i have not contradicted myself.
regarding speakers. i said that never will a cone speaker be the best. as well , never will any speaker be the best.
i have reported my perceptions and preferences. i don't recall saying the quad 57 was the best or is the best speaker, because there is no best speaker.
if it can be measured that speaker a is closer to 100 percent accurate than speaker b it doesn't mean that speaker a is better than speaker b.
noew, let's talk amplifiers. there is no best amplifier.
my preferences have nothing to do with "best". best is only meaningful in the context of a criterion. if there are two different criteria then there are two different "best" , whatever is being judged.
i think there is no doubt now, that better and best are somewhat arbitrary and not useful terms, as far as i am concerned.
its all about taste and preference.
there is no inconsistency and no contradiction. there may have been misunderstanding and misinterpretation.
now all is clear. i like what i like, and you like what you like. stereo systems and components are different. they sound different, some of their parts are different and some design principles are different.
listen and decide what you like. one man's trash is another man's treasure.
the only standrads and norms are thos suggested and imposed and based upon those standards one may conclude that something is better than something else.
since i do not accept such standards as a means of determining quality, i am not bound by them and hence i do not accept the the hypothesis that a is better than b, in life. rather i would say it is in my interest to own a or it is in my interest to do a. i won't admit that my choices are based upon my own conecpts of quality because i don't have any.
i can apply this philosophy to all areas of life.