TWL, you're a brave man!
I am sure the differnces in most system and the great disparity of opinions is mostly due to personal prefernce. It is similar to some people liking country music while others find it to be the lowest common denominator of music; or was the hip hop???
People have different priorities in their system. Some people love the sound of accurately reproduced bass. Thier system must be able to reproduce that bass. They will be willing to sacrifice other aspects of the sound to obtain the bass they love.
It is possible for that person to go to the opposite extreme. If they are not able to reproduce the deep bass they love in an accurate manner they may be willing to forgo deep bass altogether. Rather than poor quality the listener might prefer no bass.
Another person might demand the purist midrange and tonal accuracy and be willing to give up the frequency extremes to obtain it. Bass and high treble will be less important than the liquid midrange and perfect timbre some people have to have in their system.
Other people might love a realistic soundstage. They want height, depth and width. To obtain this they would be willing to sacrifice bass in their speaker placement. Since it is usually impossible to get both deep bass and huge soundstage from the same speaker placement they will err on the side of soundstage.
The intersting thing is, two people who are listening to the same music are not listening to the same music. The flute player might be listening to the flute while the Viola player is focused on the strings. The same recording is on the turntable, but the listener is not listening to the same aspect of the music.
That IMO is why people differ so greatly in what they consider to be good, accurate, or pleasant musical reproduction. That is also the reason why I am the only person with a good system here!
I am sure the differnces in most system and the great disparity of opinions is mostly due to personal prefernce. It is similar to some people liking country music while others find it to be the lowest common denominator of music; or was the hip hop???
People have different priorities in their system. Some people love the sound of accurately reproduced bass. Thier system must be able to reproduce that bass. They will be willing to sacrifice other aspects of the sound to obtain the bass they love.
It is possible for that person to go to the opposite extreme. If they are not able to reproduce the deep bass they love in an accurate manner they may be willing to forgo deep bass altogether. Rather than poor quality the listener might prefer no bass.
Another person might demand the purist midrange and tonal accuracy and be willing to give up the frequency extremes to obtain it. Bass and high treble will be less important than the liquid midrange and perfect timbre some people have to have in their system.
Other people might love a realistic soundstage. They want height, depth and width. To obtain this they would be willing to sacrifice bass in their speaker placement. Since it is usually impossible to get both deep bass and huge soundstage from the same speaker placement they will err on the side of soundstage.
The intersting thing is, two people who are listening to the same music are not listening to the same music. The flute player might be listening to the flute while the Viola player is focused on the strings. The same recording is on the turntable, but the listener is not listening to the same aspect of the music.
That IMO is why people differ so greatly in what they consider to be good, accurate, or pleasant musical reproduction. That is also the reason why I am the only person with a good system here!