"Don Pearce" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 23 Sep 2006 16:58:47 +0100, "Keith G"
wrote:


"Don Pearce" wrote


snip 'grey isn't a colour' &c.


Thinking SS doesn't distort is the first level of denial. Thinking your
speakers aren't *coloured* because you are using SS amplification takes
it
to the second level...


It is a question of degree - SS distorts possibly a hundred to a
thousand times less than SET,


So what? If the results are at least *preferable* what does it matter?
Sticking with summat because there's a popular notion that has been
perpetuated from the dawn of audio - that THD figures are the be-all and
end-all of an amplifier's performance shows a distinct lack of
imagination,
in my book....


You need to use your imagination? I don't want to have to use my
imagination when I listen to music. And I don't need to when I have an
amp that doesn't distort audibly.


Music doesn't stimulate your imagination...???

Call me daft, but I have such vivid images in my mind I almost *never* want
to see the video, if there is one...??

(Must be the kit you're using!! ;-)



You use a Cyrus 2 if I'm not mistaken - what's wrong with all the
subsequent
incarnations? (Last one I heard was a Cyrus 8....??) Presumably they are
not
making them to measure *less well* these days - in which case, dare I
presume that 'measures better' doesn't necessarily mean performs better at
least in the case of Cyrus amps...??


I do indeed have a Cyrus II, and it sounds great. So great in fact
that it sounds identical to the Marantz home theatre amp I'm currently
using in the living room. I haven't heard any of the later Cyrus
incarnations, so I can't comment.



OK, so not even *current* denial then - more like running forever with an
empty bucket...??

My comparisons are like *today*....

(SS amp playing as I type....)




so it is not realistic to speak of
denial there.


It is - see what I've just written


Speakers do, of course, as speakers will.


Yes they do and the first thing is unpick any notions of 'fidelity' the
Denial Boyz are claiming (just because they have an amp with certain
measurements) with their colourations, resonances &c. The second thing
most
of them do is bury detail...



The funny thing, though, is that despite all the stuff that speakers
do to the sound, they are still transparent enough to reveal the
difference between a SET (talking of burying detail!) and a
non-distorting amp, as you yourself will be the first to admit.


Stop that - that's Plowie's tactic. I experience no loss of detail
whatsoever with SET amps - the *clarity* of the detail is one of the main
reasons for choosing/using SETs. (I am starting to believe you have never
really heard one....???)


So
there are qualitative differences between the things speakers do and
the things amps can do.


And certain similarities between them.

Off out now to where there is an SS system on B&W speakers that doesn't even
sound as good as my car radio, but its owner is well enough satisfied with
it!! ;-)