Agree or disagree with the following statement.

Being rather partial to my money and not enamored of do-overs, I insist on an audition before buying. That said, much can be inferred from specifications, and they are the tools I use to determine what to audition.

For example, I started giving consideration to new 2 channel speakers after finally probing the limits of what my current speakers offer after 30+ years. I very much want to keep a similar tonal balance to what I have, so I know I probably want something with a nominal 8 Ohms and thus somewhat less efficient, a flat response curve, preferably floor-standing, a smaller frontal profile and wider frequency response. So far, I've auditioned B&W 802, Martin Logan Summit X and Harbeth HL5. They have all been acceptable in their own way, but none have caused me to pull the trigger. PMC twenty.26 and fact 8 are next.

My 2 cents, anyway.

I have been in this hobby for 60 years now. I was a recording engineer for many years and I have a BSEE degree. Unless there is something dreadfully wrong with a piece of equipment I have never seen any measurement that tells me how a piece of equipment will sound. Speakers are about the only thing that might have measurements indicating their performance yet how they measure in a lab vs how they measure in your listening room will not even be close. Remember when solid state came out measurements were superb yet they sounded like crap. Digital measures perfect but many people still prefer vinyl. NOS cd players measure poorly compared to oversampling delta/sigma dacs but I still prefer NOS dacs. If you buy solely on measurements you are just luckey if you like the sound. Listening is the only way to buy HiFi equipment
IMHO
Alan

Statement:

"If you have never listened to any particular
component, you can't have an opinion on how it
sounds."

You can always have an opinion, but it you haven't heard
the specific component in question, your opinion is just
that...an opinion. Not very valid in my book.

To add to the above, even if you've heard the gear, all
individual rooms, systems, ears and taste in music are
different. Also most listening biases are different too. So
the only way to be sure is to listen to the piece of gear in
your system and room, with your music and ears...

Posting in these forums are fun and entertaining, but
bottom line if asking "what
speaker/amp/preamp/etc. you should buy is a crapshoot at
best without actually hearing it in your own environment.

02-19-15: Effischer
Being rather partial to my money and not enamored of do-overs, I insist on an audition before buying. That said, much can be inferred from specifications, and they are the tools I use to determine what to audition.

+1. As I've said in more than a few threads here in the past, the main usefulness of specs and measurements is in identifying and **ruling out** candidates that would be poor matches with other components in the system (e.g., impedance incompatibilities, mismatches of gains, sensitivities, power capability, etc.), or with the listener's requirements (e.g., peak volume capability, physical characteristics, perhaps deep bass extension, etc). But not in selecting among candidates which make that cut, where listening is essential.

By doing that preliminary screening based on specs and measurements, the randomness of the selection process is decreased considerably, together with the likelihood of expensive mistakes.

A second major usefulness of specs and measurements is in diagnosing problems or sonic issues that may arise or become apparent in a system that has already been assembled.

It is also sometimes possible, btw, to rule out candidates from consideration on the basis that some of their specs are simply TOO GOOD. A classic example being THD numbers that are near-infinitesimal fractions of 1%, which is often indicative of heavy-handed application of feedback, resulting in TIM distortion and excessive amounts of the most objectionable kinds of harmonic distortion. Or specs that are so good that they may be indicative of misplaced design priorities, and compromises in other aspects of the design.

As evidence of these usefulnesses of specs and measurements, I couldn't begin to count the number of threads here in which I and many others have found it useful and necessary to refer to the measurements John Atkinson provides in Stereophile.

Regards,
-- Al

Just to clarify, the underlying debate is that some people claim that they can look at a spec sheet, and determine how a component will sound, without listening to it. Not that specs can't be of good use in making a selection, just that they can be used as the sole purpose for judging sound quality. For me personally, I can't do that. I have to listen or I can't say how it will sound. Others claim they can, so I'm thinking maybe some people have the ability, or they can somehow learn to read a spec sheet in a way that tells the whole story.