Ten Biggest Lies in Audio (1 Viewer)

[Tim Jin]

This is a good read:

http://www.theaudiocritic.com/downloads/article_1.pdf

 

[Jeff Aguilar]

Wow, I a have been living a lie! According to this article, I should be purchasing some ocean front land in Idaho.

I guess that is why most people say, listen with your ears and buy whatever sounds good to you.

So much for my tubes and my longing to get into turn tables!

Jeff Aguilar

 

[Scott_N]

I guess my 2-channel system is one big lie! With tubes, expensive cables and a fairly expensive turntable I guess i've been living a great big lie! I've already had one two-channel system that should have been good on paper but ended up sounding bright and fatigueing. The speakers were Paradigm Studio 100's which always measure well, the cd source was a Sony SCD-333ES which was supposed to be a great CD/SACD player, the amp and preamp were Aragon a well thought of company whose products test well on paper and the cables were inexpensive IXOS cables which should have done the job since cables aren't supposed to make a difference. On paper this should have been a good system but in reality I could only listen to a couple of cd's in a row before my ears fatigued out and I also had to watch the volume level because the louder the system was the quicker my ears fatigued. So if "The Truth" is bright and fatigueing then i'll take lies!

 

[Kevin T]

i love the soft glowing lies eminating from the 16 kt90 tubes in my cary monoblocks. mmmmmm....whisper sweet lies to me.

kevin t

 

[chrisCo]

I think the author leaves room in The Vacuum Tube Lie; if you like the coloration that a good vacuum tube amp imparts then good for you. What you hear (and you do hear it, its not imaginary) is a coloration but that in itself is not something that needs defense or should even be critized. How often do you hear a difference in the same source material presented on different equipment? All the time-that's why there is such a variety out there, its all good to somebody.

He is however, DEAD NUTS CORRECT ABOUT THE CABLE LIE, and its about the most concise, salient summary about that scam I have read.

 

[Elliot_W]

3 short experiences:

Dealer A
"How much should I be spending on cables", I quizzed.
"20% of total system cost", he replied without blinking, knowing very well that works out to $750 in my case.

Dealer B
"The whole Monster branding of speaker cable has turned me off buying it, I go with 12GA from Home Depot", I assert.
"Well, it was Noel Lee of Monster who came up with the innovation, so he deserves to reap the rewards...I can sell you some at $5/ft, great price", he iterated.

Dealer C
"I'm interested in speaker wire, what do you have?", I asked after dropping $1.6K on speakers with him.
"I cut to much CAT-5 cable for a previous customer, so I can sell you it for full price....but since it is my mistake, you can return it for a full refund if you do not like it!"

After conducting an ABX test on these dealers, I have concluded they are all equally full of crap. Must be my golden ears.

 

[Tim Jin]

When I was buying my gear for my home theater setup, the sales person was trying to get me to buy an amp that I didn't wanted. I brought in my own test disc with me and he kept mentioning if I can hear the difference from amp A to B and how amp B sounded so much better.

They were using the same speakers and I obviously knew the test disk by heart because I've seen and heard the movie like 10 times. The sale guy kept referring to the amp.

I ended up walking out of the A/V store and went to a pro shop and bought my speakers there. I currently use studio monitors for my 5.1's.

As for cabling, I have friends that does sound mastering for studios. According to them, it's all BS with the branded cables.

Unless you have a really high end system, Home Depot 18 cents by the foot will do.

They have worked great for me.

 

[FeisalK]

"…Even the world’s best-designed tube amplifier will have higher distortion than an equally well-designed transistor amplifier…"

I don't think the writer is concenred whether the distortion is pleasureable, preferred or at least wanted (isn't it?)

 

[Philip Hamm]

Fantastic article, I completely agree and no longer buy into the many lies I once was duped by.

I don't think it will be popular with the "true believers".I think the writer is under the assumption that the goal here is not "pleasurable" but ACCURATE sound. I have 6L6es in my bass amp. All my hi-fi amps are transistor.

 

[MikeCB]

While it's true many cables are similar, brand name cables like Monster Cable or Acoustic Research will still make audio and video sound and look somewhat better than those free cables you get with equipment. How much better really depends on the equipment though. On lower-end equipment, there might be only a slightly noticable difference..but if you're buying expensive components, you may as well buy decent cabling.

Not that I'm advising anyone to buy Monster, as their products are a little on the expensive side though.

 

[Philip Hamm]

Mike,

Wanna try reading the article before commenting on it?

 

[Jack Briggs]

FYI, The Audio Critic, which was once a golden-eared "high-end audio" magazine in the late 1970s, did a complete about-face when it resumed publication in 1987, with editor Peter Aczel becoming a measurements-are-everything, objectivist audiophile in the end. Of all audio publications, it had become a favorite of mine. (I, too, am a reformed subjectivist turned objectivist. In the end, I decided that what sounded unique in my Audio Research SP-6B preamplifier was the fact that it was so damn noisy. Transistors rule!)

The Audio Critic is now an online service, btw.

 

[Philip Hamm]

Oh, there is one glaring inaccuracy in that article. The author implies that if an engineer wanted to, they could recreate tube distortion sound on a solid state amp. If this were true, tubes (and the headaches that their high maintenance involves) would have long dissapeared from pro guitar gear.

 

[FeisalK]

You can recreate tube distortion with a DSP though

maybe someone will offer it as an option in a AV receiver one of these days..

 

[AlbertD]

I have a tube screamer from Ibanez that I use with my guitar. Solid state, that recreates distortion and effects so those of us that have solid state amps can get the effects we want. Isn't this, if fact, recreating tube distortion??

 

[Shane Martin]

I guess I'm living a lie then. What a trash article by a trash website.

 

[Chu Gai]

Perhaps you can be more specific.

 

[chuckg]

It's great to see some real, objective, hard-nose comments about all the granola crap we are fed by the sales people. Too bad that there are some weak minded folks who actually BELIEVE the ridiculous, and drive up prices for us all. Notice that the article is from 2000?

 

[SteveCallas]

What, does the truth hurt?

 

[Shane Martin]

Nope. It's just an opinion piece.