Zoom H6
Frank Stearns wrote:
"Gary Eickmeier" writes:
George Graves wrote:
snips
audition some Wilson WAMMs. We both thought they were pretty harsh
and forward sounding.
Indeed. Not only harsh, but weird higher mid resonances, making for a
very plastic-y sound, somewhat akin to typical headphones. I've never
understood how various wilsons (a) commanded the price they typically
did and (b) had any kind of following. Just shows that many so-called
audiophiles really aren't clued into sonic purity, but rather
something else -- some kind of arty cabinet design, high-gloss
lacquer, or boasting rights as to how much money they spent. Sound is
secondary.
It's a spatial thing. The WAMMs sock their hot breath sound straight at you
with the ferocity of a fire breathing dragon, have no spatial qualities at
all. Most speaker designers are clueless about all this.
This dealer liked to darken the room to listen, which was
very annoying to me. I like to SEE my imaging, where the individual
instrumental images are in relation to the speaker boxes.
Yikes! Yikes! Yikes!
Human vision, which commands a great deal of brain energy and
processing (some 25% IIRC), can often override/skew/compensate other
sensory input. Worse, because you're not at a live performance but
instead listening in a room, you're often primed for visual
imagination.
Is there imaging ambiguity due to room problems? If it's not terrible
but simply mediocre (like many rooms), take a peek. Imagine a spot
where you think something should be -- a "best fit" based on what you
imagine you "see" -- then let the visual cortex "lock it in." The
bottom-line truth being told by your ears has just been overriden.
By far the most pure, most representative brain audio processing
you're going to get is to occasionally disable that big wetware
signal processing hog, vision, and let the aural processing take
center stage.
(I prefer eye-closing to room light removal. Eye-closing signals the
visual centers that I intentionally initiated this momentary visual
rest, and that visual processing need not scramble to find input.)
When mixing, I'll be sure to take a few check listens with the "eyes
off." I'll even do this at concerts when simply listening as an
audience member. There can be a more complete connection to the sonic
experience, on many levels, without distractions.
That's for classical/pure acoustic music. Pop/rock is a different
story, where other things need to supplement the sometimes thin
nature of the work. So we have 130 dB levels, lots of flashing and
colored light, gyrations on stage, etc. (Not my interest, but hey, to
each his own.)
YMMV.
It's just an observation I have made over many many years. It is very useful
to see if you can place individual images relative to the speakers because
that gives an enormous correlation between imaging and the physical
characteristics of the setup in front of you. The "Big Three" of this
audibility are radiation pattern, speaker positioning, and room acoustics.
Observe these factors next time and notice where things image. In my system
with the tight recordings of the instruments, the Big Three can place
individual auditory events at points in space in my room, and I can almost
"see" those players standing there in my room, not coming from either
speaker. In total, I can get imaging all across the front of my room, not
just speaker to speaker. If speakers are mis-positioned, you can get
stretched soloists or a hole in the middle, effects you can experience if
you can see the arrangement of speakers and walls and you try and "find the
piano" if you know what I mean.
And I know you do.
Gary
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