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tangential answers to specific questions on the forum

OK, so here's a general question.

My observation has been that specific questions posed on this forum often get answered in entirely tangential ways.

For example.

QUESTION: I've narrowed by short-list down to Ayre, Hegel, and Simaudio integrated amps.  Which would you choose between those three, and why?

ANSWER TYPE #1: None of those are what you really want to buy, because they're mediocre in comparison to others.  What you should really be looking at is Plinius or, if you can stretch, Gamut.

ANSWER TYPE #2: You're coming at this all wrong.  (2A) You should be looking at tube integrateds. (2B) You should definitely be looking at separates rather than integrated, ideally a tube pre-amp combined with a high-powered solid-state power amp.

ANSWER TYPE #3: most stereo sounds dreadful.  Only I have the key to true 3-dimensional sound, but I cannot divulge what that is.

Do you find these kinds of answers (a) helpful, (b) irritating, unhelpful, and counterproductive?



128x128twoleftears
french_fries
815 posts
 
THE more specific the question, the greater the difficulty of giving a fully informed answer -unless you are a dealer of the 3 components in question, or a fanatically well-informed audiophile. maybe you've heard of ONE of the components, but in a not-so-great set-up.
or you have seen one of the pieces at a show or at a dealer but not
set up at all.  Maybe you have a pre-conceived opinion about the product line or someone you know has had a good (or bad) experience with their preamps or cd players.  People may tend to want to jump into a discussion about audio since not a ton of folks even know about specialized gear (beyond Bose or other popular stuff).  Google isn't even that great anymore...
jl35
4,017 posts
 
an isolated tangential response is ok, but sometimes it then takes the thread in a totally different direction...you ask about CD players and get a long debate about computer audio...
noble100's avatar
noble100
2,419 posts
 
twoleftears,

     Does everything you play sound like you're standing in front of the left speaker?

Just curious,
    Tim
shadorne's avatar
Ag insider logo xs@2x
shadorne
7,477 posts
 
That's easy. My answer is neither (a) nor (b) but I choose (c).
sevs
301 posts
 
When I look at my glass of Stoli I see it half-empty and promptly fix the situation. Same here. With AGon comments I always presume that folks are having fun and feel good if my question got answered by someone. It usually does. Sidetracking or snarky comments feel fine to me. It is the personal insults disguised as "professional help" I cannot yet comprehend...
But sidetracking, No. Actually, some of the tangential answers to my latest  Q on AudioDesk CD lathe had pushed me onto CD vibration research which I hope to post real soon. 
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