Does "Fast" = "Detailed"?


I've noticed a few people discussing "fast" as an adjective for systems and components. A couple friends of mine use fast as an adjective they look for in amps and speakers (and other components including wire). I've noticed in my limited experience that those who like fast systems also tend to own/favor highly detailed systems. Recently, I looked at a member's system, which includes speakers built with ribbon tweeters used in conjunction with NuForce amps. He mentions liking a fast sounding system. Having heard both ribbon speakers and NuForce amps, I have an idea that this system is quite detailed.

Does "fast" equate to "detailed"?
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Showing 1 response by markphd

I don't know if fast equals detailed, but I definitely think that fast reveals detail.

For example, take a speaker cone that is not well damped, whether it is due to the cone design itself, or whether it is due to lack of control of the cone by the amp. The inertia of the cone results in the cone being slow to stop or change its movement with signal changes. The undamped movement of the cone will then mask or muddy other musical detail. If the cone is "fast" in its start and stop movement, the detail would be revealed. So fast in this case isn't detail; rather, fast reveals detail.

I have a related story. One time I was playing with a pair of small monitors and a sub. I set the crossover for the sub at too high a frequency, with too much overlap with the monitors' mid/woofer cone. In addition to too much bass, the perception I had was that the monitors were "slower". "Slow" was the word that immediately came to my mind, without any regard or conscious thought to proper audiophile terminology. When I reduced the crossover frequency, the monitors then became "faster" as I perceived it. My rationalization was that the bass from the sub was masking detail produced by the monitor. The words "fast" and "slow" were the words that best described my perception of the sound.