I have read about this demo over and over, TAS wrote a small blip about it in their last issue. The point of the silly little exercise is to train people into thinking they should spend upwards of 80% of their money on speakers and the remains on source and amps. Dave Wilson makes, markets and sells speakers, not source or amps. Therefore, trying to convince the audiophile to spend all allowable funds on speakers is his objective.
The problem with this demo is that in order to fairly show the Wilsons with the iPod, he should have used two different sources on the same speaker. What would the iPod sound like against the Krell on the same speakers. Suddenly there is much more of a reference point.
This same demo was done in reverse years ago with a Linn CD12 sondek, it was hooked up to an entry level intergrated amp and a set of PSB alpha speakers ($200 CDN) giving off "reference sound". Everything was covered while the demo was given. This demo was to illustrate the importance of the souce, over the speakers.
These demos must be taken with a grain of salt. They are never true science experiments, the intagibles are too many. They are designed to make the consumer think that the right path is via source, speaker, amp, (depending on what the company that performs the demo happens to sell)
Dave Wilson would probably never suggest buying an Apple iPOD as a main source to his speakers, but he might if it meant you'd buy his speakers instead of splitting half the amount to source and the other to the speakers.
The problem with this demo is that in order to fairly show the Wilsons with the iPod, he should have used two different sources on the same speaker. What would the iPod sound like against the Krell on the same speakers. Suddenly there is much more of a reference point.
This same demo was done in reverse years ago with a Linn CD12 sondek, it was hooked up to an entry level intergrated amp and a set of PSB alpha speakers ($200 CDN) giving off "reference sound". Everything was covered while the demo was given. This demo was to illustrate the importance of the souce, over the speakers.
These demos must be taken with a grain of salt. They are never true science experiments, the intagibles are too many. They are designed to make the consumer think that the right path is via source, speaker, amp, (depending on what the company that performs the demo happens to sell)
Dave Wilson would probably never suggest buying an Apple iPOD as a main source to his speakers, but he might if it meant you'd buy his speakers instead of splitting half the amount to source and the other to the speakers.