Zu Druid questions

I wonder if Jack simply tired of all the rhetoric and went on vacation.

Which isn't a bad idea.

I have a respect and understanding of the need for extensive R&D, lab testing, and measurements of loudspeakers and other equipment. This is how loudspeakers are designed, engineered, and created. But when consumers are deciding on which speaker to buy, do they need to look at this data? Or can they simply go listen to several speakers and decide what they like best? Again, that is a personal preference. Some may choose to decide what sounds good by looking at graphs and charts...nothing wrong with that at all. Some might just take their favorite CD in to a store, play it on 5 different speakers, and pick number 3 because they were more emotionally drawn into the music than any of the other speakers. Certainly there is no wrong-doing there either. Different strokes for different folks. :)

This is why we have these "arguements" in audio....because it is NOT an absolute science. There arent concrete plans for building the ultimate music playback system. Anything that involves using our senses for determining any kind of result is going to be this way. Simply because not everyone likes the same smells, sights, sounds, or tastes. Period. No matter how many lab tests, blind tests, measurements are taken, the simple beauty of human individuality takes over.

---"Having 20 gourmet chefs doing the same taste test would give far more meaningful results as to the quality of the vegetable."---

What are the specs for a "quality" piece of broccoli? And how can 20 gourmet chefs decide whether YOU like the taste of it?

Kehut and Macrojack, glad to see we can still be friends even though if we don't eat the same vegetables!

Flaudio wrote something that I'd like to comment on:

"My point is that you cant draw subjective results from objective data. In other words, you cant say that product "X" sounds "Y" because of "Z"."

My question is, how can product "X" have sound "Y" without there being a cause, a "Z"?

Now I can understand how your experience with the Druids seems to support the position that measurements are useless. The measurements say one thing, and the reality you observed is something else - and you have chosen to trust your ears, not the graph! Good for you! But, maybe the conclusion you arrived at regarding objective measurements is off by a few degrees. There's another way to look at it: The measurements are showing too small of a piece of the puzzle to draw reliable conclusions from.

When there's a discrepancy between an accurate measurement and observed reality, the meaurement is either inadequate or irrelevant. You might want to go back and re-read the post by analytical chemist and Zu druid owner Ait. Among other things, he points out that a synthesis of seemingly unrelated data can give a useful (though imperfect) understanding of what's going on. [I grasp at frequency response and impedance curves, allusions to muffler technology, and subjective impressions (including my own) in trying to understand the Druids' bass system.]

With loudspeaker systems, the causes of perception are particularly likely to be complex and/or elusive. I can go into detail as to why if you would like. But given enough relevant pieces of the puzzle in my opinion it is possible to assemble a useful understanding of what's going on - what "Z" is.

Duke