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Is this ludicrous or not?

Did any of you GON members happen to read Six Moon's review,written by Six Moon's creator and resident audiophile guru Srajan Ebaen,regarding Red Rock Audio's Renaissance monoblock amps that sell for $38,750.00/pr? Ebaen,stopped his formal review when he couldn't elminate in his words,"a very belligerent ground loop". However even before this stated problem, he described the sound of these amps as,"berefit of tension,energy,color,communicativeness,or any true sense of music". Ebaen, also stated that a,"$999.00 Onix/Melody SP3 amp was superior". Now here's the fun part.By applying Walker's Extreme SST to all the tube pins the "veil" was removed and the energy emerged and unfolded.Walker is quoted as saying by using his Extreme SST that,"the amps went from being mediocre to bonafide super-amp magic".Now,I want to be totally fair,I use this product my self and find it to be quite good at adding that final resolution to my system. I also accept that a world class amp can be tweaked out to its ultimate performance with power cords and isolation devices.But would you spend $38,750.00 for a pair of amps that first sound inferior to an amp that costs less than $1000.00, and only after you use this tweak they become world class contenders! What does this say about the over all design flaws that are still there.I found this to be one of the most ludicrous reviews I have ever read. Notice I'm not attacking the statement that the amps improved after the tweak,but the ridiculous notion that anyone,in their right mind ,would spend close to 40 grand for a pair of amps and than be dependent on a $200.00 tweak to make them sound right! Thank goodness for that,"very belligerent ground loop",otherwise Srajan might have completed his review and loved these amps.It would be great if you GON members would share your opinions on this review,maybe I'm the crazy one.
teajay
david12
1,454 posts
 
In a word, it is ludicrous, but lets not throw the baby out with the bathwater. We moved seamlessly from saying one review was crass, to the conclusion that all professional reviewers are dum/corrupt/lazy.
The point is, where does anybody start in looking for a new anything, be it car, condom, or CD player(please don't muddle up which of these items is which, by the way), your local Hi-Fi retailer, Pl..ease. You will probably get a 17 year old, who would'nt know a tube amp from a peanut butter sandwich. We all have to start somewhere and the magazines are as good a place as any. To be fair, most say, don't use our reviews as buying guides, but audition guides and that seems sensible. We might all say, use Audiogon as a guide, but a newbie has to stumble across it and that takes time. It took me 3 years, alright, I'm not very bright.
Interestingly, some of the Mags periodically fulminate about the user sites like Audio Asylum, Audiogon. That they are manipulated for commercial reasons and are populated by flat earth crazies(They may have a point there) Roy Gregory of Hi-Fi Plus recently had a little go and was most offended by the adverse comments from readers who enjoy the various sites. Who are we, humble readers, to seek advise from other sources.
There is nothing wrong with professional reviews, if you take them as audition guides, based on one persons point of view. All information sources have there drawbacks, you just need to understand that.
mghcanuck
116 posts
 
Perhaps the reviewer's follow-up article (likely prompted by this thread) might shed some light on the matter: http://www.6moons.com/industryfeatures/connections/connections.html? YMMV.

Max
teajay OP
1,703 posts
 
Mghcanuck,I don't believe that Ebaen's article addressed the point of my post. I mentioned that I use Mr. Walker's Extreme SST and think its great stuff that brings a final resolution to an already great piece of gear or an overall system. My point was it should not have to be a necessity in order to get a pair of almost 40 grand pair of amps to function properly! So his explanation of the how and why the silver treatment works is ok,but begs the question of it being a necessity for these bad sounding amps to sound good at all.
teajay OP
1,703 posts
 
A few final thoughts about Ebaen's article concerning the Walker Extreme SST. When someone purchases a world class tube amp,for example something like the great sounding LAMM ML1.1's,they don't have to tweak them to sound like a world class reference. They already are. Now,to add the Walker Extreme SST to give them that last bit of resolution makes perfact sense. So,all Ebaen did in his article was try to "cover his butt" with a rationalization about tube amps in general in comparsion to solid state amps. I like the way he tried to "spin it" that this GON post somehow casted aspersions regarding the Walker Extreme SST tweak. Mr. Ebaen,to use his own words,put this very fine and relatively in expensive tweak on the level of "hyperbole,mysticism,and plain old B.S.",by including it in his totally ludicrous reveiw of some over priced(almost 40 grand) bad sounding tube amps. You put your foot in your mouth,Srajan,you did not need any help from us on Audiogon.
76doublebass's avatar
76doublebass
254 posts
 
I have not read the review ,but I have this stuff thats claimed to be better then the Walker,and YES IT REALLY DOES MAKE A DIFFERENCE.Its called Xtreme Quick Silver Audio &
Video Contact Enhancer,and no I don't sell the stuff.I applied it to all the pins in my tube preamp,tube power amp,cartridge pins,tonearm male din plug at base of arm,and literally everywhere else I could think of and my ARC VT-60
is singing and my old CJ PV-5 has this bass slamm and these
highs that extend out forever,and the biggest improvement
was at the other end of the signal listening to this stuff through my Martin Logan Quest Z speakers already noted for its midband reproduction.I hear real musicians playing in my living room,the system sounds like your in the actual venue while the recording session is taking place.Well this is the best $70.00 tweak I ever bumped into,so go try this stuff and really enjoy your system.
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