Re: S/N db's

[dieckeaw@plu.edu]

On Fri, 5 Apr 1996 PDQSHIP@aol.com wrote:

> 1, you have the definition of Subjective and Objective backwards. 

Yup...brain fart.

> 2, car tuners are rated and hoots are given to them. 

Yup to that too.  I also don't know of a full time car audio magazine 
that actually tells you how a component sounds.  Stereophile has their 
guide to home theater, why not a guide to car audio?  The existing mags 
give brief accounts of the performance of the tuner, but they never 
analyze the audio quality.

3, haven't seen a car audio manufacturer yet that doesn't measure EXACTLY 
what you describe, it's called a SOUND FIELD ANALYZER, and it quantifies 
EXACTLY what you hear in THE environment you will hear it IN, and in fact 
can analyze sound you CAN'T hear as well (but your dog might thank you) .  
You might want to ck the archives on the level of audiophiles here, there 
are more than a few.......

That's bull.  I'm sorry, but its total bull.  Any audiophile worth his or 
her salt understands that, while useful to a limited extent, measurements 
cannot, and will not for a very long time, tell the whole picture.  There 
is not a single speaker manufacturer, except maybe Bose (and we know how 
they sound), or amplifer/preamplifier manufacturer who doesn't back up 
their measured results with extensive listening.  Some companies rely on 
measurements and use listening to confirm those measurements, and others 
rely on their ears, using measurements to confirm what they hear.  But 
there isn't a single design out there that isn't designed purely with 
measurement or purely listening.  Those designs just don't work.  
Measurements just don't have the resolution to reveal what the human ear 
can.  How can you measure qualitative observations like "involving," or 
"rhythmic?"  What analyzer can measure the "foot tap factor?"  Some 
things just can't be measured.

-Adam