DUP, the downside of your constant sneering at the analyses of others (an apparently permanent persona of yours -- if it isn't Van Alstine or Legacy, it is de facto overpriced, over-rated, and part of a grand audio reviewer conspiracy to rob you of your hard-earned or ill-gotten cash), is that nobody cares about anything you recommend seriously.

Over the past 4-5 years, since I have been participating in this forum, I have spent about 5 minutes wondering why you haven't understood this simple fact. You can't sneer at others and expect them to take you seriously when you trumpet forth your recommendations for truth in music. Audio (live and in the home) is subjective in the general sense, with objective data intruding occasionally, with either insightful contributions or red herrings. The particular has to be assimilated into the general, or it is useless. Imaginary gardens with real toads, I believe Ms. Moore wrote.

There is no piece of audio playback equipment that you steer me towards, with your authoritative url's, that I can take seriously.

Now, you want me (and others who will read this drivel out of curiosity) to take this tape deck seriously. There is no chance.

Whenever you seem (I have no idea what you really think) to be sincere about recommending a step ahead in the science and art of audio, the recommendation peters out into a url address -- let somebody ELSE do the details. QED. Post some obscure website, and ultimate authority has been established.

Not only am I not interested in anything you have to recommend, I am negatively biased towards it, out of the box. It is automatically damned to audio hell, as far as my ears are concerned. I have listened to your Legacy speakers, your Van Alstine amplifiers, and your Trane power conditioners. They are, at best, woefully inadequate for anyone who has attended live concerts with any regularity. At worst, they are miserable pretenders to listenability. And you have contributed to their bottom-feeder status by flogging them at the expense of your demeaning of the well-intended suggestions of others.

You sow what you reap, DUP. You have the credibility of an onion, and you want me to listen to a tape deck. Even more incredible, after at least 3 years of insults to one of the best audio writers in the business, you want Michael Fremer to review it. Yeah, right. Again, you sow what you reap. When pigs fly, DUP.

I think you should continue your insults. They can be amusing, in their crabbed, unintenionally self-parodic form. But don't expect anybody who loves music to take you seriously.

Hi Clifton,

You make some valid points and I can certainly understand why you would feel the way you do, however, having listened to DUP's set up, I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss him.

Quote:
DUP, the downside of your constant sneering at the analyses of others (an apparently permanent persona of yours -- if it isn't Van Alstine or Legacy, it is de facto overpriced, over-rated, and part of a grand audio reviewer conspiracy to rob you of your hard-earned or ill-gotten cash), is that nobody cares about anything you recommend seriously.

I think that it's one thing to be annoyed by the DUP persona on the forums, but quite another to take his recommendations seriously. You may summarily dismiss them, but I think that not taking the time to explore them would only result in your own detriment.

Quote:

Over the past 4-5 years, since I have been participating in this forum, I have spent about 5 minutes wondering why you haven't understood this simple fact. You can't sneer at others and expect them to take you seriously when you trumpet forth your recommendations for truth in music. Audio (live and in the home) is subjective in the general sense, with objective data intruding occasionally, with either insightful contributions or red herrings. The particular has to be assimilated into the general, or it is useless. Imaginary gardens with real toads, I believe Ms. Moore wrote.

I think it all comes down to one's ability to separate the DUP persona from the products. After all, DUP doesn't make them or sell them, so as much as you may find DUP's online persona rubbing you the wrong way, that has nothing to do with exploring some of the unorthodox products.

Quote:

There is no piece of audio playback equipment that you steer me towards, with your authoritative url's, that I can take seriously.

Now, you want me (and others who will read this drivel out of curiosity) to take this tape deck seriously. There is no chance.

Why not? I don't get the reasoning behind those statements.

Quote:

Not only am I not interested in anything you have to recommend, I am negatively biased towards it, out of the box. It is automatically damned to audio hell, as far as my ears are concerned. I have listened to your Legacy speakers, your Van Alstine amplifiers, and your Trane power conditioners. They are, at best, woefully inadequate for anyone who has attended live concerts with any regularity. At worst, they are miserable pretenders to listenability. And you have contributed to their bottom-feeder status by flogging them at the expense of your demeaning of the well-intended suggestions of others.

I thought the Legacy speakers were impressive. Not perfect, but impressive. You may dismiss my opinion as well, but Stew is seriously considering replacing his Nova Utopias with Legacy Whispers. THAT says something. (in my opinion at least.)

Quote:

You sow what you reap, DUP. You have the credibility of an onion, and you want me to listen to a tape deck. Even more incredible, after at least 3 years of insults to one of the best audio writers in the business, you want Michael Fremer to review it. Yeah, right. Again, you sow what you reap. When pigs fly, DUP.

I think you should continue your insults. They can be amusing, in their crabbed, unintenionally self-parodic form. But don't expect anybody who loves music to take you seriously.

I am not here to defend the DUP persona and I certainly wouldn't want to be perceived as such, but I have found that DUP makes some very valid points concerning reviewing practices, equipment and recommendations. I am able to separate his delivery from the content. The fluff is in the delivery. I feel I have benefited substantially by being exposed to the kind of equipment, thinking and unconventional assembly of components, that I wouldn't have been exposed to otherwise. This has been to MY benefit. I don't think DUP has gotten anything out of it.

Ultimately, I don't think DUP gives a rat's ass whether or not anyone takes him seriously. There is no gain in it for him. The only people who stand to lose by dismissing DUP are the people who dismiss him.