Guys - All the questions are good ones. The GTG portion of the plans for 2015 will be open for a lot of suggestions. If, for example, 12 guys "sign up" to attend and they want to have a serious, level matched blind test, we would look into switchers that work at the pre-amp stage rather than a speaker switcher, if at all possible.
This is what we used, a home crafted A/B instantaneous switcher with an electric powered toggle.
With a Parasound Halo amp, we could setup 2 speakers and run the preamp in mono for one on one testing. The Halo unit has independent gain controls on the rear for each channel which makes it very easy in equalizing the SPL to adjust for differences in efficiency.
You can use a covered screen, but since i didn't have something useful, we used blindfolds and sat about 12' away from the speakers which helped to minimize the determination of right vs. left. Farther back virtually eliminates this but can cause other problems as you start to move so far back in the room that the acoustics change dramatically.
So PLEASE ... keep asking questions, and rest assured that none of these questions are in the least bit "bothersome".
Is that some kind of challenge craig?
I actually quite liked the 'results' of the last major GTG you had with all those lads. It ws interesting to see the variation in preferences and how some observations for some speakers recurred, thereby defining a common sound 'type'. That kind of less biased opinion is far more useful to get an idea of a speaker character.
Any reasonable attempt at reducing the bias is useful IMO, but no, it would be impossible to satisfy the naysayers and design a truly perfect blind test.
