Richard Clark $10,000 Amplifier Challenge - Why Couldn't Anyone Pass this Test??

Why couldn’t they pass the test? The same reason why a panel of experts cannot tell the difference between a Stradavarius and any other well made reasonably good sounding violin. Did anyone ever pass one of The Amazing Randi's $1 Million challenges? I don't think so.

Because all properly designed and built amplifiers not in clipping sound exactly the same, of course ;-). But seriously, shadorne's assertation that "well built amplifiers....." can be proven to be untrue by hooking up a low-powered class-A amplifier (a Pass Labs or First Watt would be nice) to, for instance, the original QUAD ESL, a very transparent loudspeaker. My Bedini 25/25 driving my QUADs sounds dissimilar from my two high-powered class-A/B amps doing the same. As Nelson Pass suggests, it is an amp's first couple of watts that matter the most!

I have to say that amps aren't where the SQ impact really lies in an audio system.

But I've never seen what "high quality home type loudspeakers" anyone has used, or what source material.

You guys can always put up your $200 and see how you do.