Please Read and express your feelings and opinions....

I very rarely or if ever have posted here. But I have seen it also.  The anonymity on the internet sometimes brings out the worst in us. We can say things and do things that we might now otherwise do or say if we were all in the same room.

What is a wonder to me is are we not all here for almost the same reason.  We have more in common than not when it comes to audio. We like music, we like good audio.

Many times it's not that we express our opinion it is how we express our opinion.  I tell my kids. "It's not what you said. It is how you said it.". 

We really all don't know each other, so it is hard to read audiogon posts where people assume other audiogon members are lying or not telling the truth.

I can't remember in my life when arguing ended up with a good result.  A good discussion yes, but arguing brings up bad feelings.  

Well that is my rant.

@almarg

Namely that if the input power to a speaker is changed by a given number of db, SPL at a given listening distance will change by the same number of db

It’s frankly hard to tell what cj was talking about, but I think what his problem was he couldn’t wrap his head around the delta dB being the same across V, W and SPL and that this was expressed in the separate coefficients (20 vs. 10) used in the dB formula. In the same way you can have different power calculations, and each be correct:

P = V x A
P = ( V x V ) / R

Honestly, if these formulas weren’t equivalent, I’m not sure amplifiers could work! This tight interrelationship just blew cj's mind.

On another note, Erik, thanks for injecting some sorely needed humor into this thread, with the donuts post :-)

Haha! I thought everyone missed that.

Best,

E

Hobbyhands good point👍

The trick, to me (given that I am somewhat challenged in the math/physics/hard sciences department), is to translate the science into something that is readily understandable by those untutored in the relevant fields. I know that can lead to oversimplification but my experience working with witnesses as a lawyer is that the judge (and jury) needs to understand it. 
I think there is a certain mix of science or tech blended with communication skills that makes a big difference in how the message gets delivered and received. One can have a healthy argument without personalizing or belittling. 
There is also a fair amount of psychoacoustic stuff going on in audio, beyond the gear and its technical performance. That can be "tested" too, I suppose, but to me, there is an art to applying the science in a way that delivers the goods: one example- I like Vlad Lamm's SET amplifier. Its sonics had to do with some deliberate choices Vlad made beyond the specs. Is it magic? No. I think a lot of us have gaps in our knowledge and are open to learning. I know I am. I welcome information and healthy debate. Knocking heads doesn't help anybody, least of all contributors who probably have other, better things to do with their time.