"Michael Scarpitti" wrote in message
news:ebL0c.156130$jk2.596671@attbi_s53...
Bruce Abrams wrote in message
news:wUz0c.91281$4o.116016@attbi_s52...

*snip* quoted text
How could my 'expectation' have given wildly different, CONSISTENT
sound to each amp?

Because you made your judgement the first time you heard it and then
confirmed it to yourself each time you listened to each amp. When you
engage in the type of uncontrolled, sighted listening that you did with the
amps, you need ways of charecterizing the sound from each amp. Those very
characterizations presuppose that the amps will sound different, otherwise
you'd have exactly the same listening notes from each amp, and nobody really
wants to admit to themselves that they heard no differences.

Why did the Bryston sound rolled-off at the top?

Irrelevant why it did to you at the time. When you sat down to listen to
the Bryston you needed words to characterize the sound, as I mentioned
previously. The point is that once you thought it sound rolled-off, you
confirmed it to yourself each time by saying, "yup, there's that high
frequency roll-off again," hence the consistency of the result. If you
wouldn't have known which amp was playing the second time, you would have
been listening to characterize it again and not to confirm what you thought
you heard the first time, and chances are no better than random that you
would have characterized the Bryston the same the second time.

I had exactly the same experience with cables and amps several years ago
right up until I "confirmed" to myself the high frequency roll-off of the
Cardas speaker cables, only to find the previously "brighter" sounding
Kimber was still in the system.

Michael, why are you opposed to confirming you listening results when you
don't know in advance what you're listening to?

*snip* for brevity

I had NO preconceived opinion, or knowledge, of the sound of any of
these amps: that is why I auditioned them. If I already had known how
they sounded, I would not have bothered with empirical testing!

You didn't engage in empirical testing. You engaged in subjective,
uncontrolled listening. No control = no test.

By the way, I asked a friend to listen along with me. His opinions
were exactly the same.

And he knew what he was listening to as well, correct?