I have often wondered about the relevance of the amplifiers performance as it approaches clipping, this seems to keep coming up in discussions about the infamous "Challenge". However, from what I can recall, Richard Clark has never disputed the point that amplifiers do respond differently once driven to clipping... thus the stipulation that the amplifiers operate in the range below clipping. I seem to recall that the original point of his challege was to contest the belief/statements being made about subjective traits/claims being made about the sonic signatures of amplifiers: depth and breadth of soundstage, resolution etc.

If this was the point of the challenge (again, as I understood it) then would such claims not be apparent regardless of whether the amplifier was driven to clipping or not?

I hope I am not setting myself up to be royally flamed, and I'm not trying to take a shot either... I'm just trying to understand.

Cheers!