How do you know when a stereo sounds good?

Ted Denney sell "tweaks" that can help some and not so much others, it is relative to many factors i will not enter into...( not everyone here own a dedicated room where we can replicate acoustically many imaging and soudstage effect with Helmoltz method +passive treatment)

He is probably a talented audio sellers thats all....

Why attacking him in audo thread?

Some use DSP to be the pinnacle of audio... For sure it is a very useful tool.... I plan to use some DSP free tool this summer myself...But is it the ONLY universal solution for all?

I dont need myself none of these two different agenda solutions...

I go along the road of no cost simple acoustic and mechanical solutions...

Then why arguing for measurements or against it, that makes no sense at all save if you had an AGENDA including one factor and not the other factor for your own agenda ....

I listen music/sound without agenda...

In acoustic Ears and measurements go hand in hand....Only sellers of electronical solutions via tweaks or DSP argues like fools, one against the other...

It is childish... But anyway they are sellers , some sell products the other sells other technology....

Basic acoustic is simpler and dont need a seller...

It is not perfect but very economical....😊It could be almost  perfect though if we invest big money....

i prefer to "sell" creativity openness including ears and measurements WITHOUT reducing one to the other...

Anyway human sound experience begins in greek theater, and architectural Christian monasteries, and even before that in caves acoutical effect control, then human sound experience begins with ACOUSTIC not with DSP or electronical tweaks or ,cables etc.... All is useful for sure, but arguing with agendas is not....

It is better to go with history than against it....

I become convinced that my stereo sounds good to me when I continue to enjoy it after many months of listening to all kinds of music, without feeling any need to adjust anything, and even after hearing other systems that are decidedly superior. What sounds good to me and gives me the experience I want out of reproduced sound at home is at least a little below my threshold of absolute detection of sound quality. 

On 11/11, I started a thread here....." If a system cannot do this, I move on ".......I invite anyone here to read it, and comment. Enjoy ! 

Some measurements are critical. How wide is it? How tall and how deep is it? Will it fit on my shelf? How loud will it play?

All the rest of the measurements are just marketing. I can’t hear numbers or even verify what the heck they’re actually measuring it certainly isn't sound quality.

If numbers are really that important you should be buying a calculator instead of a stereo. When I rent a moving van do I really care what its 0 to 60 time is. I’m sure it’s measured somewhere but would you rent one because of that or how many boxes it holds?

After you determine where you’re going to put it the only thing that matters is HOW DOES IT SOUND TO ME?

If you can’t answer that question without relying on someone else's numbers, maybe you’re in the wrong hobby.

Read Nietzsche's The Birth of Tragedy and discover that the physics/abstraction  dichotomy is first dramatized as early as the fifth century BC. Collateral reading: The Bacchae by Euripides. The conclusion I draw is that BOTH the Apollonian electricians and the Dionysian aesthetes are necessary contributors to our chosen hobby (indeed, lifestyle) as evidenced in this discussion.

We would have no hobby without the electricians. What we would have might  sound like a can of nails without the influence of the aesthetes. As an admitted and accepted (in my orbit) aesthete, I honor those whose talents allow them to plumb the depths of physics in order to improve the audiophile's lot. Their work is essential and many of their tools are used by all of us in our everyday life.

Problem is the electricians continually fail to produce the perfect system. Someday they will do it and we'll gladly give it a listen and critique.

Meanwhile, is there anything to be done but enjoy what we have as we slip into the abyss?