Neil McCauley
18-02-2016, 10:00
Editor McCauley in conversation with Howard Popeck:
So EARs were the best valve amps in the world and by implication their designer was a designer-hero, right?
Possibly. That’s a bit of an inference; I didn't say that. However ..... ARC was touted as being the finest tube gear that money could buy, in the UK at least and so because in a straight a-b demo between an EAR unit and an ARC one – in the same price band – I just couldn’t demonstrate the ARC to be superior then yes, from that perspective it might be true that these wewre the finest valve amps in the world, but ....
But ..... ?
What does best – in this context – 'look' like? For me, and I'm only talking about me here, it's an amplifier in a system where when listening to that system, all other thoughts other than the music itself are fleeting. Peripheral thoughts are noted but not focused on. For me, few systems achieve this.
In summary then?
They were the most musically credible valve amps I’d ever heard at that point. And that’s the point. At Subjective Audio, I didn’t have anything to beat them, not valve-wise anyway. Which means what I wonder? You tell me.
So Tim DP is the first of your valve amp designer heroes in this interview?
Precisely. But ……
Continues @ http://www.hifianswers.com/2016/02/the-amplifier-designer-hall-of-fame-part-7-neil-mccauley-in-conversation-with-howard-popeck/
So EARs were the best valve amps in the world and by implication their designer was a designer-hero, right?
Possibly. That’s a bit of an inference; I didn't say that. However ..... ARC was touted as being the finest tube gear that money could buy, in the UK at least and so because in a straight a-b demo between an EAR unit and an ARC one – in the same price band – I just couldn’t demonstrate the ARC to be superior then yes, from that perspective it might be true that these wewre the finest valve amps in the world, but ....
But ..... ?
What does best – in this context – 'look' like? For me, and I'm only talking about me here, it's an amplifier in a system where when listening to that system, all other thoughts other than the music itself are fleeting. Peripheral thoughts are noted but not focused on. For me, few systems achieve this.
In summary then?
They were the most musically credible valve amps I’d ever heard at that point. And that’s the point. At Subjective Audio, I didn’t have anything to beat them, not valve-wise anyway. Which means what I wonder? You tell me.
So Tim DP is the first of your valve amp designer heroes in this interview?
Precisely. But ……
Continues @ http://www.hifianswers.com/2016/02/the-amplifier-designer-hall-of-fame-part-7-neil-mccauley-in-conversation-with-howard-popeck/