Murphy - sorry there bud but I actually have a job so I don't have time to read thousands of pages of a forum of people who don't use their real names and therefore have no real standing when it comes for me checking WHAT SPECIFICALLY they have recorded or mastered.
I don't know if you ever wen to university or graduated High School but when you make a CLAIM like a Ferrari is faster than a Lambo then what you do see is you post something that proves what you are saying. So you show a race or you provide technical evidence that car a is faster than car b.
And then you SOURCE the evidence with a link. This is how you construct points. So if you say that Person X says something then YOU (not me) goes to the website you copy and paste the quote and then you link the thread.
Here is an example.
I wanted to make the case to someone who argued that I was too in love with Audio Note and that I am rather overthetop and that good reviewers don't do that citing the superiority of Stereophile.
So I said well in fact Stereophile has an inner core of their elite writers - one of those is Art Dudley who bought the AN E's, and Peter Van Wellinswaard who was a technical writer for them ALSO owning them.
But the fellow was more enamored with Wes Philips who is a far more technical minded reviewer.
"Everything just sounded so right. I had goosebumps—and despite all evidence to the contrary, I'd have sworn my hair was standing on end,
Forget best sound of show, for sheer emotional delivery, timbral clarity, dynamic agility, and, yes, the highest fidelity,
the Audio Note system may have been the best hi-fi I have ever heard. It was one of those magical moments that we audiophiles put up with all of the hassles for.
After the Audio Note demo.
the rest was noise, so I quit on a winner. Not many people who come to Vegas can say that."
You see a REAL Quote from a real person and a quote from where this was stated as evidence that I am not just making stuff up.
http://www.stereophile.com/ces2009/ongaku_means_ecstasy/index.html
Show me the guy on Gearslutz - use right click copy and then come here and post it and provide the link back --- WHY THE LINK? So that I know that you quoted the right thing in context.
I gave you one quote and you know where it was from from Gearslutz - I didn't say that everyone thought that - I looked at the thread that came up when I did the search. And noted that you said that the guy liked the Amphion One18 MORE than the ATC 150.
1) he was talking about the Two/18
2) nowhere does he say he liked it more.
Conclusion - you misrepresented what was said to try and sway me to believe that I am wrong and you are right. The problem is when you misrepresent (lie) about what the guy said and lie about the speaker he is talking about - then why should I take anything at your word? Photos bud. I do my best in the video age to take photos of what I audition because I have had people take me to task in the past. I pissed off McIntosh guys when I noted that resale value wasn't as great as they thought on a certain model number telling them that Soundhounds was selling a second hand model of it for $2200 (it retailed for $8,800 and was a CURRENT model). They actually bothered to phone Soundhounds who confirmed the price.
In the land of the internet anyone can say any crap about anything which is why the standards of evidence should be fairly high. It has nothing to do with opinion. I like to know all of the information when someone says Speaker A sucked in my room - that may be so but the blame may not be at attributable to the loudspeaker.
You bring up using "some guy" who is a recording engineer - first while this seems to be something people like to think is an automatic win - well person X is a recording engineer so he must be more expert than a reviewer or audiophile. Well no - record yourself singing into an MP3 player - put the recording onto your computer - then adjust your voice - add some auto-tune - burn the disc - guess what you just made a RECORDING and mastered it - you are an RE. So now you can use your fake internet name and tell people that "while I was recording I tested 10 loudspeakers and found that XYZ was the best sounding"
So the important things to make convincing arguments using external "experts" are as follows:
1) does the expert have a real name or an internet name
2) Can the expert's credentials be verified. He's an RE then what did he record - is he good? Do major labels hire him? Does he actually have a noted discography so that we may listen to the person's albums.
3) are they specifically relevant to the discussion.
Number 3 is kind of important because if the debate is between speaker A and B - and you uote that the expert liked speaker B better than 20 other speakers all of which are not speaker A then it's all completely irrelevant.
So if we go to Recording Engineers - well Steve Hoffman is using Audio Note for pleasure and helped run the Recent show in NewPort California
Steve Hoffman is a very well know mastering engineer and mastered for Eva Cassidy among others - Audio Note is some of the best he's ever heard - and he's heard a helluva lot of the years and the big recording studio loudspeakers. So when you put "some guy says" on some forum where he tested 30 speakers so what? Who is "the guy" and you kind of have to show us that he's the sort of expert we should take more seriously. And you can see Steve Hoffman's gear here.
http://www.stevehoffman.info/gear.html
So we pit an internationally renowned Recording and Mastering engineer up as my side evidence with a link and you can find out what he has mastered at the top of the link including his resume here
http://www.stevehoffman.info/resume.html
I listen to the guy who designs and builds cell phones. The guy who tests all the competing guys cell phones over what my buddy Larry who spent 5 minutes with 3 phones in bad lighting who declares Apple is the best because his favorite colour is white. I prefer to trust myself first but I will trust the experts when there is some consensus and their level of expertise.
Audio Note has also been moving to the recording studio industry in Europe and Russia - but so few Recording Studios are willing to output the cash on tube equipment where downtime is going to be more of an issue
But they've been there for awhile (See I just made a statement that they're in recording studios but you don't need to believe me or spend 2 weeks trying to find it because I provide the link - factually correct information with evidence. (which isn't to say I never get it wrong but most people know that I make the attempt the vast majority of the time).
http://www.chord.co.uk/blog/gearbox-records-not-your-average-record-label/
So now when someone comes on here - they can say ok Audio Note is in fact used in a studio and also a favorite of a big time famous mastering engineer and has reviewers "Other than the fanboy RGA" because RGA (Richard George Austen) actually linked me to all three places as 'evidence" and gee maybe if all those places and names are on board maybe there is a reason for RGA to be such a fanboy in the first place - and at least the guy isn't hiding he's a fanboy.
Lastly (whew) none of the above is meant to convince you of zilch with regards to telling you what to like - cause I've heard Audio Note sound "sucky" myself so that is neither here nor there.
The issue is trying to use the external expert to make your argument that your opinion is right and my opinion is wrong. I made the exact same mistake you're currently making. I made a thread many years ago on canuckaudiomart forum that is still the longest thread that forum has ever had (aside from the what are you listening to) threads. I brought in review after nauseating review and commentary and show reports to say "see these 20 people think it's great). Big fat hairy deal - A bose speaker won a blind level matched shootout in Hi-Fi Choice too and got a "Recommended" tag.
So go buy a loudspeaker - whatever you buy I am sure you will believe is the best loudspeaker known to man and better than anyone's advice to you on this forum. And since it's your money - your opinion is the only one that matters - but note that my opinion is the only one that matters to me. You pays the money you lives with your choice. And since most of the posters here have not heard the One18 why not ask the guy at Gearslutz to tell you which speaker will give you what you're after. He tested 30 as you say - so maybe listen to his second choice or third choice.
PS one of the Artists from Gearbox Records which I intend to order
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7iaVhItBGlg