Art Dudley's column in November Stereophile

Stereophile is currently bursting with excellent writers, and Art Dudley is the best of the best.  That rag is an absolute joy to read.

I miss Dick Olsher.

I couldn't tell if that article was being serious, or was meant to be a joke. Let's assume it was serious ...

On acoustic suspension .... that came across as an ignorant rant. The implementation matters not, only the results. Whose speakers measure the lowest distortion? Magico. What loading do they use? Acoustic suspension. Case closed, rant negated, article launched towards garbage can.

Class-AB or Class-D are idle much of the time, and even listening to your music loud, the average power is quite low. If you want to rant, rant against Class-A heaters, not against a speaker that is most of the time getting less than a few watts average power .... the article, now circling the rim of the garbage can.

I didn't record the grand piano in my room, I recorded it in a concert hall or studio. I am not trying to create the sound of a grand piano playing in my room, I am trying to recreate the sound of a grand piano playing in another room. That whole paragraph is just mindless bloviating in an attempt to look erudite and relevant. The article now drops fully to the bottom of the garbage can.

Page 2? ... no, already put the trash out to the curb.

Finally read the entire article slowly and with as much interest as I could muster and I think this piece is a waste of space. Atdavid is being too kind in his criticism. 

I did not get a whole lot out of the article....however, reading the responses, a couple of things were mentioned, more than one time, that I am in entire agreement with, and have been stating for years. ( 1 ) A product that measures well, can sound mediocre; A product that measures poorly, can sound quite good ( 2 ) The recordings, are, and have always been, the limiting factor, in recreating that " reality ", that, we all are looking to recreate in our homes. This is why I listen to the musicianship, the performances. The " playing and singing ", is a given, but once the microphone picks this up, and the recording, equalization and mastering process is introduced, we are truly clueless, as to the " reality ", of what things should sound like. So, we buy, this, or that, to get that string instrument to sound a particular way, to get those drums, etc., to move us, like we " were there ". Enjoy ! MrD.