[Audio Empire]

On Sun, 30 May 2010 07:46:57 -0700, Ed Seedhouse wrote
(in article ):

On May 29, 6:57=A0pm, Audio Empire wrote:

That's because it's different for each listener. All of us should have a
clear idea of what real music means to us.

I don't even have a clear idea of "what real music means to us"
means. It seems to me to be a phrase that is simply lacking in
content, and thus meaningless.

Well, of course, I can't help that. If you don't have any feeling for the
sound of real music, and can't recognize the difference between real and
reproduced, then I'd have to say that you are at a distinct disadvantage wrt
to being an audio enthusiast. OTOH, I CAN make that differentiation, and I
can tell when a stereo system sounds close to real music and when one
doesn't. Not only that, but I've the confidence in my judgement to believe
that those judgements are generally spot-on. It is not my "job" to convince
anyone else, but I do know what real music sounds like, I do know what a good
stereo system sounds like and I am able to discern and often quantify the
differences between the two.

We also know when a system is
approaching OUR IDEA of what real music should sound like. There are so m=
any
aspects to the recreation of that real event that no system, no matter ho=
w
elaborate or sophisticated, can ever hope to approach. So, each person se=
izes
upon those portions of that real event that they consider important to th=
em.
With some, it might be imaging and soundstage, others might fixate on get=
ting
the midrange "right", still others might obsess over getting the bass to
sound real by moving as much air in their listening room as possible, som=
e
might require high frequencies that are neither dry or overly bright, but
sound clean and extended and as much like their memory of the highs in =
=A0their
favorite concert hall as is possible.

I think "obsess" is the operative word here. I personally am not
"obsessed" with any of these things. I would prefer as much accuracy
as I am able to afford considering all the other things beside music
that also enrich my life, and need money to obtain.

By what criteria do you gauge "accuracy?" How do YOU know that a system is
"accurate" or not? And accurate to what? To me it's accuracy to the sound of
live, acoustic (unamplified) music played in a real space.

If I happened to
win a lottery I would probably look for better. But fortunately a
lot of accuracy is available for not all that much money.

I certainly do not disagree with that.

Realizing that no single playback system can give them the literal recrea=
tion
of the event in their listening environment, each =A0works on getting tho=
se
aspects of the playback right that say "live music" TO THEM.

That is their business and more power to them, although I think any
kind of obsession is best avoided if we would like to stay healthy.

It's not an obsession (at least not to me) I buy based on the sound of real
music and then I don't think about it very much. For instance, I just got a
new phono cartridge from Soundsmith. It's a development of the old B&O
"Stereodyne" line of cartridges. It's moving iron (variable reluctance) using
a push-pull generating technique and it's the most realistic sounding
cartridge that I think I've ever heard. Due to its design it has far less
distortion than other designs and it makes a real, audible improvement to the
sound of records. When I first got it, I pulled record after record out of my
collection and listened to the wee hours, but now it's just my phono
cartridge. I appreciate the advance in sound quality that I get from it, but
I certainly don't dote on it any more than I do the rest of my system. It's
just part of the synergy of a well thought-out and executed system honed to
sound the most real when playing back my own master recordings - often played
back just hours after they were recorded - you can't get much "fresher" of a
comparison than that!. My system approaches real music to the degree that
when I listen, I hear no glaring omissions nor do I hear any anomalies that
make me say to myself "Hey, this didn't sound like that when I recorded it."
In fact, my reaction is just the opposite. I'm constantly gratified by just
how much my recordings and my system's playback of them sound like the live
performance sounded when I was recording it!