DarTZeel Preamp

nealhood, your comparison of dartzeel amps to honda automobiles has no basis here and is essentially irrelevant. you reference the physical state of a car to the sound performance of the amp!?

as mike states above, its a very well known fact that a car performs much better after being run in. i would expect the same with a brand new amp.

i'm sure there was nothing physically wrong with the amp, whats under question here is the performance of the amp, which is spectacular. surely there can be no doubts about the amps build quality and craftsmanship which are simply stunning.

actually Fmpnd major automobile oems send cars out all the time to car magazines with a list of qualifiers (and most of the time instructions) on certain aspects of the car that can not be commented in the review due to various reasons. to be fair though, its usually pre-production and early production units. after production its fair game, and comes down to the owners manual.

its also true some oems (mostly exotics) refuse to send their product for review to some magazines due to biases of the magazines. in this case magazines rely on the good graces of those private owners.

no bashing please. i am just trying to give you guys insight into the car biz, just as i get from you on the high end biz.

Jack, the difference between us is that my 'R' likely should be an 'A'; and your 'A' should be an 'M'.

:^)

Frank, the reason i deleted that 'early Sunday morning' post was after hitting 'submit' i thought that maybe if i just didn't go any further we could get back to the title subject of this thread. fat chance.

...and where did i lambast anyone?

OB, call me and i'd be glad to expand. but not here.

Dlwask,

Thanks for the info. This has been my exact point throughout this thread. WHY should you have to be afraid of being bashed in this forum for stating your "opinion?"

You shared some insight and info and we are richer for it. MY problem is that dealers and distributors who have profit motives and financial gain at stake are allowed to make the type of claims Jtinn does (e.g, that Jeff and Marc are biased due to their "strong ties" resulting from ownership) while expecting us to then turn around and give credence to his, Mike's and Andy's opinions who have even stronger ties.

As I said above, you cannot have it both ways - either Mr. Tinn admits he unfairly accused Jeff and Marc of being biased or lacking credibility, or you include Jtinn, Hooper and Mike in that same group due to their "strong ties!"

This is simply about consistency and double standards.

Frank:

You're right that there could be a double standard here. Hey, I really don't care. I just want to enjoy my music, and this whole blowup is seriously getting in the way. If you and others don't want to give me or Mike credibility because we're close friends with Jonathan, that's fine. Doesn't bother me one whit. No one else cares what I say, so why should anyone here? :) But I do essentially agree with your point. If the reviewers are to be criticized for their ties to Boulder and Lamm, then, yes, maybe Mike's and my motivations should be called into question because of our ties to Jonathan. I can assure you that my opinions of my gear are NOT biased by my connection to JT. You and others may think so, and you're entitled to your opinion. But I've listened to a lot of gear over the years, and this is the best I've personally heard. THAT'S MY OPINION, and people can either accept or reject it as they see fit. Doesn't bother me in the least, just as it shouldn't bother you if people disagree with your thoughts on Kharma or Lamm. As for my comments on Fritz's review, yes, it does look like I was wrong, but at the time, and based on my audition, I seriously thought the Wilson was too tough a load for the DarTZeel. So sue me; I was in error. You're a good guy, and you're in the game for the right reasons, but have you never been wrong about an audio component? Everyone makes mistakes, but I was crucified for mine. I guess that kind of stuff happens when you make yourself a target, though, doesn't it? :)