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

The idea that you can’t tell the difference between a violin or viola you know very well and others is nonsense.

Not only do they have a specific character, over time the fibers and resins break down depending on how they are played, which musician’s can tell, while listening or especially while playing. The elasticity of the entire piece changes over time. Ask any violin maker.

Now, can I hear a recording and say "Aha, an early Stradivarious!" NO, i really can’t, but I am sure i could become accustomed to a particular instrument and hear it vs. others.

Best,


E

So my previous remark was about violins. Any half hispanic, half asian lady, mostly single, concert violinist between 35 and 45 years old who would like to come to my home and prove I can’t tell the difference in which violin she’s playing, please let me know so I can arrange a time.

Now, about amps.

I can make speakers more "discerning" of amplifiers than others. I learned this trick from a famous speaker maker’s crossover. Lower the impedance and make it particularly reactive in the mid bass and voila, now you can tell the difference between several amplifiers which in a "Lesser" speaker you could not.

This is a reason why I strive to make my speakers easy to drive. Easy to drive means they will sound great across a variety of amplifiers and electronics. I think this is part of what is going on. There are a lot of good modern amps which sound really similar. We live at a time when many amps sound free of glare and harshness or grain, smooth, extended and potent with easy to drive speakers, but not all speakers are easy to drive. :)

For those who wish to be dominated by their speakers however, I can point you at some famous brands. :)


Best,


E

Also want to say, we are lucky to be alive right now. There are some wonderful Women and Men making violins, violas and cello’s these days for relatively paltry sums compared to buying a Strad.

Anyone who gets a chance to listen to an accomplished violinist should also be grateful for a chance to hear such remarkable craftsmanship.

E

@bdp24   

Not surprised by your finding as Quad ESL can be an extremely tough load. Differences in amplifier damping (output impedance) would be quite audible. This only proves one of the major design issues with Quad.

This is a reason why I strive to make my speakers easy to drive. Easy to drive means they will sound great across a variety of amplifiers and electronics.

+1

Not surprised by your finding as Quad ESL can be an extremely tough load. Differences in amplifier damping (output impedance) would be quite audible. This only proves one of the major design issues with Quad.

This passage is false.

The 'original Quad' (as bdp24 put it) is an easy load to drive. Differences in damping between amps is one of the few things that **isn't** audible on the speaker, owing to the fact that in the bass range the impedance is rather high. This reduces the difference heard between an amp with say 10:1 damping factor as opposed to one with 100:1.

OTLs are traditionally thought to not be able to drive 'tough loads' but OTLs can drive the Quads with ease. The real issue here is that the Quad is pretty transparent and does not need a lot of power, so its that 'first watt' that becomes so vitally important. Many traditional solid state designs are not so good at that first watt. Put one on a 'scope sometime and look at how they behave. Usually they have much higher distortion in the first watt than they do at higher powers until they approach clipping.