fantastic designers out there who are completely unrecognized for their efforts in many a fine piece of audio gear. Throwing titles at company CEOs like these is like Pharaoh Ramsey getting the credit for building cities in Egypt when it was the slaves who did the work.
Not one of these famous gurus has actually designed an accurate speaker or audio device. Yet we are so quick to quote them like Gods, live by their words and buy as much of their product as we can.
The original goal of audio is almost lost- To produce a replication of the original event. To do this, we need a speaker and gear accurate to the signal, at least within the boundaries of human perception and threshold. Because non has been made, the recording cannot ever be produced properly.
We're hearing the speaker and electronics in the way.
Audiophiles are in great shape- their constantly jumping to the wrong conclusions. But lets face it, that's what audiophilia has become with all of the flash and glamour victim products hitting the boutique shop floors. It's a sad day in audio when we hail the designers of tools and forget those who actually made the music. That's what it used to be about, the music and composition, not the gear or pseudo legends in design.
His amps have been dissected repeatedly and only recently have people finally had the courage to admit it- they aren't particularly good. The "guru" status is awarded to whoever gets the reviews and who's products have the looks.
There are fantastic designers out there who are completely unrecognized for their efforts in many a fine piece of audio gear. Throwing titles at company CEOs like these is like Pharaoh Ramsey getting the credit for building cities in Egypt when it was the slaves who did the work.
Not one of these famous gurus has actually designed an accurate speaker or audio device. Yet we are so quick to quote them like Gods, live by their words and buy as much of their product as we can.
The original goal of audio is almost lost- To produce a replication of the original event. To do this, we need a speaker and gear accurate to the signal, at least within the boundaries of human perception and threshold. Because non has been made, the recording cannot ever be produced properly.
We're hearing the speaker and electronics in the way.
Audiophiles are in great shape- their constantly jumping to the wrong conclusions. But lets face it, that's what audiophilia has become with all of the flash and glamour victim products hitting the boutique shop floors. It's a sad day in audio when we hail the designers of tools and forget those who actually made the music. That's what it used to be about, the music and composition, not the gear or pseudo legends in design.