Why is science just a starting point and not an end point?

Observation does not need proof, nor is there any obligation on the observer to expend effort to provide you with an explanation, sensible or otherwise.

That's true noone owes me anything. 

Testing is useful to prevent smoke and fire, as well as to do things like match components and checking whether they are within spec.

Among other things.

Because you cannot ascertain by looking at a spreadsheet which of two amplifiers you will prefer. The only way to know what anything sounds like is to listen to it. With your ears. Measurements exist to determine what may work within a system, and what may not. Think power characteristics for an amplifier and the power demands for a set of speakers. If you own speakers that require a lot of power, that require a high dampening factor, a low powered amplifier, with a low dampening factor, will likely not drive your speakers to their full potential. But once you find two amplifiers that will drive your speakers according to the numbers, you still need to listen to those two amplifiers, in your system driving your speakers, if you want to know which amplifier sounds best, to you. Measurements are a tool, they are not an end.

Ted Denney
Lead Designer, Synergistic Research Inc.

Interestingly enough, when someone insists on measurement as the be-all I often times find myself thinking, "Measurement. What a tool."

@ted_denney  “Because you cannot ascertain by looking at a spreadsheet which of two amplifiers you will prefer. The only way to know what anything sounds like is to listen to it....”


Very nicely put!

Until I hear something, I don't know what it sounds like. No one knows what anything sounds like until they have heard it. 

I still maintain there are things going on with audio signals that we can not measure. This is not the same as grabbing a 12v battery, grabbing some "whatever" wire to run the DC through where the only thing you care about is the resistance of the wire so you can figure out how bright the light that is 200' away will be. There is a lot more going on in a system than simply lighting a bulb, and yet soooooo many here keep harping on these very basic functions of electricity to be the complete answer for anything electrical.

Capacitance and inductance have a dynamic effect on frequencies as we all know. The audio signal as it's passing through a wire to the component is not a simple 60hz wave. It's a complicated cacophony of frequencies happing all around and on top of each other. There will be phase shifts - think crossover - isolation of frequencies - again, think crossover. Thats just as the signal is on its way to the component. Then, it gets "processed" by each component over and over again until it arrives at our ears.

Beyond the specifications of any given component (Which have been derived at by measurements, I know...), until I hear it, I don't know if I like it or not. Too many variables in the "unknown" to be able to make that kind of determination.

Broad strokes as to how something "might" sound? Sure. Specifics and if it will be liked? Not a chance in hell.