"Andy Evans" reported...

I think Stewart is on to something with acoustical transparency here. I
was
just playing a piece by John Cage on the hi-fi and I swapped from valves
to a
ss amp. Sounded exactly the same. I swapped in three different DACs -
again
sounded the same. I tried nine cables - again, sounded the same. I tried
some
floorstand speakers instead of 2 ways. Sounded exactly the same. Turned on
the
subwoofer - sounded exactly the same. I had to keep turning back to the
beginning of the track because it's only 4m33secs long. Tripped over the
left
speaker cable and pulled it out the back of the amp. Sounded exactly the
same.
I tried listening from a different room - it sounded exactly the same. Now
this
is the amazing bit - I switched off the whole hi-fi and it sounded exactly
the
same. Well, that's not strictly true - I felt the blackness of the
backgound
had a more velvety feel.


I tried that, but found I had an increased sense of background noise. It
sounded almost as if I was listening to the sound of distant traffic.

I tried repositioning all the furniture in the room, removing the carpets,
then replacing them and adding thick wall hangings. This didn't help.

The only thing that made a difference was fitting triple glazing. Oh, and
adding a pipe and slippers. . . . and a Labrador. A black one.

_______
Geoff B