Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion The Water Cooler Axiom ‘s newsletter feature question

Has anyone read the feature question from this month Axiom ‘s Newsletter email?
Pretty darn funny. ...wonder if it was an actual question.




Hope I'm not braking any rules by copy/pasting this here.

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Q. Dear Resident Expert,
My husband just asked me if he could spend $4,000 to get some special new digital amplifier for his home theater system from you guys. So if you’re the big expert, what am I going to hear from this new amplifier? Why isn’t his old, ugly, heavy amplifier he’s had for years good enough? Four grand, after all, is a lot of swag and I want new granite counters in my kitchen.
-- Catherine C.

A. Dear Catherine C.,
Loosen those purse strings! You’re no doubt referring to Axiom’s new A1400-8 digital multi-channel power amplifier. Certainly on the surface it seems like a lot of money to spend on a metal box that amplifies the audio signals, something your husband’s old analog amplifier already accomplishes.

But the truth is, honey, he's only thinking of you. Just like you have a better eye for color, you also have a better ear for distortion. The fact is that with Class A/B analog amplifiers like your husband’s old one, the harder the amplifier is working, the more likely it is that distortion is gradually increasing. So if you are listening at fairly loud levels (you know how he likes things much louder than you care for), you can bet that his old analog amp’s distortion curve is rising to levels that with big dynamic swings introduce a kind of “edgy hardness” (that’s the phrase I like to use) to the sound quality. (That’s when you want to leave the room, because, being a woman, you’re more likely to hear this unnatural sound quality before your husband does. It’s genetic.) All of that is happening before your husband’s amplifier actually “clips” and grossly distorts the audio signals.

In marked contrast, the reason the A1400-8 is getting such tributes (one owner even suggested it was Tom's Gift to Creation) is that its dynamic capability, coupled with its speed and accuracy, assigns huge amounts of power at any instant to whichever channels require it most, so that distortion simply never becomes audible. Big dynamic peaks in music that may require hundreds of watts are easily met with aplomb and grace because the audio output signals never clip. The A1400 will simply get as loud as it will go and go no louder. It won’t distort in a gradual fashion the way analog devices do, getting edgy and harder as an old amplifier nears its limits.

If all that doesn't convince you, I implore you to consider your carbon footprint! Old fashioned Class A/B amps are power pigs but the A1400-8 Digital Amplifier is as green as your neighbour's garden. At close to full output the A1400-8 is around 95% efficient, versus 50-60% efficiency for an analogue Class A/B amplifier.

I hope that explains why you need the A1400-8 even more than your husband. You’ll experience what I’m talking about when the A1400-8 arrives at your front door. After all, you can only look at granite counters, right?

yeah i saw that...looks like a planted question to me.

loosen those purse strings. lol

"Open your wallet and Let de' Moth's out!"

I would certainly hope it is planted, because I find it a bit offensive.

The line " But the truth is, honey, he's only thinking of you" is inappropriate, even if it was a setup...which is not clear.

Sorry if I am over the top - a day with the SOX auditors will do that!!

Actually, Mike, I agree with you.

It was a little more glib than usual, but I really think you guys need to lighten up.

The tone is perfectly aligned with the false question, which is formulated in an offensive manner. It is a paraphrase of the question that is frequently asked in this forum, but put into the mouth of a budget-controlling wife instead of the forum-member husband. It might be second degree humor, but it is just humor after all. And the answer is very true (especially my quote! ). It is in the same vein as his previous "loosen up, stereo devotees" from November newsletter.

This is always the danger with irony, it might be taken too literally, especially after a bad day with auditors!

I agree that SOX auditors will likely do that do you.

Sorry for anyone it offended! It was a paraphrase of a girlfriend of mine . . . we thought it would be funny. I'm really sorry if the question offended people.

You can't please all the people all the time.... I thought it was funny and quite obviously staged.

I'm by nature oversensitive, so you can just ignore me.

Done. No offense!

I foresee a retraction in the next issue

Did Ken say something?

Amie,

I thought it was a funny response. I agree, you people need to lighten up!

Agreed.

I'll never tell.

Actually, since Amie posted, I will tell: it was a collaborative effort.

Sorry if it offended anyone. I based some of the lines on discussions I've overheard with friends when I've visited.

Regards,

I thought it was funny.

I honestly didn't even notice it on my initial read-through, but I can see how people could get offended by it. It would be a fine conversation among friends, but it can certainly be seen as being a bit familiar for an advice piece.

Well, we're a peculiar bunch on the forum here, and the newsletter is for Axiom owners. . .

I thought the article was funny.

people need to get a life and lighten up, or go back to AVSforum and never come back.

I'll second that Randy!

And sit at the back of the bus, too? Your reaction isn't very mild for someone who's enlightened about lightening up.

Be on guard Tom, Amie, Peter, Rick and others, you may get a nasty PM from certain people. Man, talk about the pot calling the kettle black.

???

If that's meant as a joke, it was badly played.

ok, enough bickering!


Some people find the question funny and some don't. Who cares!

Lets just go back to hijacking threads and confusing people already!

Everyone hates a mediator! Ha ha.

Seriously, though, don't fear a dispute. Disagreements will crop up, and to gloss over the process is selling ourselves short.

I'm with you there, CV. Although there are plenty of counterexamples in the world and on the internet, disagreements online don't always end badly. To condemn disagreements -- which are an opportunity for discussion -- as something to avoid simply because they might turn out badly is like not wanting to have a pet because you might have to clean up a mess once in a while. The benefits outweigh the costs.

When i read it, I thought right away, this is going to cause some dicussion... lol ... When taken in context and realizing it was done with good intentions I saw no harm.. But I knew some would not see it that way.. I highly doubt any harm was intended and it was done to inject a little humour into the newsletter..

Avdude..

Your eloquence is divine. I bow to you, sir.

I think I can use that pet example with patients. Risk/benefit really gets across with some people. It's what governs most of what I do in the office every day. "Sure, this medicine may make you hungry, but it'll make you functional, too. Try not to eat more than you need and you won't gain weight. If, on the other hand, if you find the Cheetos suddenly irresistable and you gain a few pounds, then hey - at least you've got your life back."

I also agree with CV and the others that, knowing that the Axiom tongue was planted firmly in cheek, the letter was funny. To someone not in on the joke, maybe they'd raise an eyebrow.

No worries here.

That was also my impression.
Perhaps if the context was applied in the article to give the readers an idea that the question and response was supposed to relay more humour.
e.g.
A question from a close female friend of the owner's wife went something like this...[followed by], and so Amie replied, "ok girlfriend, here's how it is...

The alternative is that some will (and have) read that question and glib reply (a good description) like it was a stereotypical ditzy blond "i know nothing about electronics" story who walked into a Future Shop and got the know it all 17 year old punker response.

Personally i thought the joke was easy to spot.

Seems rather odd to me that either Amie or Alan should feel the need to apologize to anyone on this site ... and even more odd that some folks here feel the need for an apology.

Who's site is this again? Anybody?

My thoughts exactly Rick. I don't get what all the fuss is about? I thought it was done in a lighthearted vane and got the message across in a tongue in cheek manner, instead of the usual serious factual replies. Never knew there were so many stuffed shirts around here. Apologies should be coming from some of the posters not Amie or Alan.

Which posters, specifically?

Oh, this is getting good! [sits back, pops a beer]

Nice John. Personal insults always help keep things rolling right along.

Ummm......make that impersonal insults, which are actually worse. Since they indict no one specifically, they indict everyone in general.

No not everyone Jack, only those who take political correctness to silly levels. Most people, including myself, enjoyed the newsletter question/reply and caught the tongue in cheek aspect.

I finally read the article and it was funny.

Now if y'all will excuse me I gotta take my holiday tree down.

Fred

Ah! Different perceptions I guess. I didn't see any political correctness. One person said he was offended and found the remark inappropriate, and another agreed. That was it. Nobody insulted anyone, particularly not Amie, Ian or Alan, or called anyone names.

On the other side of the coin, since expressing their opinion, it's been suggested they need to get a life, lighten up, go back to AVSforum and never come back, told they should apologize, and have been called stuffed shirts (we'll overlook the politically correct implications).

Certainly no one demanded an apology from Amie, Ian, or Alan. That they chose to do so, even though they intended no offense, is to their credit and only adds to the high regard in which I already hold them.

For the record, I wasn't offended in the least. I was puzzled by the comment, and didn't "get it." However, at the risk of disappointing you, I certainly feel no need to apologize for that fact.

Ok everyone, listen up. Will the people whose reaction to the letter fell on the negative side of the spectrum please line up on that side of the room. Now the people whose reaction fell on the positive side please line up on the other side of the room. No need to run, just move up next to the wall.

What's that, Billy? You were ambivalent? You have to pick one or the other. You know, for us or against us? Ok then.

Now, look carefully at the people on the other side of the room. Many of them are your friends. Some not. Depending on which side of the room you're on, there's either a handful of people on the other side or quite a few. I want you to pick out a single person on the other side of the room and concentrate on them.

Ok, now. Remember that this person feels differently about the matter at hand than you do. Does that make them the wrong? Does that make their feelings any less valid? For that matter, are feelings ever wrong? Should people be faulted for sharing their honest reactions?



Political correctness is such a loaded term that it really has no business in a discussion unless you're trying to sell a book or throw some flamebait. Empathy, or the ability to acknowledge and perhaps even understand another person's feelings -- especially when they differ from your own -- is a skill that could do the world a whole lot of good if only people took the time to acquire it.

Peter, we'd get along better if you put some donuts in the room with us.

See who can wear the most donuts... on their Cyrano?

Better get more than a dozen. Otherwise all you other guys won't get a chance.

You must think you're Pinocchio. Lying about your length makes it grow?

Hey, whatever works.

Ah.... I thought you were going to give us swords on each side of the room so we can re-enact braveheart

pmbuko FTW!

That was f'in' awesome.

Nice to see empathy get a shout out.

I've never seen the group at work happier than when someone whips out a box of donuts on Monday morning.
It really does have an amazing effect, on a tough crowd, and for those who like donuts.