"TonyP" wrote in message
...
Robert Morein wrote:

I brought a Nakamichi TA-4A over to a friend's house for one of our
frequent amplifier shootouts. This receiver is considered by many purists
to be the best two channel receiver ever made. The amplifier section is a
Nelson Pass Stasis design.
Up against it was a Plinius basic amp. Both amplifiers are rated at 100
wpc into 8 ohms.

Both amplifiers had distinct signatures that were plain as day, and
distinguishable independent of volume level. This was apparent to both of
us.
I wonder what an ABXer would say, if he were present, sans test gear.

Would he deny the experience? Would he put his head in the sand?

You know what they would say.. the usual "sighted, not level matched so
you are biased" drivel.

I have several amps (Counterpoint SA220, Onkyo M510, Carver 1.5t and
Parasound HCA2200 MkII) along with a Pioneer Elite multichannel 100 w/pc
receiver. They ALL sound different. It comes down to a musical preference
and taste what you prefer. And, it didn't matter what the sound level was.
I could tell the difference. The surprise of this group (because it was
the least costly) was the Onkyo. It sounded extremely close to the
Counterpoint (and the Counterpoint cost 20x more). I settled on using the
Parasound in my system (Von Schweikert VR4's, Marsh P2000T hybrid tube pre
amp, Audioquest shotgunned Indigo2 speaker cables, home made Canare
interconnects [after trying all that 'other' stuff in my box], ART
modified DI/O DAC and Parasound CDP1 cd player) because "I" liked the way
it sounded. Mind you, I played classical violin and clarinet for many many
years, I hear live music (amplified and unamplified) at least once a
month.

But the abx'ers will say the test wasn't valid because I knew what was in
the system playing and everything wasn't level matched, and... I didn't
have my eyes closed!

We're on the same page. BTW, I meant to post this to rec.audio.opinion. I'll
crosspost this, and suggest if you want to follow up, just post to rao.