>Gago1101
>I am kind of new to all the high-end electronics and have started to build a system. I have already payed 8K for a tube pre-amp (Einstein The t8be MK2) and will be buying speakers and amplifiers next. I have noticed though that all the pro-audio equipment use speak on connection, while none of the high-end amps or speakers use this.
Linkwitz Orion speakers (http://www.theorionspeakers.com/, starting at $14,750 although exotic lumber will increase the price) built by Wood Artistry have 8 pole Speakon connectors to accommodate active tri-amplification (with one amplifier channel per bass driver if you prefer) with one inoffensive looking cable.
>This whole thing started to kind of worry me. Looking at pro-audio equipment, one can buy a 2000 watt amp for about 1-2K. Is pro-audio used in recording studios that bad?
No. Pro amps without fan cooling (which raises the noise floor) can actually be more suited to music reproduction than consumer amps.
The peaks on a nice jazz recording take one hundred times more power (20dB) than the average playback level.
Consumer amplifiers are designed around test signals with peaks double the average power level (3dB) and consequently for given weight, size, and materials costs can't handle peak levels as high as pro sound units. This is because of the FTC's response to creative advertising claims which required all consumer stereo and mono amplification equipment to be rated with sine waves having a 3dB crest factor following a warm-up for an hour at 1/3 rated output where the output devices are dissipating even more heat than at full output. The net effect
The FTC doesn't limit pro-sound power ratings that way.
I've built amplifiers which are thermally limited to ~20W average but can peak over 500W (like a consumer amplifier rated at 250W) and they work great (deliver the peaks and don't shut down thermally).
>Did I just pay 8K for a preamp for just its looks and hype?
This is a huge area of contention between the objectivist and subjectivist camps.
In double-blind comparisons (like those used to test drugs) listeners are often unable to differentiate between very inexpensive and arbitrarily priced competently engineered audio electronics (speakers and turn tables which rely on mechanical components area different story).
Objectivists suggest that's because audible differences don't exist.
Subjectivists say that some how the testing protocol hids those differences.
