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Bart Candlewick[_3_] Bart Candlewick[_3_] is offline
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Default The end of R.A.H-E

On 3/15/2017 11:25 AM, wrote:
On Monday, February 13, 2017 at 9:13:21 PM UTC-5, Art Shapiro wrote:
On 2/10/2017 2:39 PM, RAHE Moderator wrote:

Please let me know what you all think.


First, let me put in my non-vote: do with the group as whatever
respondents see fit. It's essentially dead as it is.

RAHE used to be a great and active resource. I personally had RAHE
business cards and would fly to the Stereophile Show each year, wherever
it happened to be, to talk about the shows and what I heard in this
newsgroup. I had the pleasure of meeting the then moderator (prior to
David's long tenure) at one of the shows.

Then the newsgroup got *stridently* usurped by those of the opinion "if
I can't measure it, it must not exist and you can't possibly be hearing
any differences", aka "tin-eared objectivists". This would probably be
the late 90s.


And this sort of response could be seen as another reason why it went
down hill, though the moderators did a pretty good job or tempering
both side of the argument.

But, more to the point, I suppose since the poster has decided to
indiscriminately wave such a broad brush, clearly using (as was often
done in the past), the time-dishonored tool of ad hominem attack, I
suspect I could be one of those splattered with a lot of that paint.

In my particular case, it was rare, if at all, that I ever disparaged
any opinions proffered by anyone as to whether they liked or disliked
a particular piece of equipment or sound of technology or anything.
Rather, I (and MANY others that have been herded into the "tin-eared
objectivist" camp) considered personal preference to be sacrosanct
and unimpeachable.

What I often did, however, is go after the many bogus "technical"
explanations as to why a particular preference was superior. I
specifically attacked (and I know of no kinder word) explanations
like:

* Digital is inferior because there is audio "missing" between the
samples,

* Digital is inferior because the output is a series of stair-steps,

* Digital cannot preserve the phase relationship at higher and higher
frequencies,

* There is a secret, classified, I musty kill you if I show you Army
gun-shot study showing that the ear CAN hear well above 20 kHz.

* Vented box (reflex) loudpeakers can't possible produce proper
bass transients because the vent output is 180 degrees out of phase
with the woofer.

And on and on and on.

And I have always said that people can like what they like, but to
attempts to demonstrate the superiority of one's personal preference
with completely nonsense pseudoscience and expect the world to accept
it as the TRVTH (tm), sorry, you're out of your league.

If you don't like someone pointing to a turd and stating what it is in
simple understandable, verifiable terms, then don't poop there.

The newsgroup never recovered.


No, it was specifically because of the moderators that it never
suffered from thye extreme stridency of either camp.

Dick Pierce

Dick, you are my hero.

Bart