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From: cam@aipna.ed.ac.uk (Chris Malcolm)
Newsgroups: rec.audio.high-end
Subject: Re: Cheap Speakers, Expensive Amps
Message-ID: <8895@uwm.edu>
Date: 14 Jan 91 14:04:39 GMT
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In article <8769@uwm.edu> chowkwan%priam.usc.edu@usc.edu (Raymond Chowkwanyun) writes:
>Recently Dave (?) posted an article arguing the
>philosophy of "Expensive Speakers, Cheap Amps".

>This is an argument for the opposite viewpoint:
>"Cheap Speakers, Expensive Amps".

>I have a pair of GNP 210's.  A generic sort of 3-way
>dynamic speaker.  When I switched from an NAD receiver to
>the VTL 90/90 the improvement was not to be believed.
>It was like getting a new pair of speakers.

Ears are wonderful things. Since the kind of distortion that amps
typically produce differs from the kind of distortion that speakers
produce, you can hear (some of) the difference between amps thru poor
speakers. And vice versa. And the same goes for other components of the
system. It is even possible to hear that a broadcast recording is of
exceptional quality thru a hand-held transistor radio. Sometimes in my
workshop I'll be casually listening to music on the tranny. I'll prick
up my ears at a certain recording "wow, that sounds very good!", dash
through to the music room, power up the stacked electrostatics (only
kidding!), and whaddya know: it is in fact a very high quality
recording.

If you happen to have both a seriously excellent amplifier, and some
just-measures-well amplifier, try listening to them both through a naked
elliptical speaker saved from some TV set in next-door's trash can.
You'll hear the difference between the amps all right. But it doesn't
mean that amps matter more than speakers.  And I sometimes plug my
hand-held tranny radio's stereo headphone output into my rather
efficient Lowther horns.  Sounds wonderful, better than some friends'
"midi" systems. But that doesn't mean that speakers are more important
than amps either.
-- 
Chris Malcolm    cam@uk.ac.ed.aipna   +44 31 667 1011 x2550
Department of Artificial Intelligence, Edinburgh University
5 Forrest Hill, Edinburgh, EH1 2QL, UK             DoD #205