Callas-Audio®
quotes

 

Audio systems do not reproduce music, they reproduce recordings of music.
Mark Levinson

The more accurate system is the one which reproduces more differences, -more contrast between the various program sources.
Peter Quortrup

There must be a serious problem when any system has to play louder than life to sound natural and 'alive'.
Arthur Salvatore

As an example; a loudspeaker could be very dynamic while having a poor tonal balance and soundstaging capability and another loudspeaker could have a wonderful tonal balance but exhibit reduced dynamics. Sometimes loudspeakers were offering great sonic-imaging while lacking dynamic and timbre richness. At first, I was more impressed by the dynamic range than the overall coherence and tonal quality of a system. Soon enough though, the tonal rightness became of a prime importance. Getting a perfect balance of all of these attributes is indeed an enormously difficult task.
Julien Pelchat

Van apparaatbeleving naar muziekbeleving.
Toine Dingemans

Highend Audio zonder onderbouwde ruimteakoestiek, is als een Ferrari op houten wielen.
Rudolf R. Ploeger

The real question is what is the best loudspeaker for you? What will work best in your system and in your environment. In order to get the best, one needs to have a good understanding of his own need.
Julien Pelchat

There is nothing that the preamp, amplifier, speakers, cables and AC can do to fix what's not right from the start. If your music sounds thin, analytical, cold, unattached, unmusical, mechanical or forward when it gets to your preamp, there isn't much the rest of the system can do to save your high-end audio system.
Larry Diaz

It is a perplexing paradox that it is a far more demanding task to create a simple, near ideal circuit than a complex circuitry with ten times as many components.
Flemming E. Rasmussen

50% of our sound quality is a direct result of the room. Put a great system in a poor room and it will easily be out performed by a modest system in a well designed room.
Richard Rives

The best way to enjoy digital, is to never listen to analogue.
Stereophile

High-End Audio is rust creëren.
Ernst Neve

De euforie van het nieuwe.
Toine Dingemans

Once brand is divorced from a personal vision and a stubborn personal insistence on a standard of quality guaranteed by the good name of the builder, it quickly loses meaning.
Dave Wilson†

If you take care of the details, you get the magic.
Gary Koh

Geluid is een van de meest overschatte eigenschappen van muziek.
Elmer Schonberger

Somebody was trying to tell me that CD's are better than vinyl because they don't have any surface noise. I said: Listen, mate, -life- has surface noise..
John Peel†

A good preamp is essential to showing what the amplifier (and system) can do, which of course is to serve the music.
Ralph Karsten

Eine HiFi-Anlage kann nur das verarbeiten, was ihr vom plattenspieler angeboten wird.
J.C.Verdier†

Interpreteer niet - luister. Als je interpreteert kun je niet luisteren, want het bewustzijn kan niet twee dingen tegelijk doen. Als je begint te denken houdt het luisteren op.
Osho†

Whatever makes you happy is the best technology.
Flemming E. Rasmussen

I would say that a great cable design is in equal measure a combination of science, logic, intuition, voodoo and dumb luck.
Joe Cohen

If it doesn’t match your room, change your room.
Alan Sircom

Het aanknopen van een absoluten spitzenklasse met een ueber referenz is nog geen garantie voor gluckliche weihnachten.
Rudolf R. Ploeger

What sells best and sounds good is not necessarily what sounds best.
Michelle Surdie

You do not buy my turntable, you get married to it.
J.C.Verdier†

Despite bold claims, the audio industry has not found a better way to do it, just cheaper ways to almost do it.
Flemming E. Rasmussen

The more you can lower the volume before the sound of the system begins to 'deteriorate' the less of a problem that system has.
Arthur Salvatore

Garbage in Garbage out.
Ivor Tiefenbrun

Quality is a quantity of values. The higher the values, the greater the quantity, the better the quality.
McIntosh Inc.

Wat en welke is Het Beste ? het beste is je hart te volgen.
Rudolf R. Ploeger

Whatever the music, whatever the technology, great records come from great performances.
Peter Gabriel

Iedere Vinyl molecuul is een bitje.
Chris de Gans

The softer in volume a system can play while retaining All of its sonic strengths, the better that system is in retaining low-level information.
Arthur Salvatore

A classic example: An audiophile believes that a specific product performs exactly as the manufacturer says it does. He hears what he’s been told he’ll hear, and so has bought into the manufacturer’s advertising claims. Then, along comes a set of measurements that directly contradicts what he’s been told, and thus what he claims to hear. This situation can be embarrassing to the audiophile, even stressful, and the easiest way out of it is to dismiss the measurements altogether. After all, if the manufacturer states A, and I hear A, then B just can’t be.
Jeff Fritz

Trakteer uw zinnen en vul het gat waar digitaal doorheen ging.
Dean Smith

Het belangrijkste component in een succesvolle audioset is het overzicht.
Rudolf R. Ploeger

Leif Johannsen listens to audiophile records, normal records, favourite records, all kind of music. He alternates between very intense listening sessions of an hour or so at a time, then lots of casual listening. Leif tells: ” It’s surprising sometimes how much you can catch from casual listening. Eventually I’ll narrow my prototypes down to two, which will measure and sound very similar to one another. But if one sounds better and the other measures better, we’ll go with the one that sounds better even if we can’t explain why. Audio design has come a long way, but there is still a lot we don’t know.”
Ortofon

Dogma free zone.
Nick Doshi

If the performance is not convincing enough to make you part with your money, it is overpriced.
Flemming E. Rasmussen

This beeing the entertainment industry, I hope everyone is having a good time.
Nelson Pass

Testsieger kommen und gehen.
Acapella Audio Arts

A good high-end system holds your attention, tricking you into thinking you're listening to real people playing live. As a result you give the music (and performers) total attention and respect, -just as you would at a live event. If chatting to a friend as the music plays is more interesting than listening, the system's not doing its job.
Jimmy Hughes

Someone who knows an awful lot about the subject once told me that the output transformers are 80% of a valve power amp, while the volume control is 80% of any preamp.
Roy Gregory

Gutes Design wiederum ist die Reduktion aufs Wesentlich.
Helmut Brinkmann

It's when a neutral component is in your system for awhile and then you take it out, only then do you realize its impact. Neutrality is something that kind of sneaks up on you, it's not something that is noticeable on a quick demo.
Luke Manley

There is nothing worse than a big screen TV between your speakers.
R. Rog

De Olympische Audiospelen.
Ard van Keekem

Competently designed amplifiers should sound alike.
Peter Walker†

When listening to, and choosing an amplifier it is only the first 1 watt of an amplifiers output quality that really matters. If that first 1 watt sounds bad, then all the rest that follow will sound equally as bad no matter how powerful.
Dr.Hifi

Een geweldig klinkend muzieksysteem kan minder kostbaar zijn dan u misschien meent, mits u bereid bent om alle aspecten die hiermee samenhangen aandacht te geven. Daarbij is het zinvol om te bedenken dat de akoestiek van de ruimte waarin afgespeeld gaat worden eveneens als een component in de weergaveketen dient te worden opgevat.
Toine
Dingemans

Whether it is a big system or a small system, as long as it makes you happy it is a good system. Happy listening.
Edward Ku

It is the privilege of originals to be plagiarized by those who don't come up with an original of their own.
J.C. Verdier†

You should own McIntosh because it works every time it is turned on.
Sidney Corderman†

In a good system individual devices complement each other, –together they can offer more than any of them separately. It's not about fixing weaknesses of other devices, it's not about taking over. With inexpensive devises it might happen – then individual devices could fix other devices problems. When it comes to hi-end weakness requiring fixing are unacceptable. If there is any real weakness it excludes particular device from high-end. Sure even on high-end level you might want to adjust the sound according to personal preferences, –that's OK, but it is something different.
Wojtek Pacula

Whatever product you listen to, regardless of cost, if your emotion is moved by your favourite music when you put it on, then this product or system has a value to you. But if that does not happen -even if the product is very expensive- then it has no value to you.
Ken Ishiwata†

Ob ein Gerät wirklich teur oder preiswert war, zeigt sich immer erst im Laufe der Zeit.
Dieter Burmester†

In this pointless battle to determine what is best we lose the richness of the rest of that sentence, which is: according to whom or what?
Arnis Balgalvis

Lichtnetfilters zijn de antidepressiva voor muziek.
Ard van Keekem

Good luck pirates.
J.C.Verdier†

Let no one imagine that in owning a recording he has the music.
John Cage†

Made in Chino, not China.
Eveanna Manley

Nicht sofort reagieren, sondern erst mal eine nacht drüber schlafen und dann von freunden deren unvoreingenommenen rat einholen, nichts als gegeben hinnehmen, dinge hinterfragen. Das hat mich dorthin gebracht wo ich heute bin.
Dieter Burmester†

Muziek is de stroomversnelling van de ziel.
Ramses Shaffy†

Messdaten können Aussagen über das elektrische System und die handwerkliche Qualität eines Gerätes machen. Über den tatsächlichen Klang des Gerätes erfährt man durch reine Messungen indessen wenig. Diese Tatsache kann allein dadurch bewiesen werden, dass es möglich ist, zwei Geräte mit identischen Messdaten zu bauen, die völlig unterschiedlich klingen.
Dieter Burmester†

Er zijn speakers die op een deelgebied een 11 scoren. Speakers die overal een 9 scoren zijn vrij zeldzaam.
Rudolf R. Ploeger

It's so easy to forget that an audio system's only responsibility is to pleasure its owner.
Srajan Ebaen

Few things are easier to do in audio than throw together a random group of megabuck components and emerge with sheer mediocrity in sonic terms.
Paul Bolin

Comparing system to system is a common mistake which gets people away from high fidelity and music enjoyment in the end.
Tune Audio

Als het vreemd klinkt, is het zaak goed te luisteren.
Egbert Kinds

If it measures good and sounds bad, it is bad. If it measures bad and sounds good, you've measured the wrong thing!
Daniel von Recklinghausen

Iemand met inzicht blijft ontspannen. Hij geniet van alles wat hij doet in de wetenschap dat het altijd onvolmaakt is en nooit volmaakt kan worden. Maar hij geniet ervan en doordat hij ervan geniet wordt het zo volmaakt mogelijk, zonder dat het hem zorgen baart. Hij houdt van wat hij doet, maar weet heel goed dat het niet absoluut perfect kan zijn. Er blijft iets incompleet, dat ligt in de aard der dingen.
Osho†

Reviews are not gospel as many want them to be. They're merely opinions rendered at a given point in time by one individual in the context of a specific system.
Frederic Beudot

The business model is not the business.
John Atkinson

Power is not always necessary but always welcome.
Chip Stern

Highend audio is te koop, highend weergave is onbetaalbaar.
Rudolf R. Ploeger

The people that I chose to assist are not actually musicians, but people who have a sense of rhythm and melody. My idea here is that it is possible for non-musicians to participate in a musical experience without being technically proficient in a theoretical sense. In the future, I intend to use some non-musicians for the same reason. It works. Try it sometimes.
Marion Brown†

You know, it sounds good... But all you need to do is just listen. Listen to the music, and everything will be allright.
Manfred Eicher

As designers, we too often fall into the trap of trying to impress other designers, rather than creating useful design for real people.
Flemming E. Rasmussen

'You do not have to worry about Paul Motian being able to follow you', a later colleague, Paul Bley, would say, 'because he had no intention of following you in the first place'.
From the book Horizons Touched

All music is folk music. I ain't never heard no horse sing a song.
Louis Armstrong†

All music has to be learned, whether you are a performer or a listener.
Arild Andersen

The problem I've found is that most owners set up their speakers in relation to the listener, instead of in relation to the room.
Gary Koh

Measurements can tell you HOW a speaker sounds -they don't tell you how GOOD it sounds!
John Atkinson

Overcompensated systems are sometimes pleasing in the short-term, but long-term satisfaction is always achieved through proper balance.
Dave Wilson†

Er bestaan weinig slechte componenten, maar erg veel slechte systemen.
Theo Wubbolts

Het is relatief gemakkelijk om accesoires te creëren die specifieke dingen heel goed doen, maar het is veel moeilijker om accesoires te ontwerpen die alle dingen even goed doen.
Rudolf R. Ploeger

Plainly put, if you want to hear the space that's recorded, you cannot hear the space you're in. How to subtract the latter from the equation so that the former asserts itself is what separates just parking boxes on shelves and floors from tweaking, dialing and tuning.
Srajan Ebaen

Compensatie gaat soms vermomd als winst in de weergave.
Rudolf R. Ploeger

My first -and really only- criteria when evaluating new equipment, speakers, or even potential upgrades is:
Am I listening to music or equipment?

Betesda Audio

A nice environment does not necessarily mean good sound.
Uli Brueggemann

A good implementation of an 'inferior' solution is better than a bad implementation of the 'best' principle.
Dr. Boar

As I said, serious audiophilia is an psychological state where the ownership of fine audio equipment is fulfilling a deeply rooted emotional need which, necessarily, is extremely personal to that individual. Something about owning equipment A - the price, colour, shape, weight, glow, materials, glitter, brand association, users endorsements, whatever - deeply resonates with its owner.
Alan Shaw

Echte mannen hebben geen versterker die lijkt op een condoom automaat.
Ard van Keekem

Das einzige rauschen hören sie bei uns vor der haustür.
Musik im Raum

Some prefer neutral, Some prefer natural. Just wonder why neutral has so much difficulty sounding natural.
Bill Peugh

Bij Bach is timing heel belangrijk, net als nu in de popmuziek. Hij was daarvan de voorloper. Voor mij is muziek de ruimte tussen de tonen, en dat betekent dus dat je timing goed moet zijn.
Pieter Jan Leusink

De set moet niet bepalen wat er gedraaid wordt, jij bepaalt het.
Harry van Dalen

Ich staune immer wieder darüber, dass gestandene ingenieure das thema kabelklang häufig nur milde belächeln, sich dann anschließend aber ausgedehnt über die technischen und klanglichen Vor- und Nachteile unterschiedlicher kondensatortypen unterhalten –obwohl es dabei im wesentlichen um die gleichen themen geht.
Roger Skoff

It's a thin line between reviewing and marketing.
Henk J. Netjes

From my limited experience, high end front ends with so so speakers will sound better than so so front ends with high end speakers.
Tommy C.

You can make any speaker of any technology congested if you misplace it.
Bill Peugh

As a musician you enjoy listening, as a hifi fan you listen to the differences.
Gabi van der Kley

Despite of what many hifi enthusiasts believe, pre amplifiers are actually one of the most difficult audio components to develop. At the same time it is one of the most important components in a well sounding system.
Bent Holter

It is probably safe to say that 95% of the systems in audiophile homes are being degraded by a bad listening environment.
J. Gordon Holt†

It's a very long way from an amplifier that works technically correct to an amplifier that captivates the listener.
Stefan Gawlick

The only escape from the miseries of life are music and cats..
Albert Schweitzer†

In alle muziek is ritme het belangrijkste. Pas dan komt de melodie en daarna pas de harmonie.
Eric Vloeimans

I believe many audiophiles know the price of HiFi but not the value of it.
J. Lam

A single inferior link puts the whole thing at risk. One superior link, on the other hand, can be a waste -quite possibly a very expensive one.
Art Dudley†

Speakers do not dissapear, whole systems dissapear if they are excellently matched.
Francisco Portugal

For every subjectivist there is an objectivist knocking at the door armed with his meter and ABX bible.
Jason Hector

Do you think that it's fair to judge the sound of any system in these hotel rooms? hardly, if it sounds good it's an accident.
Myles B. Astor

As the speakers get bigger and more complex, the focussing suffers. Most never realise this, as they are overwhelmed with the dynamics, and just assume because they cost so much more that they are universally better.
T. Hunter

With an all too predictable regularity, High End brands occasionally announce a proud return to their 'roots' apparently blissfully unaware that such an assertion is tantamount to a confession that they had in fact lost their way and for a time abandoned those precious roots.
Flemming E. Rasmussen

We leven in een tijd waarin men van de veronderstelling uitgaat dat alles wat waarde heeft in de eerste plaats moeilijk moet zijn.
Kathleen Roquemore

Musicians do not bear any responsibility for publishing these tapes.
Ganelin / Tarasov / Chekasin, Leorecords

Many different designs can achieve great sound in the hands of capable engineers.
Ron Nash

We are unwilling to destroy music or film sound in order to provide a 'happy idiot' button, whereby the customer hears some difference by pushing a button, only later to discover, as they listen more critically, that the bass is completely out of time with the cadence of the music. We’re not in the happy idiot business, our customers are smarter than that.
John Hunter / Donald Brody

Products with real integrity display a certain consistent style.
Richard Fryer

If you decide not to write out your ideas, not to finish your compositions but rather keep them as open fragments, you leave yourself open to many happy accidents and coincidences when you perform them. You discover new possibilities; by risking your ideas you create new ones.
Nils Frahm

Mensen zouden eens wat langzamer moeten luisteren.
J.S.Ducey

Better digital starts with better analog.
Ed Meitner

The problem is that, in order to resist, a resistor must be made from a bad conductor of electricity.
Demetris Backlavas

For some people, when you say 'Timbuktu' it is like the end of the world, but that is not true. I am from Timbuktu, and I can tell you we are right at the heart of the world.
Ali Farka Toure†

Before you play two notes learn how to play one note, and don't play one note unless you've got a reason to play it.
Mark Hollis†

A detractor of mono Triode amplifiers will say: 'Yes it's musical but there is no bass'. This comment might be true if the amplifier is made to save money with a cheaply built output transformer.
J.C. Verdier†

The less focus you have with out of phase mode, the more focus you have in phase.
Doug Sax†

I use to say that a lot of people catch bigger fish, or may be better fishermen than me, but very few enjoy it as much as I do. I got my best design ideas while fishing.
Flemming E. Rasmussen

Music lovers use equipment to enjoy music, audiophiles use music to enjoy their equipment.
Paul Cunningham

A lot of the processing that audiophiles criticize is a style thing and part of the music itself.
Alan Parson

The pro audio guy will prioritize room acoustics and do the necessary treatments to make the room sound right. The hi-fi world attaches less importance to room acoustics, and prioritizes equipment; they are looking more at brand names and reputation.
Alan Parson

I went to an audio show at which the average product price was astonishing—not just high, in the sense that a BMW is priced higher than a Subaru, but freakishly high. Yet the majority of the sound I heard there was unexceptional.
Art Dudley†

Rising consumer awareness has forced some manufacturers to stop making outrageous unsubstantiated claims of Class A power ratings that only exist in the fevered imagination of some marketing expert.
Flemming E. Rasmussen

The best loudspeaker isn't the one that gives the most, it's the one that loses the least.
John Bowers

Der Klang, der nicht Musik ist, kann unter bestimmten bedingungen Musik werden. Das heist, es gibt zwischen Klang und Musik keine notwendigen beziehung. Es gibt Klang ohne Musik und es gibt Klang die zu Musik fuhrt.
Sergiu Celibidache

Compact Disc is kijken naar muziek.
Rudolf R. Ploeger

Gearparking.
Ard van Keekem

It does not make sense to optimize a limited system – the limitation itself has to be eliminated.
Andreas Hofmann

We've lately bumped into the strange phenomena where highend audio became more of an F1 racing track rather then exchange of intimate musical emotions.
Matej Isak

De goeroe zegt: Laat de goeroe los!
Osho†

Es ist möglich Klangunterschiede zu hören, wo gar keine sind.
Ulf Moning

We cannot overemphasize that the quality of the listening experience is directly dependant on the quality of the power supply.
J.C. Verdier†

We have come to the conclusion that everything has an influence on sound. And we have to accept that these influences are real –even if (for the moment at least) we have no scientific explanation.
Helmut Brinkmann

Highend audio kan betekenen dat in een gegeven situatie, en met een bepaald budget alle parameters geadresseerd worden om zo te streven tot een succesvolle weergave binnen het kader.
Rudolf R. Ploeger

Normally when we read about musical instruments or hifi-gear, we get a list of extraordinary features, and it all sounds very complicated. We are used to evaluate in feature lists. But now that we have identified the simple law 'Wood Sounds Good', we should also look from exactly the other direction: We need to know, what is absent in the design, not what is present.
Charles Altmann

Zodra je gaat nadenken over je piek-ervaring, wordt het al gauw een pieker-ervaring.
Erik van Zuydam

Simplicity is the best way to get out the maximum sound performance, but also the most difficult way.
Gerhard Hirt

90% van de highend audiofielen spendeert 100% tijd en geld aan 50% van de weergave.
Ard van Keekem

Perhaps you say that it's not accurate? I say it's entertainment!
Nelson Pass

Er is in de klassieke motortechniek een bepaald protocol met betrekking tot onderhoud en diagnose; Eerst compressie meten, dan kleppen stellen, dan bougies vernieuwen, dan de ontsteking op tijd zetten, en als laatste de carburatie afstellen. In de highend audio is er ook zo'n protocol.
Rudolf R. Ploeger

It is easy to make an amplifier that measures well, but more difficult to make one
that sounds subjectively exceptional to discerning listeners and does so reliably.
Nelson Pass

We have the McDonalds generation of music consumers.
Hans Zimmer

You see, it's easy to critique someone else's system. Suggesting how exactly to improve it is an entirely different kettle of fish. Reviewers are just talk.
Srajan Ebaen

Vergaande specialisatie is een valkuil voor succesvolle audioweergave.
Rudolf R. Ploeger

Eine sehr gute Geige klingt auch in einem schlechten Raum immer noch wie eine sehr gute Geige. Es würde niemand auf die idee kommen, eine Stradivari zu modifizieren, wenn der Konzertsaal nicht klingt.
Christoph Zingel

Luister naar de Muziek en laat het denken zijn mond houden. Zeg eenvoudig tegen je denken: 'Hou je mond'! Laat me luisteren, ik luister alleen maar.
Osho†

Let us forget about the prices of given components for the moment. And let us forget about the size and the quantity of materials being used. Let me rather focus on the matter that should count most, the sound.
Matej Isak

I suspect there are some who find the idea of neutrality more attractive than the reality.
Alan Sircom

Echte muzikaliteit is voelen hoe de ene noot de andere baart.
Jan Wijn

Most serious music lovers would agree that the ultimate audio component is a well behaved, dedicated listening room.
Andy Payor

One of the problems with being a musician is you don't have time to be a proper audiophile. To be proper, you have to be insane all the time and obsessed all the time. You need a psychotherapist after a while.
Keith Jarrett

Succes principle: There is no failure, only feedback.
Mick Jarvis

A preamplifier is like the conductor of an orchestra.
Angstrom Research

We believe that feedback is a bad practice and we never use any of it. We only use customer’s feedback.
Lukasz Fikus

Halten Sie einmal eine Werbung, einen Testbericht oder ein Messprotokoll an Ihre Ohren.
Marcel Müller

I don't need to rehearse with Toumani and he doesn't need to rehearse. I never rehearse when it comes to music. He supported me, and he still supports me.
Ali Farka Touré†

The better a system is at reproducing music and speech, the less your brain has to work to understand the message.
Fredrik Lejonklou

To my experience, cost means nothing. Synergy means everything.
Tom Treitz

Don't assume that expensive is better, but don't dismiss because it's expensive.
Mike Lavigne

A rather low cost system but with wisely chosen components which match well together can be more High End than a incompetently chosen system of the 100k+ category.
Thomas Mayer

Unfairly, the tweeter is almost always promoted as the star of the show. Often, too much focus is placed on exotic tweeter technologies that may be outstanding in their own right, but like so many stars, shine too brightly, failing to integrate well with the rest of the system.
Flemming E. Rasmussen

Buy more music.
Andre Marc

The preamplifier is of paramount importance. But then so is the poweramp, the speakers and the room. In high end audio one cannot overlook anything.
Robert Koch

Luxuries cannot nourish the soul, and their joy is short lived. Great music continues to satisfy.
Martin Colloms

The truth is in listening, not in the theory or standard measurements. So the listening test decide what is good, even if it is unexpected or unbelievable.
Vincent Brient

But marketing requirements and Ohm’s law never shall meet.
Michelle Surdie

Particularly the high-end speaker sector suffers from a huge disconnect between what actually does the job, and what people believe is necessary or even desirable. Speaker greed is probably the single most pervasive and most cruelly counterproductive hifi sin.
Srajan Ebaen

What this world needs is a good 5 Watt amplifier.
Paul W. Klipsch†

There is a mistaken belief that current flows from a power station hundreds of miles away. Not true: current oscillates back forth between the neutral and hot conductors and the current only travels a few inches at best. This is why the first six feet of power cordage from the component is important.
Caelin Gabriel

Unfortunately, audio journal hi fi language and the hi fi sound that it represents have permeated all aspects of our industry: audio shows, manufacturing, retail outlets, and consumer preferences. Consequently, no single source of information is reliable if your goal is to create musical magic in your home.
Karen Sumner

Of all the amplifiers I have reviewed, this is one of them too.
Julian Hirsch

Accuracy is the Standard and Listening is the Decider.
Michael Lowe

NOS Tubes: Nobody absolutely needs them, but everybody wants them.
Jac van de Walle

Only two reasons for producing a new model: either you did it wrong the first time or there's been a fundamental improvement in the science. Fundamental improvements in the science come very infrequently.
Peter Walker†

Less gear = less cables = more records = more music.
Rudolf R. Ploeger

Es klingt vielleicht nach einer langweiligen wiederholung: Ein gutes System kann besser spielen als die Summe vermeintlich besserer Komponenten.
Christian Wenger

Als het er gecompliceerd uitziet, dan klinkt het meestal ook zo.
Rudolf R. Ploeger

Unlike that beautiful car sitting in your garage, your home audio system is most definitely not an engineered system.
Stirling Trayle

Bass is problematic, when you don't have it you want it, and when you have it you fight the problems that come with it.
Franco Serblin†

Most people think it's about the noise a system makes, but it's really about the noise it doesn't make that is important.
Stirling Trayle

Look, it all sounds fake in the grand scheme of things. This game is all about finding the kinda fake that best suites your tastes.
Sean Fowler

A violin is not made of MDF.
Franco Serblin†

Een negatieve luisterervaring is heel positief: het laat horen waar je niet naar op zoek bent.
Rudolf R. Ploeger

In der tat, jede Verbesserung ist nur nützlich solange die Nachteile kleiner sind als die Fehler die sie korrigiert.
Thomas Blumenhofer

Ik zou met een piano willen spelen die een grote staart had.
Erik Satie†

Without resonances there cannot be a lifelike sound!
Hans Deutsch

A tonearm that is only accurately aligned at 2 points across a record is about as good as a stopped clock that shows the correct time twice a day..
Clive Meakins

Traditional loudspeaker testing is not incorrect in what it measures, but in what it does not measure.
Josef W. Manger†

Audiofielen zijn soms zo bevangen door het luisteren, dat de visie ontbreekt.
Ard van Keekem

The danger is to be seduced by the notion that there is only one correct design approach, and back this false belief with narrow-minded fundamentalism. There are always a number of perfectly valid design approaches.
Dave Wilson†

Der HiFi-Zirkus.
Helmut Hack

Überdimensionierung ist das Mittel der Hilflosen. Wer ansonsten keine Ideen hat, der klaut eine und betreibt Überdimensionierung.
Ulf Moning

We own and listen to systems and systems are what we build, but we obsess over individual components.
Roy Gregory

Ich bin davon überzeugt, dass man einen wirklich homogenen klang nur auf eine weise hinbekommt: alle treiber müssen aus demselben material bestehen und dieselbe bauform haben.
Manfred Diestertich

Ebenso wenig, wie ein mensch 'richtig' oder 'falsch' ist oder man menschliche perfektion erwarten kann, darf man es vom hören erwarten.
Ulf Moning

Music is emotion, not sound. You can have all the sound in the world but if you don't feel anything it's just noise.
Mark Levinson

And what we need is not to listen to components but to great systems in the first place.
Edward Barker

Was wir vom hören über eine hifi-anlage erwarten, ist ein verständnis für die intention des künstlers. Wobei wir unterstellen, dass eine solche intention grundsätzlich vorhanden ist. Die Anlage darf dem hörer also auch vermitteln, dass die einzige intention einer aufnahme womöglich die profitmaximierung ist. Wenn es einer hifi-anlage gelingt, dass die intention, die absicht, die aussage des künstlers im kopf des hörers ankommt, dann ist die anlage gut. Dafür ist nicht unbedingt eine hohe technische qualität der aufnahme notwendig.
Ulf Moning

High efficiency is important because the lower the efficiency of the speakers, the more of the music get's turned into heat, it's just gone.
Mark Levinson

If I knew what I was doing, it wouldn't be research.
Andrew Jones

We think crossovers are tone suckers.
Sean Casey

Recordings have no music on them, just microphone voltages that represent the musical waveforms.
Albert von Schweickert†

Music begins when definitions are silenced.
Marina Tsetaeva

If conventional jazz is dead, then everything is permitted.
Norman Weinstein

20 Hz is expensive, but it only hurts for a little while!
Dave Wilson†

Voorversterkers zijn niet nodig, boter en beleg ook niet.
Rudolf R. Ploeger

Take nothing away from the signal, add nothing to it. Contrary to the received idea the hardest by far is to add nothing.
Christian Yvon

Ich bin überzeugt, dass die meisten hörer sechzig prozent klang verschenken, weil die anlage nicht professionell aufgebaut und abgestimmt ist.
Joachim Gerhard

I guess I look at these things from a different perspective than most of the typical audiophiles, but in 99% of speakers I have auditioned, the 'Bass' I hear is 'Hi Fi' bass and that is not the same as bass. The Hi Fi bass does not exist in the real live or studio situation but seems to be a simulation to satisfy the craving for bass.
Paul DiGiacomo

I believe that musicians are only responsible for half of the real musical experience, -the other half must be done by the listener. How one listens and receives the music is perhaps the most important gesture.
Myung Whun Chung

The best audio components are those that simply don't seem to exist, so good that they add nothing, subtract nothing.
Seiji Yoshioka

My theories on audio and audio reproduction will be proven wrong only when the laws of physics change.
Paul W. Klipsch†

It was a real shock. I walked into room after room, hearing the same kind of awful sound coming out of ugly equipment with price tags that belonged on vintage sports cars, not MDF boxes.
Jonathan Weiss

For a reality check we must only go to a concert hall to be reminded what real music sounds like. Don't rely on playback through dirty amplifiers.
Kang Su Park

Any loudspeaker crossover point should preferably stay outside the 80 -1200 Hertz region.
Rudolf R. Ploeger

Het zoeken stopt niet omdat je 'het' hebt gevonden, je hebt 'het' gevonden omdat het zoeken is gestopt.
Erik van Zuydam

Dat is het mooie van muziek, je kunt je niet anders voordoen dan je bent.
Janine Jansen

Amplifiers have no dynamics.
Peter Walker†

A set turns into a system when it is completed as a sensible whole, well thought and with internal coherence. A system is a result of many years of trying to reach the ideal, throwing away the bad things and watering the good things. The keyword is coherence. And most important is the fact that the listener is a part of the system.
Wojtek Pacula

Die Geräteindustrie hat kein interesse an optimierungen der Stereoanlage durch den Endkunden, der umsatz alleine zählt.
Dietmar Sutter

Audio was a hobby and then a profession, but I still consider myself as an amateur in that an amateur is one who practices his art for love.
Paul W. Klipsch

My definition of a highend audio system is one that has the capability of making the listener forget the hardware and become totally and completely immersed in the musical experience. Hifi involves those who use music to listen to and evaluate their systems.
Israel Blume

Theories of physics will never be able to explain why certain things touch the human soul. In music the human being must be the measure of all things.
Hervé Delétraz

What lies beyond space? Hyperspace!
Tom Fletcher†

Affordophile.
Martin Bastin

For the sake of definition, musical isn't synonymous with pleasant.
Srajan Ebaen

Het geluid van de rinkelende kassabel.
Ard van Keekem

De uitvindingen van de laatste eeuw zijn vooral uitvindingen van snelheid, niet van wijsheid.
Phil Bosmans

If you find something you love, enjoy it. Don’t buy something because a salesman told you to, or because I told you to. Buy it because it sings to you, and you like it.
Ken Keshler

To play the music with a real sense of discovery. To create is demanding, but to discover... now that is something else.
Arve Henriksen

I don't think you can really recreate a musical event exactly as it was. That's not important. What's really important is that you feel that you are with the musicians, that you are intimately connected, that it's happening. You can do that with a very simple system too. It's not about total performance actually, it's about emotion.
Mark Levinson

We cherish the album as a physical object.
Grappa Musikkforlag

First of all, if you think measurements will tell you how a speaker sounds, you're wrong, very much wrong indeed.
Troels Gravesen

If you want a better subwoofer, buy two subwoofers.
Richard E. Lord†

For some it is Zen for others it is Radical. Call it what you will, but at the end of the track it’s all about trusting your ears.
Konstantin Gregg-Saad

It's more important to find than to create.
Ole Hamre

Bullshit !
Paul W. Klipsch†

Headphones are the only things you can audition at shows that will sound the same when you get them home.
Ken Keshler

Storytelling is more important than equipment.
Casey Neisat

Zet uw oude platen maar bij de vuilnisbak.
Philips 1982

(Voor dit artikel heb je een platenspeler nodig)
BolCom 2017

The audiophile is the first to speak once the music starts playing.
Russel Dawkins

The difference between a hifi salesman and a hifi consultant? The consultant knows when he's lying.
Philip Wright

Electrons have no memory of where they've been; the end result is what counts.
Tim de Paravicini†

My dogma is: don’t be dogmatic, it’s the classic audiophile dilemma.
Kevin Scott

As with any equipment review, system context is the elephant in the room.
Vance Hiner

Now that is important in audio - Simplicity.
Ching.C. Poon

My greatest fear is not that I might have a room at a show that absolutely sucks, but that I might have one that goes completely unnoticed.
Win Tinnon

Een duur luidsprekersysteem is dan pas beter dan een goedkoper systeem wanneer het in de juiste kontekst geplaatst is. Het is daarom een waanidee wanneer een importeur demonstreert met een kombinatie van enkel en alleen de producten die hij in zijn programma heeft, in plaats van die zaken er bij te zoeken (ja van concurrenten) die het hoofdproduct waarom het gaat recht doen wedervaren.
Rudolf Bruil

Steve Jobs was a pioneer of digital music. But when he went home, he listened to records.
Neil Young

Potential of a topology isn't a guarantee of achievement.
David Karmeli

Price is what you pay. Value is what you get.
Warren Buffet

Distortion artifacts are musically incorporated in to all music production, there is no perfection in music. That way of thinking is bogus and anti music. Music is flawed and that’s a good thing, it’s the humanity. Perfection has no place in music production, it’s a dangerous myth.
Bryan Lucey

In the audio chain from microphone to the listeners ears, the medium is the principal limiting factor for sound quality.
Eelco Grimm

At the 'what's best' level of audiophilia, many believe that bigger and more expensive MUST be better. That bigger speaker must certainly be able to 'overpower' the acoustics of their listening room because of it's sheer bulk and presence, it's sheer number of drivers and air-moving power, it's sheer price. Nothing could be further from the truth. Big speakers have big problems as the saying goes, and even if the cabinets of such speakers are made of very expensive unobtainium, that does nothing to control the interaction of the speakers with the listening room.
Tom Mallin

Ho Hum, another breakthrough!
Paul W. Klipsch†

It is tough enough to get one crossover point right, never mind two!
Henry Kloss†

I don't want to know where they are on stage, I want to know why they are on stage.
Marcus Sauer

In general I recommend to stick with as little power as needed, and implement that in the best possible sound quality.
Thomas Mayer

A powerful driver is not better sounding, it's only harder to break. A trucktire under 8.2 Bar pressure is not more precise than a motorcycle tire under 2 Bar.
Guy le Cornec

Does it make sense to reproduce the result of a recording engineer?
Claus Jäckle

Fidelity to what? In the context of consumer playback of commercial recordings, we can't go further upstream than the recording we are listening to. So our high fidelity must be fidelity to the recording, but not necessarily to the original sound. If you require fidelity to the original sound, you will have to go to a concert. Not only that, but in the case of many (most?) pop recordings, there is no original sound. The only 'original' that ever existed was what came out of the monitor loudspeakers when the mixing was done.
D. Michael Shields

At 26 years old, I found myself back in the town where I grew up, feeling a bit like a failure for not 'making it' out there in the years I spent living and working on my own. I picked up a job working in a retirement home, surrounded by those who are at the very end of their lives, and they’ve kept saying the same thing: that they had no idea life would happen that fast.
David Allred

It’s about system synergy, and not fixing things that are wrong to begin with.
Matthew Rotunda

There’s a lot of snake oil out there on the market, and a lot of it is just to feed the audiophile insecurities about how they can put a band-aid on a system to improve it.
Matthew Rotunda

A horn is just a reasonably rigid boundary for an air column. Now all you have to do is figure out what shape to make it.
Paul W. Klipsch†

Wer Verstärkerleistung im zweistelligen Wattbereich braucht, hat ein Lautsprecherproblem. Lautsprecher mit wirkungsgraden unter 94 dB sind meines Erachtens Fehlkonstruktionen.
Carsten Bussler

In a digital world nothing is more important than tone.
Harvey Rosenberg†

I would rather have a teaspoon of tone, then an ocean of power.
Harvey Rosenberg†

As they say, if you love justice and tube sound, never see how either is made!
John Broskie

Der raum ist das Kleid der Musik.
Kurt Blaukopf

I've said it before and I'll say it again; Life moves pretty fast, if you don't stop and look around once in a while you could miss it.
L.T.J Bukem

The midrange is where we live.
Paul W. Klipsch†

Story tellers and story sellers.
Ard van Keekem

Volumecontrol is not a Preamplifier.
Rudolf R. Ploeger

We firmly believe that anyone who produces the best of something is eventually going to develop the reputation he or she deserves. That kind of reputation cannot be bought.
Michael K. Crock

Some scientists claim that hydrogen, because it is so plentiful, is the basic building block of the universe. I dispute that. I say there is more stupidity than hydrogen, and that is the basic building block of the universe.
Frank Zappa†

Sadly, in retrospect, many of my past audio purchases where more about what I thought was better rather than what gave me more pleasure.
Rus Moubius

The audio industry is often very good at solving the wrong problems.
Duke LeJeune

100dB loudspeakers are 'good'.. well it only shows the First Watt. A succesfull system is something else.
Rudolf R. Ploeger

Sound character is something very subjective, but whether the music is in tune is NOT subjective.
Fredrik Lejonklou

I refuse to buy into the whole mystique designed to suck in the suckers who need to feel that they're more sophisticated than the average audiophile.
John Potis

Zen is about pragmatism. It's about solving problems. You can pursue something into the stratosphere, but if it's not practical what's the point?
Simon Yorke

The pleasure of listening to a concert cannot possibly be expressed in terms of money.
Erich Fromm

The active and passive components used by high-end designers must be chosen according to their suitability to a specific application, not some arbitrarily applied military standard. A component bearing a mil-spec classification may be unsuited to an audio application. For example, a mil-spec resistor or capacitor with steel component leads will produce sonically undesireable effects in an audio amplifier. What is required in a missile is not necessarily beneficial to music reproduction.
Jeff Rowland

All too often, audiophiles misidentify the source of their dissatisfaction. This can lead to a cycling through perfectly good or even great equipment that has never been in a setting that truly maximizes its performance.
Joe Cohen

As a case in point; the sound of the best tube electronics should be that of the tubes themselves.
Masataka Tsuda San

People draw conclusions so fast. If anybody is in the need and urge of judging things, he can at least do things as they're supposed to be done; Find the right gear that give life to the speaker. It's like car testers would review Formula 1 tires on domestic car for example; nonsense. This is why High-End audio is having such a hard time becoming something else than just a race of opinions.
Matej Isak

I could compare my music to white light which contains all colours. Only a prism can divide the colours and make them appear; this prism could be the spirit of the listener.
Arvo Pärt

There is nothing worse than a sharp image of a fuzzy concept.
Ansel Adams†

I don't trust anyone that doesn't like Led Zeppelin.
Jack White

Those who have gone on safari know that the hyenas and vultures that feed on carrion make the loudest noise. The noble cats such as the Lion, the Leopard and the Cheetah on the other hand, are very quiet by comparison. Likewise, in the world of audio.
Kavi Alexander

Someone will always be able to put together the arguments needed to justify the use of any of these techniques. The truth is that each of them will be better for some specific use.
Eduardo de Lima†

Playing in a good Taste doth not consist of frequent Passages, but in expressing with Strength and Delicacy the Intention of the Composer.
Francesco Xavierio Geminiani†

A tube is not a fireplace.
Riccardo Kron†

The value attached to a product can be judged by how easy or difficult it is to part with it.
Wojciech Pacula

To my ears, true sophistication is never extreme or forceful in any way.
Dawid Grzyb

You take the blue pill...the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill...you stay in Wonderland, and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes.
Morpheus, The Matrix

There are only two types of music, good and bad.
Duke Ellington†

When I was writing 'The Pass' some kids told me that people who are truly suicidal listen to Pink Floyd. Rush is seen as hopeful music.
Neil Peart†

Forget wattage figures, as when it comes to reproducing music they are pretty meaningless figures on their own, far more important is the dynamic range PER Watt and then how many Watts per channel. If the dynamic range figure PER Watt is truly huge, all of the detail will be present no matter the volume level.
Tom Evans

A certain 'gain' does not have a particular sound, but the mechanism to reduce it does. It is best to design something with inherent gain to match, than reducing it afterwards. It is like going with handbrake on to compensate a stronger engine.
Stavros Danos

I have a penchant for a system approach. The sound you get in your home is the sound of a system, not the sound of component parts. In my experience, if you find a designer whose voicing speaks to you and touches you, then why not try to put together as much of a system as you can from that designer. Who cares if not every one of his products gets a Class A ranking or something equally ludicrous. The parts go together to sing in one voice and if that is the voice that moves you, why wouldn't you pursue that approach rather than an aimless pairing of 'ranked' components?
Jules Coleman

The effect of any given tweak on your system will be directly proportional to its level of resolution. What may yield a negligible effect on one system will have a profound effect on another.
Joe Cohen

Listening to Analogue music is an act of rebellion in a digital gulag.
Simon Yorke

A competent system opens the door to many other types of music.
David Karmeli

Only the simplest can accomodate the most complex.
Junji Kimura

What is important to the eye is not necessarily important to the ear. You get cues from the eye but some things that look gross in the frequency response, the ear says 'I don’t care'.
Siegfried Linkwitz†

While Magazine Reviews are sometimes flattering ... Owner testimonials are real.
David Counsell

Ask yourself one simple question: Does it sound more natural?
David Karmeli

Always asks two simple questions to judge a system: 1. Do you feel the music is played by humans? 2. Do you feel you share the same space with the performers?
Roy Gregory

Don’t confuse Playboy magazine with an audiosystem.
Harvey 'Gizmo' Rosenberg†

So, here’s what we should be asking ourselves. Am I enjoying what I am hearing? Is there emotion and passion from the performers? Am I being moved? And even more importantly, does it make me want to listen to more and more music, night after night? If you can’t answer an emphatic YES to all those questions, you are listening to Hi-fi – not music.
Peter Goldsbrough

The Electricians bible, the NEC-NFPA70 is only a book of shall and shall not. You may and you may not. What it does not do is provide any guidance on how to actually install wire and equipment.
Rex Hungerford

I have heard many systems that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars with individual components that have all received rave reviews that sound excruciatingly bad musically. Simple, basic, reasonably priced systems actually can sound musically superior to these out-of-balance mega-systems.
Karen Sumner

I’ve turned out to be a person who does not qualify for anything but either people finding me interesting or shocking or different or . . . I don’t care that I can’t do it like other people. I’m glad I can’t.
Carla Bley†

There are plenty of products which have great specs – I will not be offended if you buy those.
Nelson Pass

My fascination with CD tweaks stems not from their intrinsic abilities to improve CD sound as much as it comes from the realization that if any tweak has even the slightest audible effect, conventional digital audio theory is turned upside down.
Robert Harley

Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away.
Philip K. Dick†

The worst sound in the world can be achieved by the best components available.
Torben Mikkelsen

It is possible to put together a system from 'politically correct' components which result in mediocre sound.
Rudolf R. Ploeger

You can't hear what you're not looking for.
Herb Reichert

Your results may vary, but remember that we are here to have some fun - it's entertainment, not dialysis.
Nelson Pass

Ein toller Messestand verbessert nicht den Klang in ihren Wohnzimmer.
Rolf Gemein

I am not interested in being right. I am interested in being moved.
Joe Cohen

Often the apparent disappointments of imperfect devices are also important to clearly see the difference..
Gerhard Horineck

Ars longa, vita brevis. Art is long, life is short.
Ryuichi Sakamoto†

There are two kinds of good sound: Good sound sound and good music sound.
Art Dudley†

We all know what good sound is, yet the words to describe it are hard to find.
Robert Gaboury

Applying damping for better room acoustics is like stopping eating to lose weight.
Rudolf R. Ploeger

If you can't hear the difference, it's not worth talking to you.
Vereker† and Tiefenbrun

 

 


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