$4500 amp beat out the Tenor OTL in the latest TAS

I meant what I said and I said what I meant. If your point is that the mags played a part in my affliction, the answer is absolutely, although in my defense I can say that I was aware of the high end - knew a few people who were into it, spent time in some some of the local shops, and eventually worked in a shop myself - for years before I ever considered taking the plunge myself. My focus has always been much more on the music (playing, talking, attending, and reading, as well as listening) and record collecting, but after occasionally glancing at some of the mags over a long period of time, I finally tried a subscription when I still had a mid-fi system. I quit in disgust after the first year. Later, after I had begun my upgrading process, I tried again - twice - and finally seem to have made my internal peace with reading the mags. I guess it's a learned ability and an acquired tolerance. Probably the biggest reasons why I enjoy reading Fremer are his sense of humor, and the fact that he's got far and away the most copacetic tastes with mine in rock music among any of the critics, but he's also fairly adept and consistent at communicating his sonic impressions of gear. While he doesn't attempt to delve as deeply as Pearson, he's also much less full of it, qualities which likely go hand in hand.

Regardless, you actually help illustrate my point to a degree as to why we should even care about the mags at all. They are an accessible - and frequently educational, at their best - way into this world (although their quality and relevance has fallen off somewhat since I began reading them, not coincidentally as the prices of the 'top' gear have escalated beyond the pale). My first disenchanment was with the whole, seemingly ridiculous, high end mythos they promoted (ah, the clarity of my thinking in those days...). The second was when I learned the hard way that just when I thought I'd gotten a handle on the rules of the game, I found out you can't always believe what you read.

But who hasn't gone through that? Despite all the mags' shortcomings and deceptions, I've read much more truth and wisdom from the better writers over the years than I've ever heard from all but a very few salesmen in the shops (there are reasons other than being a cheapskate why I don't spend much time in them anymore). I've learned a lot of the basics about technical aspects of design through the mags, and a better sense of some of the history of the hobby. Yes, I've also learned the lingo of the land, a powerful force used for both good and evil. I'm a magazine reader. Always have been, but today I find that as life has changed, I no longer subscribe to humor mags, car mags, science mags, outdoors mags, music mags, guitar mags, bicycling mags, culture mags (never did political, sports, or "men's" mags :-) - I've pared it down to just one kind of magazine, audio mags. I don't know how long this will last, but it tells me that not only do I enjoy reading them more than I don't, but I *want* to enjoy them. Audiogon is a newer thing for me, and it's a gas being interactive, but it's not as relaxing - or as frequently educational or informative - as sitting back with a freshly arrived mag and my thoughts. The better writers still know more about audio than I do (just not more about me than I do), and that's the way I like it.

Anyway Kana813, I've got nothing to hide. I think I'm decently qualified to speak on this issue (sorry! ;^). But I wonder - what exactly was your point with the above quote from me as you see it? Do you have one, or are you just attempting to needle me somehow? Well, no matter what, I can assure you that I'm suitably impressed with your going back through my posts just to find one quote you thought might be of some tactical use to you, so go ahead and pat yourself on the back despite not having scored a knockout.

I hope that now you all know how the subtle and not so subtle linguistics of audio that persuade and dissuade exaggerate and minimize serves to divide all of us into "camps" as well as unite and illuminate.This of course applies to every facet of human behavior and endeavor.The only way to be is wary, and to be discerning without hyperbole enveloping your beliefs.It is very difficult and very individuated work but thus far paradoxically I have found no other task so wearying, so invigorating and so necessary.

If I remember correctly, when TAS was in its "undergound" infancy they did not take advertisement from any manufacturer. In fact HP felt strongly about this and when the decision was made that for financial reasons manufacturer's advertising dollars would be needed, there was substantial angst among the editorial staff, HP included. Along with subjective evaluation of equipment, a fundamental feature of TAS was its independence from manufacturer derived advertising dollars. Equipment for review was obtained from dealers, end users, and occasionally the manufacturer. If a company objected to the equipment review they had recourse to an open letter in a subsequent issue of TAS. Well times change, but when there is potential conflict of interest or "quid pro quo" a healthy dose of skepticism is always in order.

Today I visited two stores which carry 'Antique Sound Labs'. Neither store seamed very interested in letting me listen to any of the products. One of them even had the more expensive [lower power] amp. Both stores made the same comment 'incredible midrange, lacking near the extremes. This is not to say the hurricanes aren't great.

Being of lower cost, maybe the profit is insufficient to warrant selling?.

A side note. While at one of the stores I picked up an XRCD, good golly folks, even my modest system blew me away.

I can state unequivocally that the dealers referred to by cousinbillyl were not talking about the Hurricanes and the Hurricanes most assuredly, and unlike many other tube amplifiers, are not rollled off at either of the frequency extremes. At a conservative 200 WPC they rock. 8 KT 88's per side are utilized at considerably below the max WPC that could have been derived from those 8 KT 88's. Powerful, detailed and extended are they, throwing a huge and airy soundstage.