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I have heard different amps drive one brand of speaker. There ofcourse was a difference in sound with each amp. Is it fair to judge a speaker with only one amp? This leads me to another question; if your monitoring situation isn't working for you why assume its the speaker and not the amp? Ofcourse I'm talking about passive speakers.

If I gave you a really good camera to take a picture of a mules ass or a lesser quality camera to take a picture of a gorgeous babe in a bikini, which would you choose? I look at a preamp as the camera and the mule/babe as the mic. If you have a really great preamp but a weak mic won't the amp just magnify the weakness of the mic? To me it seems better to have something nice to see a picture of than a great detailed picture of something ugly. I know some of you would say its better to be even and get a 'good' mic and preamp instead of one being really good and the other really bad. But, I don't know. Whats your opinion on this?

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realdynamix Sat, 08/16/2003 - 20:08

Originally posted by orson:
Is it fair to judge a speaker with only one amp?...If you have a really great preamp but a weak mic won't the amp just magnify the weakness of the mic?....Whats your opinion on this?

:) Orson, I like your ANALogy. :D When thinking of a system, you always start from the ass end. Room certainly, do what you can there, however you must have a reference point. Enter quality evaluation speakers. Of course they must be powered by something, so start with a reference quality amplifier, even borrow it if you have to. From there you can evaluate the room, do what you can to improve the acoustics.

Now that you have a reference established, each step of the chain is judged by what you measure or hear from the reference. This is a must, otherwise, any judgment made here will effect all that leaves your studio.

The various pieces of gear that move up the chain can now be accessed. Getting too long, I'll end with this. With a fine preamp in this evaluation chain, any mic that shows it's ugly sound can be singled out quite readily.

Personally I agree with the highest resolution of that mic, but I wouldn't know it, if I didn't have the ass end involved too!

--Rick