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"Scott" wrote in message
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There is no "the" ideal sound system. I can tell you what *my* ideal sound
system would be. It's just a few steps up from what I already have. But
without getting specific for me the ideal playback system consists of
full range electrostatic speakers with tremendous dynamic range for that
technology in a near field stereo pair in a near acoustically dead
playback room with OTL amps that have the juice to drive the speakers, a
tube preamp. A universal digital playback component. And a euphonically
colored high end TT rig.

That is *my* ideal in fairly broad terms. If you want me to name specific
components I could do that as well. Koetsu, Forsell, Oppo, ARC, Joule
Electra and Soundlab

My ideal may not be other peoples' ideal. We all have unique tastes in
music an in sound. Those aesthetics are going to affect our preferences.


Well, I was hoping it was more scientific than that. You ideal system sounds
like giant headphones - some sort of recording engineer's dream system, a
system for one person, but not real good for an audience or someone who
wants to move around. I would also be concerned that you would get an IHL
(Inside the Head Locatedness) problem, especially if you did it in an
anechoic environment.

Would you want some crosstalk cancellation with such a system? That would
really pin you down in one spot, but would also be incorrect with
stereophonic recordings.

The real idea of stereo is not to put "signals into your ears" but rather to
reconstruct sound fields in your listening room. You PLACE the recorded
soundstage at the front of your room, establish the left to right spread and
depth of the instruments, and let the recorded early reflections happen in
your room the same way and for the same reason they did live. If you do it
right, with speaker placement, D/R ratio, and not killing all of the sound
around the speakers, you get a very realistic soundstage that you can hear
from anywhere in the room and walk around and get different perspectives on
the performers.

THAT is the way the system was designed to work, bringing the performance
into your room and making your room take on the ambience of the recorded
space - NOT sticking signals from two channels into your ears and "fooling"
you into hearing another space. That would be a binaural system, which has
its own problems or else it might become the standard.

Gary Eickmeier