ASR is a good source of info to help find good performing gear cost effectively. Is there more to it than that? You get to decide.
Is ASR for real, or is it only for those sub $1k or even sub $2K?
I did some browsing on the forum and it seems like most don't own very expensive gears. Most of them own mostly sub 1K or 2K gears.
I recently ask about feedback on the Polk R700 but after about a month with no responds. I did a search "ASR Polk R700", with all but one poster which actually owned a pair. Most of them would point you to some measurement and some theoretical discussion but non actually own a pair.
I also looked at a few posts on budget speakers such as the Kef Q7 or Polk R600, but I didn't see any actual owners responding.
I don't mean to knock on them but ASR seems like a lot of hype but very little substance.
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They’re spec afficionados. No subjective input allowed. Why use your ears when you can print out a data sheet that tells you everything you need to know. I find some of the info useful, but also find it hard to take that philosophy serious on an absolute basis. I stopped buying gear based on specs in 1983. |
The assessment that ASR is a bunch of cheapskates that can’t afford “good” gear and are therefore to be dismissed by those of the audio community that can spend freely is part and parcel of the anti-science moment in our society evidenced by vaccine skepticism, the disrespect of expertise, and evidence based knowledge in general, preferring commercially motivated narratives and subjective, anecdotal stories. When I began in audio, in 1970 or so, the Stereo Review mindset was the enemy and the Stereophile view that objective analysis has to be validated with subjective listening was the new thinking. But we have come a long way since then and the test instruments used by Amir are a lot more sensitive than what Julian Hirsch had. A lot of expensive audio gear is what it is because of the jewelry effect. A friend of mine had a motto I still remember..,beware of good looking stereos! |
lol I know some ASR members who own very expensive stuff. Like most of them own a lot of pretty spendy gear. They just don’t go around flaunting it. But yes, value for money is the tenet there and will seem cheap compared to this forum but there are people with uber expensive stuff on there @andy2 You’d not hear them wax poetic about the latest gear but some do own a lot of TOTL stuff. Most of the reviews of gear from members track on the expensive side |
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