12-27-12: Rok2id
I would like for someone to name ONE Amp with horrible specs, that sounds good.
Actually, that's an easy question. Just about any high end tube amplifier will have specs for Total Harmonic Distortion (THD) that are vastly worse than the corresponding specs of pretty much any inexpensive mass market-oriented solid state receiver. And likewise for damping factor specs, if the comparison is based on the commonly held (but oversimplified and essentially mistaken) belief that the higher the damping factor the better. The high quality tube amplifier, nevertheless, will sound vastly better than the inexpensive solid state receiver, assuming at least that the tube amp's technical characteristics are not grossly mismatched to the requirements of the speaker that is being used.
Why? Because the low THD and high damping factor numbers of inexpensive solid state equipment typically result from the use of large amounts of negative feedback, which in turn reduces relatively unobjectionable distortion components, while resulting in higher levels of those distortion components which our hearing mechanisms find most offensive. A point that Atmasphere has frequently made. And because the low THD comes at the expense of increased Transient Intermodulation Distortion (TIM), for which standardized specifications (or even any specifications) do not exist as far as I am aware. And because very high damping factors will result in mismatches to many speakers, and will most likely be overkill for all other speakers.
As I indicated in my earlier post specs can serve useful purposes. And ignoring specs altogether can be expected to often lead to expensive mistakes, resulting from mismatches with other components and/or the user's requirements. But specs need to be considered with care and understanding.
Regards,
-- Al
