Sound Advice: 'Cost no object' on audio gear?

We need more authors that appreciate quality gear and sound but also keep things real. Not less.

To me, when I hear a high end supporter criticize someone for offering practical or sound advise that most would find useful, I have to question what is it that they are afraid of? Quality products should speak for themselves at any price point. OK, right, I know its a competition to get people to buy in. I get it. It is what it is.

"03-19-15: Mapman
To me, when I hear a high end supporter criticize someone for offering practical or sound advise that most would find useful, I have to question what is it that they are afraid of? Quality products should speak for themselves at any price point. OK, right, I know its a competition to get people to buy in. I get it. It is what it is."

I think I see where we differ. For me, its not a competition, not about sounding reasonable, fitting an image or spending a certain amount of money. Its about getting the best sound. Price has very little to do with that. Sometimes you have to buy something expensive to get what you are looking for, and at other times, you can get away cheap. I'm OK with either as long as I'm getting the best sound I can. For me personally, when I read a review on a piece of high end gear, I expect a certain level of professionalism. And that means they have to do something besides talk and guess, no matter how reasonable it sounds. If you guys want to support a recommendation by a magazine that didn't try the speaker with any of the electronics that were recommended, that’s fine. You're allowed to have your opinion. My opinion is that its a load of crap, no matter how well intentioned. I know better than to throw a bunch of gear together without listening to it first. In audio, the only way to get quality products to speak for themselves, it to get them set up properly, or they won't have a voice at all. And for that, you need to know what you're doing.

in a sense it comes down to what information is needed to make a sound recommendation.

I think specs are enough to do that. That and measurements if available are all you have to go by to decide what is a good technical match or not. Specs are the only metrics one has to decide what to try when it comes to picking an amp for speakers or siource or preamp to use with an amp. You make a sound recommendation by matching specs. Does not mean the results will be exactly what the doctor ordered. That takes listening. But that is a completely subjective determination at that point not on based on anything other than how each thinks something sounds which is not a reliable indicator alone of what another will think.

Any recommendation is a potshot. With no assurance another will like or not until heard.

Plus again Landis did test a lesser para sound amp so recommending the higher up model for modest Polks was very sound under the assumption that the op wanted to treat his Polks to something special but reasonable.

Landish' s recomendation has as good a chance of working out as most any in my estimation. Doesn't mean it will though. The sound people like is a very personal thing.

"03-19-15: Mapman
in a sense it comes down to what information is needed to make a sound recommendation.

I think specs are enough to do that. That and measurements if available are all you have to go by to decide what is a good technical match or not. Specs are the only metrics one has to decide what to try when it comes to picking an amp for speakers or siource or preamp to use with an amp. You make a sound recommendation by matching specs."

There's no other way to say this, but you couldn't be more wrong. There's no way in hell you're going to look at a spec sheet and tell what the amp sounds like. Specs are supposed to aid you in your selection, not make it for you.

I don't understand this next quote.

"Does not mean the results will be exactly what the doctor ordered. That takes listening. But that is a completely subjective determination at that point not on based on anything other than how each thinks something sounds which is not a reliable indicator alone of what another will think."

You're kind of saying the opposite thing here. The fact that you need to listen to an amp to evaluate its subjective qualities, suggests that the specs are not nearly enough to be accurate. I agree.