The ultimate subjectivist system

[karatestu]

What is it ?

Is there a general consensus from people on HFS about which products are designed for the music and not the measurements and silly graphs ?

Naturally, NVA products would be the top of the list but what about others.

Royd, direct drive turntables, old Japanese amps............


I have built and modded a few things over the last ten years and my mods have always been evaluated through listening. The only measurement tool i possess and know how to use is a DMM so i have become a subjectivist through being forced to. Anyway, it has worked for me. I could not give a ferk about measurements now as long as i like the sound.

Stu

[kimangelis]

I always liked Quad gear back in the 80's. Had CD player, FM4 radio, pre-power amp combo driving something I can't recall. Quad (then at least) seemed to concentrate on quality build, good components, neutral sound and the complete absence of flashing lights and gimmicks.

And Meridian... one of the first pre-amps I owned.... driving an Elite power-amp if I recall. Both understated products that were very fine to my ears in my 20's.

[_D_S_J_R_]

In my opinion obviously, measurements and 'silly' graphs are fine for those designers who use them in the development of decent products and then use their ears to fine tune them. Nothing wrong with that.

Jap amps and direct drives often measured better than they sounded. I cite 1970's Pioneer amps as a breed, flat airless sound but very low THD. Most direct drives were crap, but can be improved a little by proper siting and attention to feet, mat and removing the lid in use ...

The funny thing is, Naims in their first bolt-up incarnation, were extremely musical and involving, things only going awry when the ever popular 'CB' range came along in 1980. The original LP12/Grace 707 combination, despite its design flaws of over-heavy platter, originally flimsy sub-chassis and so on was also a wonderful communicator of music, this before the Ittok and subsequent bullshit took over and rather spoiled it.

Speakers? Anybody's guess really imo.

[savvypaul]

If I interpret the question as

"which kit measures badly but sounds good"?

then I nominate the various Sugden A21 incarnations...