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RE: That clears up a lot!

"The exact equipment doesn't matter because it was well chosen and was good enough for the test "

You are right BUT who decides that the equipment was well chosen and good enough for the test?? You or the reviewers of your paper? Why the reviewers should be allowed to determine this. Your job is full disclosure in the paper not a predecided "it was good enough". When I publish papers in scientific journals I disclose ALL the instrumentation we are using for our measurements. We also show examples of those measurements so that people can see that the instrument is operating without bias and the data delivered meets important criteria.

An example: I regularly make measurements in the lab on trace levels of organic compounds. I have three different mass spectrometers in the laboratory that I could use to make those measurements. One of them though has a sensitivity about 100 times greater than the other two.

If I were, for whatever reason, to use one of the lower sensitivity instruments I could very easily state that most of the compounds that I KNOW to be there are not there because I cannot detect them on that instrument.

If I were to publish a paper saying that we cannot detect those compounds because they are not there but I put in the paper in the methods section that I am using merely a Brand X mass spectrometer with detection limits that are quite low then my peers would like ask, "Why the hell didn't you use a more sensitive instrument because we KNOW that the compounds are present at lower levels than you could measure". If I didn't disclose the mass spectrometer in the paper for fear of getting such a question then the first question would be, "What type of Mass spectrometer did you use and is it good enough?"

That your peers were apparently unconcerned about your failure to disclose the equipment you used for your test says a lot about how lax they were in their duties as reviewers OR there is an unreasonable bias in the Audio engineering society that audio equipment used is not important for listening tests!! What rubbish because in other scientific fields the equipment used to prove a test or not is VERY important. If I were to use a Mass spectrometer from the 1960s there might be a lot of eyebrows raised when that paper is submitted for publication. It seems that you peers were only concerned that your PROCEDURE was correct and not the meat of how it was actually conducted and with what equipment, which despite what you think, is highly relevant. I am an Ph.D. in analytical chemistry with many years training and experience in making analytical measuremnts and data interpretation and I can tell you that in chemistry or audio its just as relevant.

The whole point of audiophile gear is that the exact equipment DOES matter and that it will give you significant bias if not chosen carefully. I applaud your use of electrostatic speakers but what amp was used?? This is important because as you are surely aware, electrostatic speakers provide an highly unusual load in that they are largely reactive in nature often with wild impedance curves and can drive many amps into fits of oscillation or just plain bad performance. Why don't you publish the equipment and let US decide if was a good choice or not?? It is not like using a lab equipment where as long as the voltage is right its a good powersupply (we would still include it in the methods section of a paper though).



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  • RE: That clears up a lot! - morricab 09/24/0702:10:30 09/24/07 (0)
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