How close to the real thing?

Mapman,

taken in that context, all hi-fi is distortion and I'm sure we can all agree that when the reproduced signal is different from the original the effect is distortion.

What Frank has stated is that we hear differences in the sound due to an increase or decrease in "distortion" and if there is no distortion change then both systems will sound the same

What we are trying to determine "which distortion" , tim, thd, phase, slew, VCID, maybe Frank is describing the changes in the RLC makeup when switching out wire for eg. changing the original "distortion".

Regards,

Good explanation Atmasphere. Agreed
To you and Weseixias also

Hi Fas42,
If you can accept the explanations that Atmasphere, Mapman and Weseixas has added to what you have stated, I find it acceptable(like that matters). Their combined inputs do explain the entire list of questions that I asked about why different items sound different as well as all distortion is unwelcome. I appreciate your input... I noticed that you are fairly new, I am not an oldtimer here either, but I have read back through several threads from the years and there are arguments about the difference of harsh or grainy. We are in a very subjective hobby, we all want to help with input and sound authoritative, but what I have found is...Everyones experiences are different and that doesn't make yours right or wrong, just different... I do try to be careful about seperating fact from opinion, I believe that is where my challange or disagreement came with you, but as you can see after some nice input, your points have been reinforced/corrected. Good Listening, Tim

Timlub, It looks to me like Fas42 places a lot of importance on soundstage and imaging. There are different types of 'distortion' that affect that- primarily of bandwidth. The better it is the more intact the phase relationships, which are what defines image location.

The ability of the speakers to 'disappear' is equally important to a system's ability to convince as is detail and tonality.

When feedback is applied to an amplifier, low level harmonic noise is injected into the output of the amplifier. This is nearly all high-frequency information. Now it happens that room ambiance in recordings is often also high frequency and is also low level. The result is that by adding feedback, the low level detail associated with room size can be masked by the harmonic noise floor that is present in the amplifier. In fact *all* detail below this level will be masked. That is why amplifiers that run little or no feedback often seem to have bigger, wider and deeper soundstages.

Hi Atmasphere,
Ok, no disagreements...Feedback reduces distortion and have seen changing feedback levels change the effects, no arguments....
I guess, what I am questioning is... Labeling Distortion as a catch all phrase. It doesn't work.