[Audio Empire]

On Sat, 27 Feb 2010 13:19:56 -0800, allen wrote
(in article ):

On 26 Feb 2010 02:31:44 GMT, "Harry Lavo" wrote:

Raises an interesting point. Wonder how many people could tell the
difference in a Chevy Malibu vs a BMW 330i, if they were blindfolded, had
earplugs, and were riding as a passenger? So do we start berating anybody
who drives a BMW as being "autophools"?

That is indeed an interesting point.
However pretty much the whole point of owning, driving and being seen
in a prestige brand car is to display one's wealth and superior
genetic stock, peacock-style.
Which is not the same as convincing oneself that an expensive piece of
audio equipment *sounds better* than a cheaper piece of equipment
because it looks and costs more...

Oh, no, not at all! 8^)

Not to mention the difficulty one would have driving ANY car blindfolded.
They don't give blind people driving licenses in your state do they? They
would here in CA though, provided you paid the worthless swine in Sacramento
enough....

But there are more differences between a Malibu and a BMW than there is
between two audio amps such as, for instance a Crown XTi1000 at $500 and one
of those gorgeous (to look at) Classe CT-2200 amps at TEN TIMES the Crown's
price at $5000. Of course the $500 Crown has more power into 8 Ohms than does
the Classe (275 W/channel vs 200), but they are otherwise very similar and I
SUPECT that they would be indistinguishable one from the other in a DBT, as
well. Sure, like the Crown vs the Classe, the BMW has more ostentatious
"bling" than the Malibu and costs a LOT more (though not 10X). OTOH, the BMW
actually performs measurably as well as observably much better than the
Malibu. The Beemer, however, is much faster, has lap times around a race
course that are probably at LEAST half that of the Malibu. The BMW
accelerates quicker, has a higher top speed, and stops from any speed in a
shorter distance and will do it all day.

IOW, you pay, Maybe $30,000 for a Chevy Malibu. The BMW costs probably
$80,000 for a 5 series (I'm guessing, of course, but the price delta between
the two is maybe 3X or 4X not 10X). The point is that you actually and
inarguably get more car with the Beemer than with the Malibu while you do not
really get ANYTHING more with the Classe vs the Crown except the bling and
the bragging rights: "This is my new power amp, I paid $5000 for it!"