Anything as " fast" as SPECTRAL gear?

Its not alchemy, but a designer does have to know what he is doing and it is the mark of a good engineer to know what is 'negligible' and what is not.

Beyond the alchemy part of your post, it is pretty much correct. Even a talented engineer will fall well short of possibility if he or she does not remain a student of the practice (or 'art'), especially that of the specific product and its goals. There is always something new to learn- I find that engineering/technical types that make the assumption that we know everything there is to know about audio are the same ones that have terrible stereos.

You have to have an open mind and in particular, be open to the fact that you don't know everything!!

I get that Ralph. But even the alchemists were careful not to make the same mistake after an explosion. I don't know why I thought it was basically cut and dried. I don't have two amps that sound the same, even among identical examples. I guess I just think it should be entirely straight forward as to how to achieve a pre-conceived sonic result. I thought the differences are borne entirely of preference and not ability. IOW, lots of designers need conceptual adjustment. I suppose it's yes and no/know.

^^ that has been my experience. The ear/brain system is the final arbiter and not enough is known about how we perceive sound to be able to go off of bench specs (which rarely have anything to do with human perceptual rules) to create a good design. Those who rely entirely on a goal of good bench specs tend to make lousy sounding equipment.

I'm with you Atmasphere. Soundstage is a far 'deeper'effect of speed. Even with just the Spectral gear I use (supposedly 'fast') I've had an education on speed with experimentation of AC isolation and conditioning. The cleaner the signal the faster my equipment sounds. My experience is the faster the end signal the better the clarity of the different instruments and their place in the mix. "Speed" provides a deeper experience of the 'timbre' and 'nuance'of the instruments and the sense of air around them, delicacy in spite of a complex orchestral piece. For smaller combos speed provides a greatly enhanced appreciation of the genius of the players. Without "speed" these emotionally exciting cues simply don't have time to be created. Speed is far more than that immediate crash of the cymbals; and it gives me a deeper pleasure in all types of music. Slow is simply far less involving.

I would have to agree. However no conditioning here except for dedicated lines. But not sure how noise floor plays into this. I have no poor examples to compare but the ones with the lowest noise floor have seemingly infinite depth.