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Sound, Music, Balance
Based on my own experience and about 10 years of following audio
discussion in many forums the following seems to be true : 1) It is possible to put together a high-end system that makes great SOUNDS but doesn't make great music 2) It is easy to put together a low-end OR high-end component system that makes terrible sound and terrible music 3) A low-end system that makes good sound and good music for a large number of listeners can be put together 4) A low-end system that makes good sound and GREAT music FOR A CERTAIN NUMBER OF INDIVIDUALS can be put together. 5) A high-end system that makes GREAT SOUND and GOOD MUSIC FOR A LARGE NUMBER OF INDIVIDUALS can be put together. 6) A high-end system that makes GREAT SOUND and GREAT MUSIC FOR A CERTAIN NUMBER OF INDIVIDUALS can be put together. 7) A high-end system that makes COSMICALLY GREAT SOUND and COSMICALLY GREAT MUSIC FOR ONE PERSON can be put together. 8) You can't have GOOD SOUND and GREAT MUSIC in a high-end system. Is there a grand unified theory to explain this mish-mash? Probably not, but that won't keep me from trying :=). BE WARNED - the following is NOT a rigid exercise in logic. Those searching for a treatise will be disappointed. Those searching for a moral will be shot :=). I make two assertions : 1) Hearing sound is not the same as hearing music 2) Hearing out of balance sound reduces the chance of hearing music (and the correlary (or whatever that term is) Hearing balanced sound increases the chance of hearing music From this and my own experience (as summarized above) I hypothesize that the experience of hearing music from low-budget systems which objectively, measurably and subjectively do NOT produce great SOUND occurs because the sound that IS produced is IN BALANCE. Let me talk about what "balance" means here. It seems to me that the lower the resolution of a system (ANY system) the easier it is to maintain a balance. As a gross analogy, let us consider a bathroom scale, accurate to perhaps a pound (ah, the old English system. God bless it, guvnah) and a laboratory scale, accurate to a milligram. I would assert that we will have a MUCH easier time finding two objects around the house that balance to within a pound than within a milligram. Similarly with low resolution vs. high resolution audio systems. It is easier to "balance" a system of low resolution to a point where no audible imbalance can be heard than a system of high resolution. Not only that, but those elements which are not quite in balance are harder to hear. In a high resolution system it seems to get harder and harder to maintain the balancing act. If you're at the point where you can actually HEAR the distinction in shimmer between one cymbal and another, the ear/brain seems to demand the same level of achievement for every other sound, thus illustrating point 1) above : 1) It is possible to put together a high-end system that makes great SOUNDS but doesn't make great music Well, why can't we have GOOD sound and GREAT MUSIC in a high and system? (point 8). Because of the balance problem/opportunity. High end systems are like any piece of highly tunable machinery. When it's good it's very, very good and when it's bad it's ... not horrid, but it's not GOOD SOUND. It's just sound that draws attention to itself. Sound that is ... hi-fi. In sum, we end up listening to the SOUND, not the music. I'd rather drive a Dodge Dart that's doing everything right, than a Jag XKE with one wheel out of balance. Well, then, even if all that's true, what's all that blather up there about numbers of people? Let's take the remaining points one at a time. 2) It is easy to put together a low-end OR high-end component system that makes terrible sound and terrible music Obvious. There's so MANY of them that it can't be hard :=). 3) A low-end system that makes good sound and good music for a large number of listeners can be put together We're not asking for a lot here. Given the relatively low resolution of the system (hence ease of balance) and the similarly low expectations of most listeners this seems obviously true. 4) A low-end system that makes good sound and GREAT music FOR A CERTAIN NUMBER OF INDIVIDUALS can be put together. This statement is based on the "car radio" experience. A certain number of people claim to get more involved in the MUSIC from a car radio than the music from a high-end system. I believe them. And I believe that what's happening is that the system is balanced (as discussed previously) within its parameters and they thus have the opportunity AND the willingness AND the ability to hear great music. - a condition that does not occur in everyone. 5) A high-end system that makes GREAT SOUND and GOOD MUSIC FOR A LARGE NUMBER OF INDIVIDUALS can be put together It seems to me there must be a fair number of combinations of high-end components that will produce an ALMOST acceptably balanced sound for a large number of people but don't quite ring the bell. In analogy, the XKE with one wheel (or more) SLIGHTLY out of balance. The system calls enough attention to itself to prevent hearing GREAT MUSIC, but does well enough to produce GREAT SOUND over most parameters. If this didn't occur, there would be no high-end industry. This condition and that of number 1 (GOOD SOUND, GOOD MUSIC) is probably the single largest source of upgrade mania, or "audiophilia nervosa" as it's sometimes called. 6) A high-end system that makes GREAT SOUND and GREAT MUSIC FOR A CERTAIN NUMBER OF INDIVIDUALS can be put together. In this case, the sound balance is exactly right and the opportunity to hear great music exists. Given the difference in tolerations, preferences and so on among people, I doubt that any one system could do this for a LARGE NUMBER of people. 7) A high-end system that makes COSMICALLY GREAT SOUND and COSMICALLY GREAT MUSIC FOR ONE PERSON can be put together. At this point, it's all down to the individual. If your psyche needs the Monks of Shun Mook, or pyramids of beer cans in the corners, black velvet or "Ribbon Chairs", the next person's surely won't. No mass market here. So - that's my screed, what's yours :=) -- Bob T |
#2
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Sound, Music, Balance
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