[Arny Krueger]

"Sonnova" wrote in message


A point of view not supportable. I say that electronics
of modern, competent
design DO sound different. The only question is do
those differences mean anything to you, personally? If
not, fine, but to many they mean a great deal, your
scoffing notwithstanding.

How can they?

Easy. I have three sets of amplifiers at my disposal: a
pair of VTL tube monoblocks,

Violates the requirement that the design be modern and competent.

a pair of Denon transistor
monoblocks made under license from Nelson Pass using his
"Stasis circuitry" and a pair (used to have 4) of

Arguably modern, but with all the hype and purported magic...

Rockford/Hafler TransNova 1500 power amps.

Too bad about Rockford's demise.

The VTLs are
140 watts each, the Denons 220, the Haflers 150
watts/channel.

The VTLs are not slam-dunk qualified on the source impedance/frequency
response front.

When I replace my "reference" VTLs with
the Denons (after using my trusty Hewlett-Packard 400D
audio VTVM to match output levels EXACTLY) I notice three
things:

First and foremost, we must not ignore the presence of copious sighted cues.

The Denons have a much more grainy sounding top
end than the VTLs that's very noticeable on massed
strings. Live massed strings have this silken
effortlessness to them that's all but impossible to
reproduce exactly. Any audiophile who attends live
symphonic concerts regularly, has surely noticed this
sense of effortless ease with a smooth resinous quality
as a secondary sonic signature. My VTLs approximate this
sound much better than do the Denons or the Haflers. The
upper register of all instruments sounds smoother and
more real. Whether the VTLs accomplish this by being more
accurate or by injecting some euphonious colorations is
not the point. The point is that they sound different.
Also with the Denons in the system, the sound stage
collapses somewhat. The image doesn't sound as wide or as
deep as do the VTLs but the image specificity doesn't
seem to change appreciably. And finally, The Denons (and
the Haflers) have a bit more taut low bass than do my
VTLs, but that's OK because in actual listening (as
opposed to auditioning amplifiers), I have a pair of
subwoofers with their own solid state amplifiers doing
those honors.

It's stuff like this that drove us to develop bias-controlled listening
tests more than 30 years ago.