Shifting absolutes

Zd542,
Very good ! Absolute doesn't have to be or mean identical, just real. I listen
to very familiar musicians in different jazz clubs and their sound will vary,
no surprise. But what never changes is the unmistakable sound and
presence of an acoustic instrument played live into a room unamplified.
You can hear a street musician from around the corner three blocks away
and immediately recognize it as a live sound. No component gets it 100%
right, but some sure come closer than others relatively speaking. If I play
my trumpet in my bedroom, kitchen or patio it sounds different in each
location. No one within ear shot would have trouble identifying it as a live
trumpet.
Charles,

HP left for a good reason. The magazine went a different direction than what he intended. so it doesn't suprise me that they would favorably review a speaker with the faults you describe.

All the best,
Nonoise

I wouldn't want my speakers engineered to distort the signal in a way that sounds good or lifelike or whatever to the designer. If necessary, a good digital signal processor can be used to 'fix' a poor recording, or correct for flawed room acoustics.

What everyone on this thread fails to realize is the Mr. Valin's system like most reviewers is in a constant state of flux and their comments include the current system under review. Room which includes your power plays a huge role in the over all sound of any system. Every new speaker in the system has its own set of peculiarities in any given room and takes time fine tune the setup even with a known system, imagine doing it constantly with new pieces of equipment that you just installed. Reviewers like Jonathan have a limited time to spend with most equipment and behemoths like Raidho 4.1 pose additional challenges to the average room and even physically for the reviewer who has to move them around, not easy at all.

You have to keep in mind that everything is relative to the moment and the difficult job the reviewer has at hand. He's writing for a public with varying degrees of experience and he has to masterfully convey in words, his observations, probably time restricted, and subjective emotional experience which has a lot value to this public. Not an easy job! If you read the review carefully, there aren't any contradictions, you get the objective side based on what he heard in his room, your mileage will vary based on your system and room, and his subjective listening which given the man's experience counts more than the rest for me. There are no absolutes!

Nonoise - HP didn't leave, he was forced to go. As an industry member who has dealt with him in the past I can assure that he was more of a fiction writer than an unbiased reviewer. AS is a much better magazine without him and the current management is far more respectable than he ever was.