Self deception; generally, a thing to be avoided.

Audio systems; specifically, self deception at its best.

All my brothers who have clicked this far, go back one post and read Wayne's statement again. Read it twice.

Aloha,

Poinz

I think that probably applies to sound too. There are clues we pick up in the sound, and some are universal to all of us. But there are some things that each of us favor a little more than others. We all probably would dislike a grossly distorted signal, but when it gets closer to being accurate, one may prefer a little more bass, another likes a more pronounced midrange, things like that. We as engineers should probably strive to make our equipment as accurate as possible, but the subtle diferences will be what make some men prefer blondes and the others drawn to brunettes.

The Houston Audio Society members prefer a speaker with low distortion, good detail retreival, and an accurate octave-to-octave tonal balance. The amps we use, tube or solid state, usually are powerful and high efficiency (in the speakers) is not an important goal. I may visit a HAS member's house and hear his $20K system with Innersound electrostats and marvel at the clarity and resolution.

The Lone Star Bottleheads gravitate toward lower power amps, therefore high efficiency speakers are valued. The most frequently seen speakers are single driver speakers, vintage speakers, and multi driver high efficiency speakers. The Bottleheads' speakers have less detail retreival and usually have some peaks in the treble range. At a Bott meeting I may hear a diy single driver speaker with a $10 Radio Shack driver (hooked up to a 2 watt amp) and cringe at the brightness and lack of detail but marvel at the clarity and coherency of the midrange and the soundstage.

I have occasionally felt the need for psychotherapy as I move between these groups, but instead of spending my money on an expensive shrink I just buy more speakers of both types.

>Who was it that you consulted that offered these contradictory observations?
What did you find to be the most glaring or obvious difference of opinion?

Just asked folks who where at the show what they'd heard that made them happy. Some folks liked the rooms that had ultra-detailed treble and others like rooms that had mellow treble. Some folks loved bass you could feel and others were happier with bass that wasn't so strong but perhaps a bit more natural. It floored me that there were so many differences of opinion.

I'd like room A, somebody else liked room B and another person liked room C. It explains why there are so many pieces of audio equiment and why so many other them sound so different. We all seem to have different taste.

>What were your expectations upon attending the show?

Wanted to hear high efficiency speakers and low powered amps. The audio folks in my area are into huge amps and low efficiency speakers and GPAF was a chance to hear another side of audio technology.

Listening to a lot of equipment got me thinking about the speaker/room and speaker/amp relationships. Clearly some of the speakers were "supersized" in the small rooms. Just as clearly, some of the speakers did better with tubes, some did better with solid state and others didn't seem to care a lot what they got plugged into.

It sure was a great learning experience.

Very well said, Fred. I think we all just need more speakers.

Many thanks for the hospitality at the show.