Andy Evans wrote:
Pinkerton advised:
find an amp which will drive them
adequately to the sound levels you enjoy. In your price bracket, they
do *not* all sound the same -

Would you say this is the same as saying
"amplifiers that sound different, sound different. Amplifiers that
sound the same sound the same"?
Much like "Yellow things are as yellow as other yellow things, but not
as yellow as red things"

Andy: I don't know why you waste your time. Pinkerton says all the time
that all competent amps sound the same, except when you corner him,
when he calls you a liar for holding him to account on account of the
much more expensive amp he brags of.

But this business about Pinkerton's Krell isn't merely about amps, it
is about psychology. Pinkerton belongs to the hunt, has told us he
thinks the anoraks should eat in the officers' mess, that his little
VW-base Audi is special, that his sport at college was fencing, that
his favourite watch is an IWC Ingenieur... There is much more of the
same; a pattern of a social climber is not difficult to distingush.
Pinkerton's Krell isn't a case in sonics, it is a case study in an
inferiority complex, which should be right down your street as a
psychologist.

The problem with being an electronics engineer, dull, and desirous of
being in good standing with one's peers, is that one is forced to
accept that one's amplifier cannot be better in any respect than the
next fellow's amplifier. They will all sound the same, so there can be
no difference. Therefore Pinkerton must find another reason to make his
amplifier "special". That is his demand that it drive three ohm
speakers. Therefore he can justify an expensive Krell, at five times
the price of the common soundalike elcheapo high street amplifier Arny
Krueger advises. Problem of inferiority solved without breaching the
peer code of the "engineers".

So Pinkerton is superior because his amp sounds the same but different
because it costs more. It's really very simple for someone like
Pinkerton who so constantly twists the truth into lies that he no
longer knows what the truth is.

Oh, by the way, before the usual scum smear me as "a SET-lover", right
now I'm listening to a Quad 405 Mk II, which has more than enough oomph
to make my ears bleed with bleeding-ear speakers if I should ever want
to do anything that unpleasant and stupid, though of course I prefer
electrostats at civilized levels.

Andre Jute
Visit Jute on Amps at http://members.lycos.co.uk/fiultra/
"wonderfully well written and reasoned information
for the tube audio constructor"
John Broskie TubeCAD & GlassWare
"an unbelievably comprehensive web site
containing vital gems of wisdom"
Stuart Perry Hi-Fi News & Record Review