@mrdecibel What a strange request! I don't know him any better than you, but he's quite available in those forums. Sounds like you aren't completely serious. Set it up yourself.
I'll do you one better - I'll bet you another grand ($1000) even odds you will fail (you wouldn't have to pay if you can't agree on set up). But only you can negotiate the terms with Alan. Maybe at the next expo where there's a Harbeth booth.
No, in my limited experience, I often don't hear the difference between amplifiers (with the exception of underpowered or tube-bloated amps), and I resent it when someone tries to convince me that the new power supply they just swapped in makes any perceptible difference at all. I sort of want there to be a difference in my heart (I own some expensive gear), but given a review of the actual evidence, I'd have to *bet* that 95% of the people on this forum, and of the dealers I've met, couldn't pass a properly constructed blind or ABX test (to a reasonable confidence level) of level-matched, properly-powered amplifiers. I may be missing something (point it out to me), but there's almost no convincing evidence out there to support repeatably audible differences between high quality cables or amps (I assume this list is reasonably complete - https://www.head-fi.org/threads/testing-audiophile-claims-and-myths.486598/ ). The only people who claim to have done this consistently seem to have been by themselves when it happened. In fact, there's only scant evidence that audiophiles can tell the difference between levels of digital resolution (and I have an extensive hi-res collection!!). See Archimago's repeated tests - https://archimago.blogspot.com/
This is unpleasant stuff to acknowledge about ourselves, but I don't think the hobby does itself any favors by wishing it away. Let's disprove or confirm it! Nothing to lose and everything to gain.
So I'm in the enviable position of both being willing to bet, and kind of hoping I lose.
I'll do you one better - I'll bet you another grand ($1000) even odds you will fail (you wouldn't have to pay if you can't agree on set up). But only you can negotiate the terms with Alan. Maybe at the next expo where there's a Harbeth booth.
No, in my limited experience, I often don't hear the difference between amplifiers (with the exception of underpowered or tube-bloated amps), and I resent it when someone tries to convince me that the new power supply they just swapped in makes any perceptible difference at all. I sort of want there to be a difference in my heart (I own some expensive gear), but given a review of the actual evidence, I'd have to *bet* that 95% of the people on this forum, and of the dealers I've met, couldn't pass a properly constructed blind or ABX test (to a reasonable confidence level) of level-matched, properly-powered amplifiers. I may be missing something (point it out to me), but there's almost no convincing evidence out there to support repeatably audible differences between high quality cables or amps (I assume this list is reasonably complete - https://www.head-fi.org/threads/testing-audiophile-claims-and-myths.486598/ ). The only people who claim to have done this consistently seem to have been by themselves when it happened. In fact, there's only scant evidence that audiophiles can tell the difference between levels of digital resolution (and I have an extensive hi-res collection!!). See Archimago's repeated tests - https://archimago.blogspot.com/
This is unpleasant stuff to acknowledge about ourselves, but I don't think the hobby does itself any favors by wishing it away. Let's disprove or confirm it! Nothing to lose and everything to gain.
So I'm in the enviable position of both being willing to bet, and kind of hoping I lose.