newfmp3 said:
Some of you just can't accept the fact that receivers do and will sound differently. AMP's may sound similar, but the preamp section, processing and what not do not in my experience. I have proven this to anyone that has been over to the house and doubted it. Same room, same speakers, switch amps, and huge difference. My room has excellent acoustics, and while I'll agree that a room is a big BIG part of sound, it's only one factor with your speakers/amps/placement being the other big ones. I'm so sick and tired of people on these forums saying...It's not your amp, buy a rug! everytime someone mentions the word EQ. But yet, what is everyone crying for on new Receivers????? EQ's.
OK, I can't let this silly statements like this pass unchallenged.
Do you really mean that you switched just the amps, or did you actually switch receivers? Regardless, when you do these sessions where you demonstrate that two amps (that I assume are of decent quality) sound different, do you go to the trouble of matching volume levels to ±0.1 dB? If not, you're undoubtedly hearing slight differences in volume level that you are misinterpreting as differences in sound quality. If you play that are otherwise identical but that differ in volume by as little as 0.3 dB, most listeners will tell you that the louder one sounds better, not louder.
Arny Kreuger, who invented the device for doing proper scientific A/B comparisons, does have a method for hearing differences between two good quality amps, but it requires passing the signal through each amp 5 times before those differences add up to something that the human ear can detect. Obviously nobody passes a signal through their amp 5X before listening to it.
Let me add an interesting aside about Bob Carver. This man is, in my opinion, both a brilliant audio engineer and a good judge of human nature--particularly that part of human nature which makes some people prefer their beliefs over the truth.
If you own a carver amp that Bob Carver designed and it 'sounds' different than other good amps (like the NAD), you're the victim of Bob Carver's fantastic sense of humor. Tired of hearing that tweaky tube amps sounded so much nicer and 'warmer' than his solid state ones, Bob inserted a small, cheap part to some of his amps that increased the output impediance and thereby processes/changes the signal. It can easily be removed from the signal path by anyone who prefers the sound of a good quality, sonically transparent amplifier The result of Bob's little joke tweak? A great amp that actually does sound warmer. The cause? Bob deliberately messing up his amp in an easily reversable manner Look into the history. It's really quite interesting. There's a reason why the guys who advertise in Stereophile fear him--he designs equipment that is both less expensive than much of the 'super high end' stuff and performs a lot better. He knows the truth about amps but isn't afraid to play the 'amplifier sound' game as long as it amuses him and sells more products.
