Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Speakers and Equipment-both make a difference

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Ah, but there's the rub! The notion of "Accuracy" inherently inserts Science as the arbiter of satisfaction. On a pretty basic level, I'm not yet ready to subscribe to the Church of Science.

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Tom brings up a very important point. Science, or scientific study, certainly isn't accurate 100% of the time. It, too, is fallible. How many times has "scientific study" said one thing, only to say a few years later, "OOPS! We now know more than we did then, so forget 'that', it's no longer true, but 'this' is.

However, it is my opinion, that science has a higher probability of being accurate than the very fallible human senses. That, in no way, should be interpreted as my saying that the human senses can't be accurate. However if a finding reached by scientific means contradicts a finding based solely upon the human senses, my tendency is to trust the scientific rather than the anecdotal.

The problem, for me, arises when someone takes a specific subjective anecdotal experience (I heard a difference in sound between two receivers), and morphs it into a general statement of objective fact (there IS a difference between the sound of electronics).

I would disagree with one part of Tom's statement. He says "The notion of "Accuracy" inherently inserts Science as the arbiter of satisfaction." I feel the notion of accuracy inherently inserts Science as the arbiter only of accuracy. I don't know if I'm correct or not, but I perceive accuracy as being objective, and satisfaction as being subjective. Science can tell us that speaker A has a flatter (more accurate?) frequency response than speaker B, but, being perverse as I am, I very well might prefer (be more satisfied by) the sound of speaker B.

We humans, unfortunately, tend to infer that, if science says something is accurate, we all should prefer it. But, as we all know, the human experience is subjective not objective.

As I've said before, and am about to, redundantly, say again, I no longer feel the need to equate good and bad with like and dislike. At my age, I'm blissfully free to consider "fantastic" what everyone else perceives as awful, and loathe that which the entire world proclaims to be "wonderful."

Tom, that was one "fantastic" post!