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I believe Stuart hasn't heard my other OB system... Same size baffle as the ones we had at CAF last year, but with the 15" Urei coaxial driver. That's a whole different game  True, let's make it happen!As I have said before, the only thing that is "right" is what makes you happy if audio is a hobby for you. Whether or not a particular technology can produce more "realistic" results is of no interest if you do not want the dynamics and yes, often harshness of real sound. However, to say a technology is deficient because you do not like the results of applying that technology is sort of like whistling in the graveyard. You don't need to justify your preferences by disparaging a particular technology. In fact, you don't need to justify your preferences at all.
In my case, I like the excitement of high dynamic range with the types of music that move me. The "liquid" sound does not always float (bad pun intended) my boat. However, that does not mean that my choices have anything to do with others. The one thing that I do require is that any system be able to reproduce the frequency and sound pressure ranges of an original performance so that I can then modify them if desired to match my mood of the moment. I don't want some engineer to impress their ideas on me through limiting design choices on a particular piece of equipment that cannot later be changed without dire consequences.Whoa nellie! Let's not get too carried away ... an alternate view might be that those that pound sand into beautiful transconducting FET's and the like enjoy the sound of 'non-romanticized' live instruments [ like brass instruments] that have sharp metallic signatures that "tube gear" almost aways round off and make 'sweet'. Far from wasting his brillant mind, Nelson is trying to bring "relatiy" into our homes....
[color=#000080]I like MOSFETs for certain things, like source followers. Not for voltage amplification. Nelson is very creative and successful at what he does. As to "relatiy", well, that's like a transistor amp all right: All the sounds are there, just not in the right order. Bada bing!I enjoy reflecting on what J. Gordon Holt wrote not too long before his passing: "We seem to have come to a tacit agreement that it's no longer necessary, or even desirable, for a home music system to sound like the real thing. We speak in hushed and reverent tones about reproducing the ineffable beauty of music, when in fact much real music is harsh and vulgar and ugly. We design the all-important musical midrange out of our equipment in order to try - vainly, I might add - to recreate the illusion of three-dimensional space through what is essentially a two-dimensional reproducer. And whenever we hear a loudspeaker or a CD player that shows subversive signs of sounding more 'alive' or 'realistic' than most, we dismiss it out of hand as being too 'forward' or 'aggressive.' As if a lot of real music isn't forward and aggressive!" J. Gordon Holt, 1992 Stereophile 30th Anniversary Dinner Address[/color] Tom P., I'd love to hear a live drum recording on your main system. If you can do that SPL to "fool" me into thinking REAL drums are in the room, that is an incredible accomplishment.
As to the oft repeated (and I think BS) line that tubes sound sweet or romanticize the sound of instruments, again, BS. One of the first projects I did, decades ago, was to build a preamp, a total gut of a PAS, still used 12AX7's, but scabbed on chassis extensions for all the iron and caps. An old friend, had recently completed a new build JFET preamp (a college project actually), beautifully laid out, professional looking chassis, etc. We had a friend connect them in a high fi store (In Bethesda, I think) to a nice MOSFET power amp. First we listened to one, then the other. When the second one came on, IMMEDIATELY my friend said "Oh God, there's that tube sloppy warmth". You guessed, it was his DC coupled, regulated JFET preamp sounding "warm" and "sloppy" compared to those tubes.
I don't buy it. It's circuit design, crap-ass capacitors and poor power supplies that give tube equipment the signature most people are familiar with.
As to harsh, edgy sounds and whether it is "even desirable" to have a home system sound like the real thing? Really? Of course it is. Trouble is, you have no idea what the original sounded like. Even if you were there, the recording engineer chose the mikes, room, placement, effects, gear, etc. The only way you know what a system sounds like, how close to what the engineer wanted you to hear, is "averaging".
Because we don't know what one recording sounded like, we listen to lots of them. Lots of them. If all the recordings take on a character: forward, harsh, edgy, incoherent, lacking depth, mushy bass, whatever the perceived defect, then that is most likely a characteristic of the equipment. The DIFFERENCES heard between different recordings are a key that you are getting closer to the "truth" of what was recorded, despite whether it sounds like real life or not, it is what was recorded. When one recording is hot and edgy, another soft or rolled off in the bass, another having a huge soundstage, we are making progress.
We will never get there, to the truth. We keep making closer and closer approximations. The idea is to listen, to learn, to share, to be critical when it is kind and benefits the builder and to praise and learn when the job is done well. We need to enjoy this and be happy about it. We only get to go around once and personally, I want to make the most of it.
I'm not trying to lecture here  , only make my point clear  , and sure it's okay to disagree  , we can still be friends.
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