"Robert Morein" wrote in message


Arny has given some good advice.

Thank you.

He knows quite a few things.

Thank you.

Unfortunately, he thinks he knows more than he does, including a few
things that are inimical to this hobby, such as "all properly
operating amplifiers sound the same."

The claim that proven science such as "all properly operating amplifiers
sound the same." is harmful or unfriendly to the audio hobby would depend on
how you define the audio hobby.

If you define the audio hobby as lusting over magical amplifiers and pride
in having acquired them, then of course Bob's claim is true.

If you define the audio hobby as owning and enjoying the use of the
best-sounding audio system(s) that you reasonably have the time and money to
acquire, then proven science is your friend.

Arny is like a little ayatollah. He wants to sweep away the
corruption and deception that characterizes some of the high end, but
he fails to see that there is much of that edifice that legitimately
provides enjoyment, even if the modalities elude him.]

To secular minds, the ayatollahs are problematical because they want to
replace what they perceive to be a corrupt system (ours) with what we as
western secular people perceive to be a corrupt and inefficient system
(theirs).

Bob has failed to show how following proven science (itself a very secular
and modern concept) is corrupt.

In Stalinist Russia, one could walk the streets of Moscow at midnight
without fear.

Not true at all. Stalin murdered 29 million of my ancestors in 1925-1939.
Only one of my great-uncles of over a dozen who remained in the USSR appear
to have survived or died a natural death. The three plus my grandfather who
emigrated to the US prior to WW1 either survive or died natural deaths at a
reasonable age.

The price of freedom is that one can no longer do that.

Exactly how free Russia really is, is controversial.


Imagine for a moment that Arny achieved his wish to sterilize the
high end, in such a way that no one could be cheated by his
imagination, protected from that danger by universal adoption of ABX
before every purchase.

That ABX would be directly involved in the purchase process would be a myth.
I've recently explained here why this is so in some detail. I feel no need
to repeat myself.

Imagine also that Arny's occasional wish that
individuals without ABX experience were denied the right to voice
their opinions.

This would be another myth. Unlike Russia today, the US has practically
universal free speech. Anbody can post whatever opinions they want. In fact
what Bob seems to want to do is take the right of free speech away from ABX
proponents.

Would we be better off, listening to our remaining choices?

Listen as you will, spend your money as you will, fantasize over whatever
you will. However, if you want to have the best possible sounding audio
system given the amount of time and money you have to invest, you might want
to listen to me.

Imagine a gathering of hifi enthusiasts, at a wine & cheese
gathering, their lips sealed against idle chatter, at the order of
Arny Krueger, who forbade them to voice their subjective opinions.

This is a weird fantasy. Even at SMWTMS people say what they will. There are
not roving bands of proctors who monitor every conversation to ensure that
only ABX-politically-correct things are said. If that's how life is in the
midst of a well-known hot bed of ABX advocacy (Clark, Nousaine, Krueger,
Carlstrom all present!) what does that say about the rest of the world?

Or perhaps, Arny would give permission for these opinions to be
voiced, provided that those who hear them agree to receive a
memory-erasing drug before auditioning prospective equipment via ABX.

More balderdash.

This is Arny's universe.

No, this is Bob's weird fantasy, regrettably not the only one in his life.

He believes certain things, and has made it
his mission to spread his gospel.

I've got some opinoins, and from time to time I take the time to type them
into a computer. Bob seems to have a real problem with that!

He is the missionary of a new hifi religion,

Actually, if objectivism is my religion, that has been around perhaps even
longer than subjectivism.

and all those who disagree are denigrated by Arny because
they are obstacles to the adoption of his belief system.

The world is a marketplace of ideas. People pick and choose the ones they
like. Bob doesn't like mine so he makes up little fantasies about them, and
promotes them as being revealed truth. Well, guess what. Bob's selling his
ideas on the same marketplace as I do. The playing field seems to be
perfectly level.

Islam calls these nonbelievers "infidels."
Perhaps Arny would call them "low fidels".

It is true that believing the anti-scientific propositions widely circulated
by the high end ragazines and web sites are a proven route to suboptimal
fidelity, all things considered.