Propeller Head Plaza Technical and scientific discussion of amps, cables and other topics.

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That's not *quite* as silly a question as it seems . . .

Posted by Pat D (A) on December 16, 2006 at 10:41:11

In Reply to: Pat-D-cake, did he do controlled DBTs? posted by bjh on December 16, 2006 at 09:56:58:

JA doesn't do DBTs for the speakers reviewed in Stereophile, but it has been proven that virtually all speakers sound different. One can pretty well take it for granted that speakers sound different.

Contrary to your impressions, I and most other rationalists do not make set up unreasonable requirements for credibility. As I said, speakers do sound different, no real doubt about that. So, when people say something about the sound of a speaker, what they has some plausibility, especially if they seem to have a pretty good idea how to place the speakers and find suitable electronics to drive them. JA seems to me to be qualified.

Further DBTs are not really needed to show that in most circumstance. DBTs could be helpful, true, but you need proper facilities to do them. AudioScene Canada used to do them, I think, as they used the NRC facilities. Perhaps sometime in the future I could start suggesting that reviewers (again!) start using controlled blind tests to evaluate speakers, but for the most part, I just look for difference testing. Many people have found that their speaker preferences change depending on whether they are listening sighted or blind, and this has been proven, too, and one can find anecdotal evidence on the net. Here's the URL to an article:

http://www.moultonlabs.com/more/some_reminiscing/

Of course, Paul Barton used the NRC facilities and blind testing when developing and testing those Stratus Gold-i speakers you have.

http://stereophile.com/interviews/231/
http://www.psbspeakers.com/audioTopics.php?fpId=4&page_num=1&start=0

Now, when it comes to the electronics designed to be accurate, interconnects and speaker cables suitable for high fidelity use, well, it has proved much more difficult to establish that they sound different. Most reviewers don't even seriously try to prove it, so their subjective comments about the sound of such products has no credibility at all, zilch. Few reviewers even bother to do any measurements because such measurements don't usually indicate anything close to an audible difference--look at the measurements done at Audioholics.com, for example.

Now, you feel free to ask whether blind testing has been done, so why do you object when I ask about it?

____________________________________________________________
"Nature loves to hide."
---Heraclitus of Ephesus (trans. Wheelwright)

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