Listening to a shelf...or how I pity the reviewer.

I recently upgraded my amp stand to the very nice Grand Prix Monaco pieces. The upgrade did allow me to hear more resolution over the old stands ( pretty easy to hear...although some ???'s still reside in my memory). Now, these stands allow for a few upgrades themselves. The upgrades consist of different feet ( called Apex, which substitute the stock excellent spikes for a compound carbon fibre foot) and the shelf that the amp rests on ( stock is an excellent lexan shelf) for a composite carbon fibre/ kevlar shelf called the F1. Upon replacing the feet, I thought I heard some differences in the presentation, not all positive...as I wasn't sure, but I did think that the Apex feet added a very very slight loss in the bass resolution...BUT overall I think ( key word being think!) added more information across the rest of the spectrum. ( Now we are talking minimal differences here).So, next up was to replace the stock shelf with the upgraded Formula 1 shelf.....

Here's the thing of it, unlike swapping cables or a major component-- we are talking of a shelf under a component! ( and one that sits one another stand itself). To accomplish this, I have to move my amp off the stand ( an interesting choice in itself, why...because I own two (2) different amps. One tube...and weighing a measly 60+ lbs and the other a ss amp, which weighs in at a more robust 100+ lbs!) Which one do you think I chose to move, LOL. Nonetheless, moving the chosen amp was not an operation that occurred in five seconds or less! Are we getting at my dilemma here?? I have just listened to the lexan shelf and want to now AB it with the Carbon shelf. My aural memory is pretty good...NOT that good!!!!!
So here is my point. Put yourself in the poor audio reviewer's shoes, he has to do a write up of the latest upgrade from company A ( you name it) and he has to write several paragraphs on this item. Poor guy has to compare the differences between the shelf ( or you name it component) and the old shelf...Yikes!!
Anyone else have a dilemma like this one. ( BTW, the new carbon shelf is not by any means a cheap upgrade on the system!).

Keith_W said:

That would remind me of my English literature assignments in high school. The teacher would ask one of us to comment, and then go around the classroom. We would all have our turn at squeezing water out of stone. When it came to my turn, I said "I am pretty sure that author of Beowulf did not have feminism in mind at the time it was written", which is a pretty obvious thing to say. But that went down like a lead balloon. There were countless other examples of squeezing water out of stone, like an assignment on "What would Ernest Hemingway think of climate change?" using themes from his books. After that, I learnt to recite and write pure left wing BS which I didn't believe in just to get myself an "A". I think I could use some of those skills to be an audio reviewer!

Click to expand...

Keith, please enlighten us as to how 'left wing', or for that matter 'right wing', opinions would have anything to do with being able to write a coherent and factual equipment review??

Keith_W said:

Easily! When writing your review, you could:

- discuss whether it was made by Mexicans / unionized workforce / imported from China / the social conditions of the workforce
- the impact of the shelf materials on non-renewables / gorillas in Indonesia / the floating raft of plastic in the Pacific / climate change
- is the design of the shelf traditional (Amish / Shaker style) or minimalist bauhaus style or postmodern
- comment on the bulletproof ability of the shelf to defend yourself against home invasion / might make a good lid for your nuclear shelter
- what possession of the shelf says about the trickle down effect / white male privilege / LGBTQQIP2SAA rights
- the gender identity of the shelf / whether the shelf "supports" traditional values / is it new age, hippy, etc

Click to expand...

Hmmm....ok