I am stunned

My take too Redkiwi, nice post. Craig

Red and Garfish: So you guys don't think that there is much of a difference between auditioning the same set of speakers in different rooms, with different equipment different cabling. Now I am confused.

Callahfc, "probably without realizing it"??????? How very condescending of you! In fact, this whole problem boils down to a theory of knowledge, and it was exactly that point that I was trying to make. You are in a lot worse a position to tell me how a thing affects my senses than I am to tell myself how my senses have been affected.

Empericism n. 1. the view that experience, especially of the senses, is the only source of knowledge. (The American Heritage College Dictionary, Third Edition, Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston-New York, 1997. at p.451.)

We can argue all day long about which is better, red or blue, and how to measure that difference in scientific terms. But as long as I live, no amount of partonage will ever convince me one way or the other. It is a subjective determination under any circumstance.

Cogito, ergo sum.
Thanks,
Chris

Hi Dekay,

This is wildly off-topic, but--
I would argue that there's a lot less "storage" going on here in the U.S. than you suggest. In any case, I *was* referring to a cultural group when I remarked on the generally postivistic outlook of most Americans--it is a deeply-embedded part of our culture (regardless of whatever multi-cultural melting takes place). And of course, the dominant culture of the U.S. derives from European culture--and Positivism is a French invention (Comte). So I don't think we're really in disagreement here.

Hi Chris,

In all fairness, I did say "possibly," not "probably." In any case, I agree that it's an interesting epistemological problem, not because of what it means for the way we understand audio gear, but for what it means regarding our understanding of how the world works.

I attempted to suggest that in our culture a substantial proportion of the population doesn't realize that there is even such a thing as an epistemological problem. It's easy enough to talk about objectivity, subjectivity, empiricism, and all that, but when we dig down to examine what these really mean and what their ramifications are regarding how we view the world, not to mention their cultural and historical origins, things become more complicated; and this is an endeavor that IMO few in the population at large ever attempt, or even recognize as possible.

Sometimes you need to toss a bomb or two to get folks to take a look at their unexamined assumptions. ;-)

And as I said before, this is all in fun.